A THURROCK day nursery has been celebrating an 'outstanding' Ofsted report.

Willow Garden Day Nursery is a unique children's nursery at Orsett Heath, set among 3⁄4 acre of beautiful woodland with mature gardens.

It was set up by Andy Melbourne with his wife, J, in 2011. Andy has a degree in Philosophy from the University of Essex and a commercial background as a company director in advertising, broadcasting and international sports marketing.

He is chair of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Essex Network, Chair of the Advisory Board for Thurrock's Children's Centres (East Locality), represents Early Years on Thurrock's 0-11s Children's Strategy Group, and also represents Early Years on Thurrock Council's Brighter Futures Children's Partnership Board.

Willow Garden is a 'mini forest school' with a huge outdoor class-room providing opportunities for children to learn in every season - and whatever the weather - with natural materials and in natural surroundings, which includes a fish pond, a wide variety of fruit trees and an abundance of wildlife, birdlife and insect-life – with 40+ resident species, according to an ecology study undertaken by Essex Ecology Services.

Staff at the nursery have been trained in the forest school approach to learning by Essex Wildlife Trust and the nursery has achieved the Gold Level in Environmental Management (STEM), central to which is its belief in and commitment to understanding, appreciating and protecting the natural environment.

Willow Garden received a Special Recognition Award for this at the LOCASE (Low Carbon Across the South East) Business Awards in July 2019.

Ofsted inspectors said they recognised Willow Garden provides an outstanding level of early years education, with state of the art resources and equipment amid a huge, beautiful natural environment.

The nursery serves families from a wide variety of cultural, language and ethnic backgrounds and has been recognised for its diversity and inclusivity, supporting a range of different educational needs.