A NURSERY near York is celebrating an “outstanding” report from Ofsted, which found its children to be “highly confident” and deeply motivated to learn.

Sandmartins Day Nursery, based at the Food and Environment Research Agency site in Sand Hutton, is attended by 67 youngsters from birth to five years old.

The nursery was inspected in June and has gone from being rated “good” in its last inspection in 2008 to the highest grade of “outstanding”.

The inspector found children at the early age provision were highly confident and have a “superb level of independence” because their curiosity is extended through play and are making “superb progress” because the needs of individual children are met.

The teaching “highly motivates children” who have a rich and varied learning programme and there are “vibrant play areas” and a “wealth of resources”.

The inspector wrote: “Children are supported extremely well in relation to their age and stage of development and therefore develop the skills needed in order to progress and be ready for the next stages in their learning.”

Debbie Ashby, the general manager, said: “We were thrilled with the report. Staff work very hard and we are very passionate. I have been here almost 17 years as have a number of staff so we are very well established and to get this was confirmation of the good work being done here.

“It’s a purpose-built building and we use the outdoors a lot because some children work better outdoors.

“The staff are very well trained and thrive on bettering themselves through training.” Sandmartins nursery takes children from staff working on the Sand Hutton campus and the local area.