STAFF at a village pre-school that was described as "inadequate" only a few months ago have been praised for turning it around so soon.

Inspectors at education watchdog Ofsted visited Oxenhope Under Fives pre-school this spring, and in May released a highly critical report into the nursery, which is based at the village community centre.

Among the criticisms levelled at the school were that quality of teaching was inadequate and that the committee running the school had breached legal requirements by failing to let Ofsted know of changes in committee membership.

It also raised concerns about hygiene in the centre.

But a follow up visit last month left inspectors so impressed the school experienced the rare achievement of shooting up two rating levels, from inadequate to good in the space of five months.

The new report says: "The quality of teaching is good. Staff have a sound knowledge and understanding of how to effectively safeguard children. Leadership is good.

"Since the last inspection the manager and staff have shown a clear determination to improve the pre-school for children and parents.

"Staff attend regular meetings where they discuss new targets and ideas for improvement to drive the practice forward. Children are very happy and settled."

The school has about 30 children on its roll, and is run by a committee.

Tony Neary, treasurer of the committee, said he and the rest of the committee were quick to take on the criticisms made by Ofsted and improve the problems highlighted as soon as possible.

He said: "When the last report came out we said we would take it seriously and get the pre-school back to where it should be.

"We had to de-construct the report and the inspector's criticisms and decide what we needed to do. We engaged with support officers and had some training with the local authority.

"There were some issues with the community centre when the inspectors first came, but it has been completely refurbished and cleaned now which has really helped.

"We had the advantage of having the summer holiday to get everything sorted. All our staff are now well qualified.

"We're really pleased we have managed to turn things around."