PARENTS have vowed to stand by a pre-school rated “inadequate” by the government’s education watchdog.

North Drive Pre-School in Grove lodged an official complaint after the inspection from Ofsted, saying the inspector was biased.

Staff said Natasha Crellin arrived under the misapprehension there were outstanding complaints against the pre-school – which they claimed were historic – and judged the school on that basis.

She went on to rate the 57-child nursery inadequate overall and said it “did not meet legal requirements for early years settings”.

But parents showed their support for the pre-school at its spring fete at the end of April.

Kerstine Hart, who went to the nursery herself and sent her two children there, said she was “absolutely disgusted” with the inspector’s report.

The 38-year-old, who lives in Ashdown Way, said: "My daughter loves going there, my son loved going there. They are absolutely fantastic and what Ofsted have done isn’t right.”

Education authority Oxfordshire County Council said it would not fund any new pupils at the nursery – which shares a site with Grove CofE Primary School but is run by a separate organisation – until it addresses the concerns raised by Ofsted.

The council provided about £100,000 for places during 2014 and 2015.

Ms Crellin’s inspection report said not all staff were confident in the procedures they should follow if they had child protection concerns, which, she added, compromised their ability to safeguard children’s welfare.

She also said staff did not ensure noise levels were suitable for children to have conversations and “concentrate on their play”.

The one positive note she made was that staff supported children’s language development well.

Manager Sarah Overson, who has run North Drive for six years, said she welcomed criticism but believed the report was biased.

In her official complaint to Ofsted, she wrote: “The manager tried to engage with the inspector when the manager believed the inspector was being very negative and unapproachable. It is the honestly held belief that the inspector arrived for the inspection with a preconceived impression of the preschooland her own mind made up that the pre-school had failed because of past, supposed open, unresolved issues, which were later confirmed to be closed.

“This we find totally unfair and has produced a tainted view of North Drive Pre-school.”

Ofsted said the pre-school would be reinspected in the next six months and if it did not improved it could be stripped of its registration as an early years provider. A spokesman refused to confirm what complaints had been made about the pre-school or whether Ms Crellin had been under the impression those complaints were outstanding.