Representatives from East Nursery in Paisley will travel to London next month for a presentation ceremony for the awards, made to service industries that are successfully meeting the needs of the public.
Nursery head Rosaleen Ventisei said, 'We thought gaining a Charter Mark would be a good opportunity to highlight the work going on in the nursery - the quality of our planning, curriculum, care and training.
'I think sometimes people just see the children playing and don't realise how much work goes on behind the scenes. For the award we had to consider how as a service we meet each of ten different criteria, ranging from setting standards to access for all and innovation and improvement. We submitted physical evidence and had a visit from an independent assessor who asked for further information before reporting back to the judges. It was a lengthy and very detailed self-assessment of what we do.
'We now have the Charter Mark for three years, plus an action plan of how we aim to continue to progress.' Ms Ventisei added, 'The main benefit of getting the award has been staff morale. They are absolutely thrilled. They are poorly paid for the amount and quality of work they do, and this just highlights what is involved in their job. It is not just a case of childminding - they develop the curriculum and are involved in all areas of pre-5 learning. The Charter Mark has shown the quality of work we achieve not just to potential customers but to those in the education service as well.
'The main thing is that the nursery staff see their work as not just a job but a lifestyle. They do not just clock in to a day's work, but give a lot of time to the children and parents. They even help parents after hours and I think that's what makes our nursery special - our ethos of care and developing relationships.' East Nursery plans to join in Renfrewshire council's work in promoting healthier lifestyles and life-long learning, encouraging children to develop healthy eating and exercise habits from an early age. They are also devising an exercise class for parents and planning self-help workshops in healthy eating and stopping smoking.
The nursery plans to develop the learning curriculum to fit the individual child and wants to integrate children into the nursery who require additional support.