A QUARTER of the nurseries and child minders in the Bradford district visited by inspectors over a three-month period were told they were inadequate or need to improve.

Schools inspection body Ofsted has just released the results of each inspection it carried out on early years providers over the period from the start of April to the end of June.

In Bradford there were 49 inspections in this period. Of these, three providers (six per cent), gained the top mark, having been rated "outstanding" while 34 (69 per cent) were rated good.

Inspectors said five required improvement (10 per cent) while seven (14 per cent) were given the lowest rating of "inadequate."

Bradford had the second highest percentage of "inadequate" early years providers in Yorkshire and the Humber, with only North Yorkshire having a higher proportion - 17 per cent. The regional average was just eight per cent.

An Ofsted spokesman said: "Parents can be assured that young children at those provisions are in an environment where they can learn and develop. However, there are still too many early years provisions which do not help young children be ready to learn when they start school."

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for children's services at Bradford Council, was pleased that three quarters of the centres were deemed good or better. He said: "These are the types of places we want early intervention with our young people. This gives us a strong position to build on, and we aim to have a lot more getting outstanding ratings."

On the nurseries that were deemed inadequate he said: "Of that sample size there are bound to be a few inspections that raise concerns. A lot of these that get inadequate do turn things around pretty quickly."

Councillor Debbie Davies, Conservative spokesman for education, said: "As a parent myself I think parents need to have faith that children are getting the care they get is at least good. I'm quite disappointed with these figures.

"In some areas people don't have a choice which nursery their children go to. If a nursery gets inadequate or requires improvement they obviously lose confidence in the care their children are getting.

"Parents should be able to trust that the place they are sending their children is at least good."

Among the early years providers deemed inadequate over the three month period were four nurseries. They were Oxenhope Under 5s Pre School, Bonbons Private Nursery in Thornton, Tiny Tots on Thornton Road and Piccolo Nursery in Saltaire.

Ofsted has since re-visited Piccolo and Tiny Tots and said they are satisfied the pre schools have taken "prompt and effective" action to deal with problems raised in the reports.