Little People Bramley: Ofsted downgrades Leeds nursery for first time 'in 19 years'

Little People Bramley, based at McLaren Fields, Lower Town Street, has now been rated as Requires Improvement by Ofsted, according to its latest inspection report.

A spokesperson for the nursery said staff were “saddened” by the downgrade and that it was due to a “small mistake on the day under pressure”.

They added that the nursery had been rated as Good overall (previously known as Satisfactory by Ofsted) “for the last 19 years”, prior to the most recent inspection.

In the latest report, the education watchdog rated the nursery as being Good for the quality of education and behaviour and attitudes categories of inspection.

However, it was rated as Requires Improvement in both the personal development and management categories, leading to an overall rating of Requires Improvement.

The report said: “Staff offer activities that consider children's current interests and stages of development.

"However, they do not always support children to learn about the safety of resources that they use during activities. Leaders also do not consistently know what is being used in the rooms during children's play and the impact of this.”

But it added that children “feel emotionally secure”.

"They are happy and arrive excitedly to the nursery,” inspectors said.

"They have clear bonds with their key person, who they seek out for a cuddle, if needed. Staff are responsive to children's needs and ensure that they feel heard and valued.”

However, inspectors also said that staff plan some activities that were “not always appropriate for children to explore unsupervised”.

The report said: “For example, they create a mark-making activity with salt and lollipop sticks. Some children use the sticks to scoop the salt and ingest this.

"Staff remove the activity and provide drinks of water. However, they do not adequately support children to understand how to remain safe during activities.”

Ofsted inspectors said they found staff had strong relationships with parents and carers and that parents were involved in the spending of additional funding to support their child's development.

The report added: “Children are encouraged to be independent and make choices in their play. Staff offer multiple choices of activities and allow children to choose their preferred one. This helps children to feel respected in the setting.”

A spokesperson for Little People Bramley, said: “We were saddened by the overall outcome, which was a result of our team making a small mistake on the day under pressure. We take comfort in the fact that the report is mostly positive and in most parts reflects our ethos well.

“The inspector commented that ours is one of the most welcoming and nurturing nurseries she has visited which makes us immensely proud as this is so important to us. There are many positives to take away from the inspection and we have already implemented change to prevent a similar incident occurring in the future.”

They added: “We now patiently await reinspection when we hope to return to our previous grading of Good which we have held for the last 19 years.

“We would like to thank our wonderful parent community who have helped raise our teams' spirits after the disappointing outcome."