A COLCHESTER pre-school which was handed a welfare requirements notice after a poor inspection showing earlier this year has made significant improvements after Ofsted officials revisited the premises.

Humpty Dumpty Pre-School, which is based at Bluebell Resource Centre in Jack Andrews Drive, was condemned in an Ofsted inspection report published in February.

In the report of the pre-school, which has 29 children registered on the roll and four members of childcare staff, inspectors labelled the quality of practice at the pre-school “very poor”, and the way staff managed children’s behaviour as “unacceptable".

Following the report, Ofsted inspectors served the pre-school with a welfare requirements notice in February – a document outlining the actions which a school must take to meet a minimum standard of educational provision.

After the pre-school failed to meet some of the requitements set by Ofsted – including the implementing of a safeguarding procedure – the inspectorate then served a second welfare requirement notice in March.

It was not until April that the school met the requisite standards set out by the welfare requirements notice, and following another inspection in July, the overall effectiveness of the education offered by the pre-school was rated as good.

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In the latest report published by Ofsted, inspectors noted the relationships between staff and pre-schoolers had improved, and youngsters spent more time learning outside than previously.

One line of the report read: “The manager and staff team have made significant improvements since the last inspection – all actions set at that time are now met [and] staff have regular opportunities for supervision meetings to discuss their professional development and practice.”

It added: “Partnerships with parents are strong – regular opportunities for information sharing between staff and parents help to promote continuity in children's care, learning and development.

“Parents are very happy with the progress their children have made in relation to their starting points [and] children who have special educational needs or disabilities receive timely support to help close any gaps in their development.”

When contacted by the Gazette, a spokesman said: “As a team we are immensely proud of the outcome we worked so hard to achieve.”