A ‘warm’ and ‘nurturing’ nursery has been rated requires improvement by Ofsted.

Peek a Boo Childcare, on Accrington Road, Blackburn, received the rating following their most recent visit by the inspection body, despite being commended for hosting ‘meaningful activities’ and children having a ‘positive attitude to learning’.

In their first inspection since being established in March 2020, the nursery was rated requires improvement in 'quality of education' and 'leadership and management' while being rated good in 'behaviour and attitudes' and 'personal development'.

The report said that children ‘make themselves at home and forge strong bonds with staff’, and are happy and well behaved.

The childcare provider saw a recent change in management but failed to inform Ofsted of the change which breached the body's requirements.

Ofsted reported that the manager was sourced from another of the company’s settings and is ‘passionate’ about her role while developing new systems to ‘monitor staff practice and the quality of education’.

The nursery was also reprimanded, with the report saying that the support for staff was not good enough.

The report said: “Although supervisions take place, they are in their infancy.

“There have been changes to the staff team and new staff have been recruited.

“As a result, the manager has prioritised mandatory training, such as developing awareness of child protection.

“Some staff have not received focused training to help them to strengthen their teaching skills.

“This means there are inconsistencies in staff's ability to support individual children to learn the skills they need right now.

“Table-top activities, such as painting, sticking and glueing, enthuse children, but are not always tailored to meet each child's learning needs.”

Speaking about the children’s learning the report, inspectors said that children followed the rules and that staff work well with the children.

The report says: “Older children tell their new friends 'no running' and 'kinds hands', during circle time.

“Children sit in small groups and eat their nutritious lunch. They chat to their friends and display very good table manners.

“Children also enjoy sampling new foods. This helps them to develop their taste buds and appreciate the need for variety in food.”

The nursery was also praised due to encouraging children to do things by themselves, interaction with the local community and good language development with children also being taught sign language.

The nursery refused to comment.

The nursery is part of a group that runs four nurseries in Blackburn with Darwen. The provisions on Duckworth Street, Darwen and Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, were both rated good in their most recent Ofsted inspections. The provision on Infirmary Street, Blackburn has not yet been inspected.