A nursery in Great Harwood has been rated as ‘inadequate’ after inspectors highlighted issues with a leaking roof, staff members' DBS checks, and "hazards" in the children's play area.

Elms Private Day Nursery, in Lowerfold Road, had previously been rated ‘good’ at an inspection in 2018.

However after Ofsted visited at the start of October, the nursery was rated inadequate overall and for ‘personal development’ and ‘leadership and management’.

The manager of the nursery said the necessary improvements have already been made and has vowed to improve the nursery’s overall rating.

According to the report, weak management has lead to breaches of the statutory requirements expected of the site.

Leaders have failed to ensure the premises is in good condition. An example used was the roof above the children’s play room, which was leaking at the time of the inspection.

The report said: “Leaders have failed to ensure that the premises are in good repair and remain suitable.

"In addition, procedures for risk assessment and staff vetting are not sufficiently robust.

“For example, the roof above one of the rooms where children play is leaking onto furniture and there are hazards in children's play areas.”

Other rooms are described as “cold and draughty”.

The report did mention that leaders took steps to address structural issues, by rearranging groups and rooms used by the children until repairs could be made.

The report also said not every staff member was subject to a DBS check, which is used to check the criminal record of someone applying for a role.

According to inspectors, these shortcomings “compromise the safety” of children.

The report said: “Not every member of staff who works with the children has been subject to a criminal records check.

“This recent decline in the safe management of the provision, compromises children's safety.”

Some of the equipment used at the nursery was highlighted as inadequate, with broken plastic and rotten wood “accessible in children's outside play area” creating “a risk of injury to children”.

The report did highlight some positives, including the curriculum which is described as “well-planned”. Staff also take children on a variety of outings, including yoga studios and forests.

Children are also said to display “good attitudes to learning”.

The report said: “All staff understand the curriculum and what they want children to learn. Staff plan and provide a broad variety of learning opportunities to help all children achieve the next steps in their learning.”

Younger children are also said to develop well when it comes to speech and language, but older children are not “consistently given the opportunity to build and extend their thinking and responses during activities and routines”.

Overall, children as said to behave well and children with disabilities or special educational needs are well-supported.

The report said the setting has “faced significant challenged” since the previous inspection.

It said: “The current manager lacks some of the key knowledge needed to help her implement robust procedures to ensure children's safety.”

Katherine Haworth, manager of the nursery, said the team was disappointed at the Ofsted rating.

She said: “It was heart-wrenching to hear the rating at the time because my mum and dad built this business.

“I think Covid impacted us more than I realise. Jobs were being delayed that should have been done sooner.

“I am getting support from Lancashire County Council's early years support team, who are coming out this month. Staff are also going on courses.”

Katherine said the necessary changes highlighted in the report have already been implemented.

She said: “We have already done the jobs that were mentioned in the report. The roof is now watertight.

“We have three trees with a conservation order on. We had them cut back in the summer which  caused some damage to the roof.

“On the day of the inspection it was raining quite hard. All of the children were moved out straight away which is highlighted in the report.

“The broken equipment has been removed and I have updated a staff member’s DBS check.

“We will turn this around and I know parents are behind us. We are back on track now and have a good team of staff.”