THE head of a Bradford Council owned nursery said she was "extremely disappointed" after Government inspectors said its child care provision provided "inadequate" safeguarding to children.

Inspectors visited Canterbury Nursery School and Children's Centre on Basil Street near Horton Park, in June over concerns about staff interaction with children and how staff are coached in their role. The inspection was released earlier this week and deemed the centre's provision of childcare to be inadequate in all categories.

Chris McKay, head of the centre, said the centre had taken "prompt and effective action" to deal with the issues in the report.

The report said staff did not follow safeguarding procedures when concerns over child safety were raised, that teaching could be weak and not matched to children's needs and that children did not make sufficient progress in the nursery.

The latest report added: "Gaps in children's progress are not closing quickly, and are in some cases widening.

"Children's well being is not sufficiently supported because staff do not follow the setting's safeguarding procedures once a concern regarding children's safety has been raised.

"All children are settled and happy, but they are cared for in a false sense of security which hinders their emotional development.

"The suitability of staff to work with children is not routinely checked. Therefore, children's safety is jeopardised."

However, it did say all children were welcomed, had positive relationships with staff and "behave very well."

The inspectors have called for the centre to provide "support, advice and guidance" to staff to help them better understand how to protect children from harm.

In response to the report, Mrs McKay said: “We were extremely disappointed with the findings of the Ofsted Early Years Inspection of our childcare on non-domestic premises, as we take safeguarding extremely seriously. We ensure that staff receive regular training in this area and see in their daily practice that they do recognise where there are concerns and follow the procedures to address them. However, under the pressure of the inspection, the depth of the knowledge of some staff was not communicated clearly enough to the Inspector, hence their concerns.

“Following the inspection we reviewed and revised our policies and procedures, undertook further training with staff to ensure that they all fully understood them and closely monitored their practice thereafter. Subsequent monitoring visits from Ofsted have confirmed that we have taken prompt and effective action to address the concerns raised.”

George McQueen, the Council’s assistant director for access and inclusion, said: “It is very disappointing when any element of childcare provision is deemed to be inadequate.

“The Council continues to work with staff at the centre to bring about the necessary improvements using strategies already in place to address the concerns raised by Ofsted.”