A nursery is celebrating after being the first in Kent to receive ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, since changes to the inspection were brought in last year.

Springfield Lodge Day Nursery in Powder Mill Lane, Dartford achieved the highest award by the school inspectors and maintained their exceptional record from their previous inspection in 2010.

Nursery manager Melanie Pearce said: “I’m bursting with pride, we have a really dedicated and hardworking team here at Springfield and I’m so happy and proud that they’ve managed to achieve this again.”

The nursery which offers a “home from home environment for babies and children aged 3 months to 5 years” was also awarded with the Kent Quality Mark Re-accreditation in November.

Kent County Council gives this award to the county’s top nurseries and pre-schools, and Springfield is one of 68 in the county to receive it.

Melanie added: “We’re very committed to continuous improvement and making what’s already good even better.”

The revised Early Years Foundation Stage framework came into effect from September 2012 and aims to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy by narrowing the assessment focus reducing 69 ‘learning goals’ to 17.