MANAGERS of a Stourport child care group judged inadequate by Ofsted for breaching safeguarding and welfare regulations are “extremely disappointed” by the outcome.

Inspectors visited St Wulstan’s Child Care Group, which operates in the grounds of St Wulstan’s RC Primary School, on October 17.

The report stated that the group’s early years provision was not safeguarding children by failing to notify Ofsted of changes in management and its committee, failing to have a member of staff with a paediatric first aid qualification on the premises at all times and failing to provide up-to-date records.

The report stated: “Some required record keeping is either not available or up to date. In particular, this means that the group are unable to demonstrate that all staff have completed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) or Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks.”

In a statement, the group said its new manager Sally Bache, who has been in the role for several months, had already identified those problems before the inspection and work had now been done to address the issues.

As strengths, the report stated that the manager and staff were an “effective team” that “enthusiastically plan and organise rewarding activities and resources”.

It also praised the group’s partnership with parents, who were “actively involved and well informed” about their children’s development.

Forty-three children currently use the group, which is managed by a committee and offers nursery, before and after-school and holiday play sessions.

A statement from the group said: “We are all extremely disappointed by the outcome of the recent Ofsted Inspection, however all issues raised by the inspector had already been identified by the new manager and have now been fully addressed.

“We are very pleased by the main body of the report, which highlights the many positive aspects of the provision and look forward to our follow-up inspection which, we are sure, will recognise the hard work of the staff and committee.

“We would like to thank our parents and children for their continued support.”

According to Ofsted, “inadequate” provision requires significant improvement and enforcement action. A further inspection will take place in a year’s time.