STAFF, children and parents are celebrating a hat-trick after a nursery school, day care, and children’s centre on one site were all rated outstanding.

Following an Ofsted inspection in September, the Ace Centre Nursery School and Gems Day Nursery in Burford Road, Chipping Norton were given top grades in every area of inspection.

The Ace Children’s Centre was rated outstanding last year, meaning all three aspects of the centre now have Ofsted’s highest accolade.

Mum-of-two Nicky Newby, from Long Compton, currently uses the children’s centre and both her children, Hannah, two, and Ellie, four, have used the day care, with Ellie using the nursery school until moving up to primary school.

Mrs Newby said: “It’s brilliant.

“The staff at the day care are so enthusiastic, I never had any hesitation leaving the kids there.

“The family centre was my lifeline when they were both babies, because you go completely bonkers when you stay at home with small children and it was nice to be able to go there and make a mess.”

And she praised the nursery school for helping her older daughter make a smooth transition to primary school.

She said: “It put her in great readiness for school. For the whole place, I haven’t any complaints.”

Inspector Sheila Boyle praised the day nursery’s quality of care and said: “Staff recognise the uniqueness of each child and plan effectively for their needs and, as a result, they make good and often outstanding progress.”

The Ace Centre Nursery School managed to maintain an outstanding judgment for the third inspection in a row.

Reporting inspector Bogusia Matusiak-Varley said: “Highly professional staff, led expertly by a visionary headteacher, stop at nothing in order to improve on previous best performance.”

Helen Ruff, headteacher at the nursery school and head of the day care and children’s centre, said: “Everybody is really chuf-fed. It’s a really special place.”