A NURSERY has been told it ‘requires improvement’ after a visit by Ofsted inspectors.

Blue Giraffe Childcare, in Old Coach Road, Droitwich, has slipped from its previous ‘good’ rating in 2016.

The nursery, which has 53 children on roll, was inspected by Josephine Heath on July 31.

The areas highlighted as needing improvement include the effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and the personal development for children.

However, the nursery was praised by inspectors for other areas: the premises are clean and secure, there are daily risk assessment checks to keep children safe, the staff promote physical well-being, and information is shared about children between the nursery and home to promote children’s care needs.

The report read: “Staff routinely assess children’s learning. However, this is not always precise enough. The quality of activities planned is not consistently good enough for all children. Nevertheless, overall, children benefit from some activities that help to promote different aspects of their learning. Managers have failed to swiftly identify and narrow gaps in staff’s teaching skills and the attainment of different groups of children.”

In order to achieve a higher rating, the nursery should monitor the quality of teaching and children’s progress to help promote consistently good learning outcomes.

Stella Alabaster, manager at Blue Giraffe, said: “We are disappointed with the outcome of our most recent Ofsted inspection. We do not believe that the judgement reflects the hard work and dedication shown by the staff. We have taken on board their recommendations and have worked hard to rectify these. We welcome our reinspection as soon as possible to show our improvements and demonstrate the strengths of our nursery and to reaffirm our past record of good Ofsted reports.”