AN EAST Lothian nursery with a focus on outdoor education has been praised by the Care Inspectorate.

Inspectors commended Fenton Barns Nursery for its concentration on extensive outdoor learning and its work to provide a positive experience for children.

The nursery, which opened three years ago, was graded 'very good' in all four key categories – care and support, environment, staffing and management and leadership – following a recent unannounced visit.

The report said: “Fenton Barns Nursery provided children with fun learning experiences and a very good level of care and support.

"The very good environment both internally and externally was well used and staff were sufficiently experienced and trained to support positive outcomes for children.”

Inspectors noted children were “very engaged” in their activities and recorded “the very good and nurturing relationships between staff and children”.

Parents who were interviewed or filled in questionnaires described the purpose-built nursery as “exceptional”, “superb”, “fantastic”, “leading the way”, “stimulating” and “excellent”.

Manager Vicky Richardson said: “I am absolutely delighted with this report, which reflects on the hard work, enthusiasm and commitment of the entire team. We are all very proud of this achievement.

“We continually work to build upon and improve the facility and have recently extended the outside space to provide a safe but stimulating and challenging learning environment. The children love it.”

Outside learning co-ordinators Amy Paterson and Sam Munro said the children clearly benefited from the outdoor space.

Mrs Munro said: “We are both very excited to be leading this role and committed to furthering our knowledge, and that of the staff team, in this area. We both wholeheartedly believe that outdoor learning is the way forward in early years education.”

To improve, the Commission has asked the nursery to: ensure that observations of children’s progress included an outcome in the observation; look at the age group present and provide more focus on “stage-appropriate” resources for the youngest children; and investigate more storage facilities for equipment.

The nursery looks after a maximum of 32 children.