Nursery reaches milestone to be named among cream

For nursery boss and her team at Oakmount in Bamber Bridge, near Preston, have officially been declared Outstanding by the Office for Standards in Education.

The mum of town and-grandma to three said staff were jumping for joy when they received the top accolade despite strict new criteria.

She said: “ We have always been good and have been striving for this but have always just fallen short at our previous inspections but at last we have finally achieved this amazing feat.

“We were outstanding in every area and the inspectors said there was nothing else for us to do for next time other than keep it up.

“We are a small family business and have been operating for nearly 19 years.

“After putting all of our life savings into buying the business in 1997 we went into it with little more than the hope of creating a small family business for ourselves yet in that time we have gone from having four staff members and 12 children to employing 32 people and having nearly a hundred children a day.”

Former corporate business woman-turned-nursery nurse and boss Rosemary said the accolade was an “official pat on the back for the staff who works so hard.

“For them to be officially recognised in this way is great.

“They were jumping for joy with big beaming faces. “Everyone is so proud of themselves, getting that elusive Outstanding.”

Oakmount, in Kellet Lane, celebrated with a big cake made by cook Tracy Pilkington.