THREE nurseries from York and Ryedale have been hailed as outstanding by Ofsted following inspections.

The education watchdog has given its top rating to Happy Jays Nursery at Clifton Moor, Tiddlywinks at Osbaldwick and Wath Court nursery at Hovingham, near Helmsley.

Ofsted said staff at Tiddlywinks Private Day Nursery had an excellent knowledge and understanding of how children learn, and provided a “rich, varied and stimulating” educational programme, saying the nursery’s leadership was “inspirational.”

“Staff are skilful at building extremely warm, caring and trusting relationships with babies and children,” it said.

“Babies and children felt safe and secure, with staff helping them to develop high levels of confidence and independence.

“Children’s individual needs are exceptionally well-met through highly-effective partnerships between the setting, parents and external agencies.

“Staff have an extremely sharp focus on helping children acquire excellent communication and language skills, and on supporting their physical, personal, social and emotional development. This helps all children make excellent progress in their learning.”

Of Happy Jays, Ofsted said parents of children there were extremely complimentary and staff were skilled in using a wide range of different learning strategies to promote children’s development.

“Children explore the environment with much confidence and enthusiasm,” it said. “They are highly-motivated and use resources extremely effectively to support their learning and play.”

It said exceptionally secure attachments were forged between children and their “key person”, helping the children to increase their confidence and self-esteem.

The report said staff gave the highest priority to children’s safety.

“For example, when children climb up the steps, staff encourage them to think about how to keep themselves safe by discussing how they must hold on as they get their balance and why they take turns and the appropriate use of equipment.

"In addition, when children are on trips and outings, they discuss road safety issues and stranger awareness before leaving the premises.”

Ofsted said staff at Wath Court nursery provided consistently high standards of teaching and learning that was inspirational, because they had a clear and well-informed understanding of areas of learning.

Children were making very good ongoing progress in their learning and development and were very secure, confident, engaged and motivated, and the excellent range of accessible resources and equipment offered a stimulating and rich environment.

“Strong leadership and rigorous systems fully support children’s safety and welfare,” it added.