Nursery told to improve teaching but safety better

Kids Planet Day Nursery Apley was previously told its risk assessment was not effective

A nursery has improved in monitoring children's safety after a previous inspection criticised it for "compromising" wellbeing, although questions remain over teaching standards.

The earlier report said staff at Kids Planet Day Nursery Apley, located on the grounds of Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, did not recognise choking risks to babies, and risk assessment was not effective.

However, in its latest inspection, Ofsted found progress was evident in safety but with further development advised, with both that area and the teaching offer set a deadline by which to satisfy inspectors.

Overall, the site has been rated as requiring improvement, compared to "inadequate" following the previous visit.

"The manager recognises that there is still work to do to and the whole team is committed to further improvements," inspectors said.

They added that overall, the risk assessment was effective, and leaders had devised a clear curriculum for each age group.

However, the report also noted that not all staff had a good enough understanding about what children needed to learn next.

"As a result, although children make some progress in their learning, they do not make the progress of which they are capable," Ofsted found.

The nursery has been told that to meet requirement, it must by 28 June:

• Continue to develop the focus on risk assessment to address potential hazards even more swiftly

• Provide a consistently strong curriculum across all age groups

• Implement appropriate strategies to promote positive behaviour

• Build on the supervision and support for staff to raise the quality of teaching to a consistently good level

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.