Ann Curran and Ana Sevilla

A CHILDREN’S centre is celebrating after it achieved an “Outstanding” rating for the first time in its 20-year history.

New River Green Children’s Centre in Ramsey Walk, Canonbury, was awarded the top grade last month from Ofsted, the government regulator of school standard – although headteacher Ann Curran and executive headteacher Ana Sevilla were told on the day of the inspection early last month.

“But it still needed to go through Ofsted’s process and so we couldn’t tell families or staff for what felt like a lifetime!” Ms Sevilla said.

“With parents, we just kept saying ‘We’re very happy with the result!’ It was a good six weeks. The parents were very positive – and said ‘Yes, that was what we expected.’ And the staff were over the moon.”

The children’s centre, which opened in 2001, is set to expand in the coming months as a family hub alongside its nursery, which has provision for 91 children.

The hub will provide an “open door” for families to receive support up until the age of 19 or 25 for people with additional needs.

The nursery itself has a higher than average number of vulnerable children on its books.

Explaining the secret to their success, Ms Sevilla – who has worked in education for more than 40 years – said: “It’s continuous, building the relationship with your staff, really knowing them. And knowing the journey and knowing the challenges they face in their life and supporting them to grow and develop. And understanding the complexities in the area.”

Among the school’s achievements highlighted in the Ofsted report, it praises how “happy and excited children are when attending the centre” and describes the support for children and their families as “exceptional”.

It goes on to recognise the “inspirational leadership” at the nursery, with managers praised for “working tirelessly to improve provision” while staff “completely understand that happy and content children learn best”.

The children are “confident, independent and very well behaved”.

Ms Sevilla, who is also exec head at nearby Packington Children’s Centre, which is also Outstanding, added: “The report highlights just how hard our dedicated staff work to ensure that children in the centre are given the absolute best start to their development.

“It’s an absolute delight to read and I just want to say a huge well done to Ann Curran, head of nursery, and all our wonderful staff.”