A NURSERY has been told to improve by inspectors.

Puddleducks at Rising Bridge, in Blackburn Road, was given an Ofsted rating of three during a recent inspection.

The rating, the nursery’s first since it opened on June 9, means it ‘requires improvement’.

During a visit to the nursery, inspector Anne Parker found several areas in which staff could improve.

However, she said that staff have ‘generally good teaching skills and a reasonable understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage’, enthusiastically engage the children, are kind and friendly, and keep them safe.

In a report published online last week, she wrote: “It is not yet good because staff do not consistently use their observations and assessments of the children in order to plan activities that match children’s individual learning and development needs.

“Information collected from parents is not sufficient to establish children’s starting points, and as a result, staff are not able to track children’s progress over time.

“Not all parents are provided with sufficient information about their child’s learning to enable them to continue the learning experiences at home.”

The nursery operates from a converted church, where children are looked after in two main playrooms, and have access to a quiet room, as well as a garden separated into areas for younger and older children.

There were currently 35 children attending, the Ofsted report said, cared for by seven staff members.

Mrs Parker added: “The staff team are very new, enthusiastic and keen to learn. There have already been changes made to the provision in the short time they have been open.”

The nursery’s owner and manager, Sue Lord, said the Ofsted rating was ‘not a surprise’ considering the nursery had only recently opened.

She said: “Ofsted said [the inspection would be] six months and they came after four months and the children had been with us for 40 hours over three weeks.

“We had not seen much of them. It was looking after their wellbeing and settling them in. They are very young and they were settling in.”

She said several plans had been put in place to improve the rating, with inspectors due back in the next 12 months.