A Maidenhead nursery has been deemed inadequate after inspectors found children playing on unclean floors.

Staff at the Little Red Hen Day Nursery in Waltham Road were praised as kind and supportive positive role models, but the premises was not always clean enough to comply with health and safety legislation.

“This has a significant impact on children's health and safety, particularly when children play on the floor,” read an Ofsted report published on September 8.

Nursery Manager Hollie Garratt said: “The safety of the children is our utmost priority and there were no other concerns highlighted within our risk assessments and general health and safety in the nursery.”

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She said the nursery has laminated the area of the floor where eating takes place to make it easier to clean, hired an additional cleaner for the evenings, and are in the process of planning a refurbishment for the whole nursery.

The inspection, which took place on August 4, highlighted how well staff responded to the children’s emotional needs, cuddling them and providing reassurance when they were upset.

The report stated: “They treat children with kindness and respect and encourage them to behave well and develop good manners.

“They support children to share, take turns and manage their feelings.

“During the inspection, staff encouraged older children to help others and praised them for 'good teamwork.”

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But inspectors found some care routines for younger children were not adapted in partnership with parents, meaning younger children were “very upset and unsettled at times,” impacting their motivation to get involved in activities and learn.

“We always strive to ensure we listen to what parents want their child's routine to be. In doing this the Ofsted inspector felt it wasn't meeting the sleep needs of the child / children,” said Ms Garratt.

“We as a management team are looking deeply into how we ensure the needs of individual children are met as well as listening to parents preferences and wishes.”

The manager added that the nursery are reintroducing a Parent Committee, where the issue will be discussed.

Children behaved well and were generally happy and settled according to the report, with older children developing a wide range of skills that prepare them well for future learning.

Staff learn and use sign language to communicate with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

However, some younger children were not consistently supported to develop their confidence to talk and increase their vocabulary, the report stated.

The manager, who is the special educational needs coordinator, understood her role and responsibilities, welcoming other agencies and parents into the nursery and coordinating how children with SEND are supported, Ofsted found.

Funding is used to provide one-to-one support for children with SEND which helps them to make “good progress,” according to the report.

Ofsted will reinspect the nursery within the next three to six months.

“We welcome this next inspection and are confident that we will be able to achieve a much higher rating,” said Ms Garratt.