Andrew Mitchell has opened the new nursery school attached to Holy Cross Catholic Primary School. The nursery is situated on the same site as the school, allowing lots of interaction between the two. With the discussions dominating national headlines last week about pre-school educational provision for children, Holy Cross RC Nursery School offers the type of preparation recommended by the Government to give children the best start to their education, with comments by the Ofsted chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw, and Liz Truss, the Education Minister, reasserting the benefits of nurseries linked to primary schools. Mr Mitchell joined the toddlers and their parents for the official opening of the nursery, with staff organising a series of fun activities for children and parents alike. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony there was a chance to participate in cupcake decorating, a guess the weight of the cake competition and a number of other activities. Andrew Mitchell was struck by the enthusiasm of the staff at the nursery and the focus at such an early stage on a broad range of teaching. Mr Mitchell said “it is clear that the nursery’s focus is on the three key skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. This will give the children an excellent grounding as they move into primary school”.