A Norfolk nursery has been ordered to improve by Ofsted after the quality and standards of care were found to be inadequate. The report also found that Kenninghall Pre-School Nursery trustees are not meeting the national standards for under 8s day care and child minding, following a visit by Ofsted inspector Lesley Gadd on January 23 this year.

A Norfolk nursery has been ordered to improve by Ofsted after the quality and standards of care were found to be inadequate.

The report also found that Kenninghall Pre-School Nursery trustees are not meeting the national standards for under 8s day care and child minding, following a visit by Ofsted inspector Lesley Gadd on January 23 this year.

She raised a number of concerns, including the provision made in protecting the children from harm or neglect and helping them to stay safe, which was deemed inadequate.

Registration systems to record the attendance of staff, children and visitors “are not accurate and staff do not carry out fire drills with sufficient frequency to ensure that all new children are confident in escaping from the building quickly and safely”. Toys and equipment are present in front of the rear exit door which could present a tripping hazard for children and staff if they need to evacuate in an emergency, and reference was made to a ramp where children have slipped on a number of occasions.

Organisation at the nursery - which has two members of staff and 18 children currently enrolled and is run by a committee of parents and carers - was also criticised.

Children's welfare in case of complaints or child protection concerns are “inadequately supported as records are out of date”, and complaints information and records to demonstrate that all staff and committee are vetted is not easily available.

However the report found the quality and standards of the nursery education to be satisfactory.

The improvements required include undertaking periodic fire drills, ensuring risk assessments are used effectively, and improving management monitoring systems to ensure that children's learning is further supported and all aspects of the national standards are robustly met.

Chairman of trustees, Harriet Waterhouse, said: “We were very surprised and disappointed as we have had a good rating before. Most of the failings were administrational oversights that we rectified while the inspector was still with us. We had a committee meeting last night and we have got an action plan for improvements on the education side with lots of parental support.”

Set up in 1976, the nursery is based in a mobile building at Kenninghall primary school, but is run separately from the school.

County council spokesman Kate Gooding said: “A new early years teacher has just been attached to Kenninghall and was due to begin working with the pre-school later in February. However, following the pre-school's Ofsted report, we will now move to provide intensive support to the pre-school earlier, to help bring about the necessary improvements.”