Staff at Seashells Children and Families Centre are celebrating success in their first ever Ofsted report.

Inspectors visited the centre in Sheerness at the end of September and the results have now been published.

It has been rated good in all aspects, including the quality of services it offers and the effectiveness of the leadership and management.

Seashells, which opened in Rose Street in 2005, and is a SureStart centre, is run by the charity Children and Families Ltd and supported by Kent County Council.

It is currently working with 949 Island families and over the years has helped almost 3,000.

It provides a range of services including parent and toddler groups, antenatal help and adult learning.

The report describes Seashells as vibrant, welcoming and inclusive and says it is well led and managed.

It goes on to say that staff are passionate about improving the life chances of the local community and the services make a positive difference to users’ lives.

Inspectors said the centre is not yet outstanding due to a few issues including the levels of childhood obesity and breast-feeding being too variable and that relatively few male carers take part in regular activities.

But it say that Seashells is held in high regard by families and that links with health professionals are particularly strong.

It also notes that team spirit is high and staff are well motivated.

To celebrate their success and thank everyone, a tea party was held for all staff and centre users on Monday.

Centre manager Pat Bacon said: “We are just delighted – we couldn’t be more pleased.

“Everybody, the whole team, has worked together and that includes the children, parents and staff.

“It’s about everyone that comes here – they are the ones that make Seashells a great place.”

She says they have already got an action plan in place to tackle the few things which were noted to make it outstanding and said they would welcome parents’ feedback.

• For more photos, see this week's Sheerness Times Guardian, out Wednesday.