A WINCHESTER nursery has been told it must improve the safety and welfare of its children, after a recent inspection.

Poppins Nursery and After School Care, based at The Carroll Centre in Stanmore, was rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted.

The inspection, carried out on September 28, stated that the 'children's safety and welfare are compromised'.

Its last inspection, in 2016, rated the nursery as 'good'. The nursery is due to have another inspection this month to determine if improvements have been made.

The report said: “Those designated to take the lead in safeguarding lack knowledge of child protection issues. Significant changes to the manager and key staff have had a negative impact on the nursery. This has resulted in numerous breaches of welfare requirements.

“The provider has not provided the new manager with sufficient information on children, including information on previous and ongoing funding. Furthermore, information sharing with parents is weak. This means staff do not know children well enough.

“Children arrive happily and receive a warm welcome from the friendly staff. They form close relationships with their peers and are kind to one another. For example, children particularly enjoy being outside and willingly take turns to use the ride-on toys.

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“Recruitment procedures are weak. Not all staff that attend the nursery on a regular basis, including volunteers, are vetted as required. They have not had sufficient training to make sure they fully understand the nursery's safeguarding policies and procedures.

“The key-person system is ineffective. Parents say they do not know who their child's key person is and comment that staff do not share information on their children's progress. Poor partnership working means gaps in children's learning are not addressed swiftly. 

“The procedures for staff recruitment do not ensure the suitability of staff, including volunteers, working at the nursery. The provider does not ensure that all persons who have regular contact with children on a regular basis are suitably vetted. 

“Although staff have had safeguarding training, the manager has not identified that some staff need additional training, as they do not fully understand safeguarding policies and procedures. This compromises children's safety.”

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Barbara Guthrie, chairman of trustees at The Carroll Centre, said: “The staff and trustees of Poppins Nursery (part of the Carroll Centre, Stanmore) are working hard to address the issues raised by the recent Ofsted inspection. We are focussing especially on administrative issues which were the primary reason for an 'inadequate' rating.

“The inspectors were very impressed with the quality of the work in the classroom.

“We are working closely with Hampshire County Council Children’s Services Team and are grateful for their support. We are confident that we are on track to satisfactorily address all the issues raised and be in full compliance with Ofsted’s requirements in time for Ofsted’s next inspection in November.”