A NURSERY has achieved a top national award for its excellent standards and effort in supporting young children's development in education.

Teepee Day Nursery in Bracknell celebrated their achievements on receiving the National Day Nurseries Association's Quality Counts' platinum award with a garden party on Friday, July 5.

Quality Counts is a national quality scheme designed to help a nursery explore all aspects of its care and education to ensure that it is delivering the best possible service for young children.

Bracknell Borough Mayor, Councillor Pauline McKenzie was invited to unveil the official certificate and took a tour around the nursery.

Emma Tennant, nursery director, said: "This fantastic achievement really does show the effort all my colleagues have put in.

"We are very proud of our nursery and it is great to be able to celebrate in this way.

"At the moment there are only 16 nurseries in the whole country who have achieved this award and not one other in Berkshire - we are not competitive but it is great to be the first again!"

The nursery already has achieved two outstanding judgements from the education watchdog, Ofsted with the Health and Safety Award for nurseries and Investors in People Gold.

Helen Kinch, Teepee Day Nursery manager, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded Quality Counts Platinum level. This is a very special achievement and reaching this point is a culmination of much hard work from the nursery team.

"I would like to thank everyone, including parents who have supported us on our Quality Counts journey and we all really enjoyed celebrating our success at the garden party."

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the NDNA, added: "Achieving Quality Counts involves a great deal of hard work and development, and illustrates a nursery’s absolute commitment to children.

"The nursery should be very proud of this achievement as the Quality Counts scheme demonstrates that children are at the heart of what they do.”