A COWLEY children’s centre has been told it needs to improve by an education watchdog.

Florence Park Children’s Centre was inspected by Ofsted in July and in a report released last Tuesday, inspectors said the Rymers Lane centre needed to get more families to use the facility and help more people get jobs.

The report read: “The number of families who participate regularly in centre activities, including those from the most disadvantaged areas and those in most need, is too low.

“Staff do not routinely receive information about new births, track families’ attendance at clinics held at the centre or monitor the progress made by families using the centre’s services.”

Inspectors said the centre was not doing enough to provide adults with opportunities for education, training and support in order to gain paid employment.

The report also said: “Target setting lacks precision and the local authority is not giving sufficient attention to monitoring the centre’s performance.

“The advisory board does not provide sufficient challenge to improve the quality of services and not enough parents are involved in its decision making.”

But the inspectors did praise the centre. It was said to be “bright and attractive”, and staff were “welcoming”.

The outdoors areas were said to be used well and activities were said to bring plenty of benefits.

Case work was said to be “well structured” and “effective”.