A WINCHESTER nursery is celebrating after once again scoring ‘outstanding’ in its Ofsted Inspection.

Inspectors visited Lanterns Nursery School in June and labelled it a “very suitable, stimulating and safe” environment for children.

The school, part of a Sure Start Centre in Bereweeke Road, achieved top marks across the board in pupil achievement, quality of teaching, pupil behaviour and safety and leadership.

Joy Reynolds, headteacher, said her team was delighted at the result.

She said: “We are pleased they recognised the fact we are a very inclusive nursery school and that our children do really well and are happy and love coming here, which is really important to us.”

Councillor Peter Edgar, executive member for education at Hampshire County Council, added: "This represents the culmination of a great deal of work from everyone involved and I would like to congratulate staff, governors, parents and, of course, the children, for the excellent results they've achieved.”

Lanterns was previously awarded an outstanding grade in its 2010 inspection but Ms Reynolds said maintaining standards was essential.

She added: “The staff, parents and children all work hard and the framework changes all the time so we have to keep on our toes.”

Inspectors praised the nursery for meeting a wide range of children’s needs.

The report said: “Teaching is outstanding because staff know children and families exceedingly well, use very high-quality resources and adapt their approaches and explanations to meet the varied needs of all children.

“All groups of children achieve extremely well. By the end of nursery they have an excellent grounding in all areas of learning and are extremely well prepared for later life and learning.”

The nursery caters for children aged between two and four and has around 109 pupils.