A NURSERY which fails to meet its children’s development needs was found to have broken the law after failing to report a significant event.

Ofsted inspectors visited The Beeches Pre-school, in St Andrew's Avenue, Colchester, in March.

The nursery was rated inadequate in all four areas of the inspection.

Among the concerns raised were ineffective risk assessments, basic and unstimulating interactions between staff and children, and a lack of support for its staff.

The damning Ofsted report also revealed issues with the cleanliness of the nursery, with the inspectors observing children sitting on dirty floors and using unclean toilet facilities.

The inspectors said: “There is a procedure in place to ensure that children wash their hands before mealtimes, but this is not always followed. This increases the risk of cross-infection and does not promote children’s good health.”

Concerns were also raised after the Ofsted visit uncovered a breach of the nursery’s legal obligations, with the report revealing “the provider has failed to ensure that Ofsted is informed of any significant event that may affect their suitability”.

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The report continued: “The provider does not document all complaints and their outcomes, as required. As a result, records do not show that all concerns have been considered and the required action has been taken, including notifying statutory agencies if needed.”

A further discovery was that some staff are unaware of the indicators that children are at risk of harm and abuse, for example from extreme views or female genital mutilation. This issue and a lack of recognition from management that staff have insufficient knowledge of safeguarding procedures led Ofsted to believe children’s safety and welfare was compromised.

Despite the issues, the nursery was praised as its “children are generally happy and confident in the setting” and “are learning to be independent”.

Nursery boss Elaine Beecham said she was greatly disappointed by the rating.

Mrs Beecham added: "We have taken on board feedback from Ofsted and immediately created a robust action plan to address the issues raised.

"The action plan was implemented and we feel the welfare requirements highlighted have now been fully addressed within the timeframe given.

"We believe the changes now in place meet the requirements specified. We hope Ofsted's next visit will confirm this belief."