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YOUNG children are getting the best possible start to their education at a Swindon nursery.

The Clifton Street pre-school has been rated as being outstanding in almost all areas examined during its latest visit by the Government's Ofsted inspectors.

The nursery, based at Clifton Street Social Hall, has achieved the top marks in its 10th anniversary year, with particular praise for the quality and standards of the care, classed as good, and the quality and standards of the nursery education, which are ranked as being outstanding.

Deputy supervisor Tamsin Clarke said: "We were thrilled with our Ofsted report, which reflects all the hard work the staff and committee have done over the last three years since the last inspection.

"It was a wonderful surprise which made the hard work worthwhile.

"We are always working towards a bright future and success for all the children at Clifton Street Pre-School."

A variety of criteria met the highest inspection marking of outstanding - including healthy living, children's achievements and enjoyment of learning, The report states: "Children's good health and physical wellbeing is maintained extremely well in this pre-school.

"Children eat healthy snacks daily, provided by the group, using organic produce as far as possible, such as bread sticks, raisins and fresh fruit."

And in the field of learning, children's eduction inspector Rosemary Davies continued: "Children bounce into the playroom, eager to find out what is on offer for the day.

"They move around as they wish, making decisions about what to do and for how long from the wealth of activities on offer. They thoroughly enjoy these, using all their senses to find out about the world around them.

"Relationships are excellent, as illustrated by the children's eagerness to show staff what they have created, as they know it will be valued.

"This develops children's self-esteem extremely well.

"Children make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. Progress in their personal, social and emotional development, communication, language and literacy and in their mathematical development, is particularly noteworthy.

"Their quick progress results from the excellent learning environment planned and created by the staff.

"Staff support children's learning extremely well, questioning children effectively, describing what they do and modelling what is expected, for example in their physical play."

Staff at the pre-school have satisfied the requests made following their last inspection three years ago, when they were asked to look at programmes for mathematical development, the use of information technology, and support for children learning English as an additional language.

The only recommendation for the pre-school is to fully comply with complaints policies established in 2005.

A full copy of the report can be viewed online at www.ofsted.gov.uk.