A NORTH Oxford nursery has been given an inadequate rating after an inspection found staff failed to keep children safe and offered them “mundane and uninspiring” activities.

Ofsted inspectors criticised Oxford Waterways nursery, which has 120 pre-school children, and found it did not meet legal requirements for early years settings.

The findings showed staff at the Kidsunlimited-owned nursery, off Elizabeth Jennings Way, were slow to identify safety risks and sometimes failed to take action.

Ofsted inspectors Melissa Cox and Victoria Frost said: “Staff notice adults and children are slipping on a mat on a recently polished floor but they do not do anything about it until the inspector highlights the risk.”

She added: “Staff do not show children how to keep themselves and others safe.”

The inspection also found the nursery, opened in 2007, failed to meet the needs of children, with teaching described as “poor”.

The staff’s understanding of child development was also criticised as well as the activities.

The report read: “Staff do not help younger children to learn new words and they take over and complete artwork for the children.

“Older children often choose to lead their own play, as activities on offer are mundane and uninspiring.”

It added: “Babies receive very little purposeful interaction from staff because the staff do not understand the needs of this youngest age group.”

The report praised the nursery, situated off Woodstock Road, for its wealth of outdoor activities including bike riding, sandpit digging and playing in the mud kitchen as well as the staff’s concern for a child’s well-being.

In May 2014 following its previous Ofsted inspection, the nursery recorded a ‘requires improvement’ score.

The environment was considered safe and staff supervised children closely to prevent accidents.

The report also noted that those learning English as an additional language were making good progress.

Nicola Collins, divisional operations director for Kidsunlimited Waterways, said: “Our priority is the wellbeing and education of the children in our care and we take any feedback very seriously.

“We place great value on the partnerships with our parents and have shared with them our action plan at the nursery.”

She said the action plan would include bringing in early years specialists to provide additional support.