A nursery in Burnley has been told to improve after a “disappointing” Ofsted inspection.

Whitegate Early Years Care in Burnley has been told it ‘requires improvement’.

Leaders understand what they want babies and children to learn, but according to inspectors, “not all staff have the required skills to implement this in practice”.

Quality of education and leadership are some of the areas that need to improve.

A spokesperson for the nursery said they were “disappointed” by the rating but has vowed to “become even better as a result”.

According to inspectors, staff do not always know how to support children with their learning progress.

The report said: “Staff do not consistently provide the quantity and quality of interactions that children need to build their knowledge and skills to a good level.”

Inspectors also highlighted issues with the nursery directors and two did not “provide Ofsted with the information needed to determine their suitability”.

The report said: “This was immediately actioned at the inspection. In addition, the directors do not play an active role in the nursery or have unsupervised access to children, minimising any risk.”

According to the reports, staff do not always seize unplanned learning opportunities as they arise.

The report said: “Young children show their love of books and stories by bringing books to staff.

“Staff put the books aside and do not take the opportunity to use this interaction to reinforce children's positive attitudes to learning.”

The report did highlight several positives.

Leaders are said to ensure staff understand the importance of children hearing a lot of vocabulary of to support the development of their communication and language skills.

Staff also provide a range of interesting and engaging activities for the kids.

Staff are also said to support children's personal, social and emotional development well. Staff are also said to build strong relationships with children.

Another positive surrounded meetings and briefings. Staff are kept up to date with any changes in policies and procedures.

Safeguarding policies at the nursery are also said to be effective.

A spokesperson for the nursery said: “Our recent Ofsted inspection was focused on children under the age of two within the daycare.

"It was a very thorough inspection and highlighted the excellent standards of care offered to our youngest children, many of whom were still settling into nursery.

"It is a difficult time for babies and their parents when they first start nursery and parents have to go back to work and the inspector highlighted that staff work hard to develop 'strong and trusting' relationships with the children so that they feel safe and happy. 

“The inspector wanted to see more teaching from the adults and the adults to be able to articulate why they provide the experiences that they do. We agreed that this is an improvement we can make and are already working on this.

"Language and communication is a huge priority for us and the staff are working on making every interaction a learning opportunity.

"We are looking forward to showing Ofsted how we have developed our curriculum for the babies and toddlers and how we have improved the quality of teaching when they return.

“We were disappointed with the grading of requires improvement because there were so many strengths highlighted in the report.

"However, we are a setting which is always trying to improve so we will become even better as a result.”

NOTE: This inspection refers to Whitegate Early Years Care and not Whitegate Nursery School.

Whitegate Nursery School which is based in the same building was deemed as 'Outstanding' in an inspection on 14 December 2017.