A NURSERY school has been celebrating after it became the first nursery in the city to be made a Centre of Excellence.

Canterbury Nursery School and Centre for Children and Families was presented with Centre of Excellence status last week at a ceremony in London.

It was awarded the title by Inclusion Quality Mark, and became the first nursery to receive the title.

The success of the school, based in Basil Street, Canterbury, follows on from nearby Horton Park Primary School, also in Canterbury, becoming the first primary school in Bradford to be named a Centre of Excellence.

The two schools are both part of the Exceed Academies Trust.

During the inspection by Inclusion Quality Mark, assessor and ambassador Stephanie Robinson said: “Everyone works tremendously hard to good effect, to enable all the children to achieve the best outcomes.

“Canterbury are quite rightly proud of the outcomes achieved for their pupils within a fully inclusive learning environment.”

The status follows on from Outstanding rating the school received from Ofsted in 2016.

Jackie Bracewell, head of school, said: “This award recognises the fabulous work of the children, parents and staff in ensuring all barriers to learning are removed so everyone is able to access the best education.”

Duncan Jacques, executive headteacher and chief executive of Exceed Academies Trust, added: “We are delighted to have been awarded as an IQM ‘Centre of Excellence’.

“The award recognises the school’s clear ethos and values around the area of inclusion.

“It recognises the commitment and hard work of all our staff to create a setting that the school community can be extremely proud of and it is a positive addition for Bradford as a city.”

In the report, IQM highlighted the “high quality of stimulating learning experiences the school provides for all its children”.

It also said the school has a “clear commitment to inclusive practice and the clarity with which the child’s voice is heard”.

“Parents cannot speak highly enough about the car and family values that the school shows towards them,” it added.

The IQM award recognises the commitment by schools to provide the best education for all children irrespective of differences.

At its last Ofsted, Canterbury went from requiring improvement to Outstanding.

Inspectors noted children were “safe and secure” at the nursery, and “play and learn exceptionally well together”.

The report said the school promotes children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development “extremely well” and “has a positive impact on children’s personal development”.

It added that parents are “highly involved” in their children’s learning, and are kept well informed about their child’s progress and helped to develop their understanding of how their children learn.