A PRE-SCHOOL in York has suffered a setback after the quality of its standards has fallen according to the education watchdog.

An Ofsted inspector found Holgate Pre-School, on Acomb Road,‘requires improvement’ dropping from the 'good' grade that was given in 2015.

In the report, Inspector Michelle Lorains said that the school required improvement in two areas: effectiveness, leadership and management had dropped as well as personal development, behaviour and welfare.

She said: “The manager has not completed risk assessments specifically in relation to other building users and the security of the premises when children are present. For example, she is not always aware of other groups in the building and some toilet facilities are shared.

“However, staff deployment is highly effective and the level of supervision is very good.

“This means children are not at significant risk. Safeguarding is effective.”

Mrs Lorains did, however, commend the staffs ‘excellent knowledge of how to help make children make the best possible progress'.

She said: “Children have good levels of independence and staff reflect on and make changes to their practice to encourage this further. Staff use regular praise to help

children feel proud of their achievements and understand the things they have done

well.”

In a statement, the school said: “We are pleased that the report recognises the quality of teaching, the support that we give to the children and their development.

"However, the overall outcome is not what we were expecting and we are all disappointed and upset about this. As a team we all work incredibly hard to provide a warm, caring, safe environment for the children at pre-school.

The report does state that “staff deployment is highly effective and the level of supervision is very good.

“This means that children are not at significant risk. Safeguarding is effective.

“The report recommends that we improve our practice around risk assessment of other users of the building.

“To this end we are already putting additional measures in place working with the Minister of the church to further strengthen what we do.”