A DAMNING Ofsted report has raised concerns over children's safety at a city nursery.

Unitots Nursery, which is based at the University of Worcester, has been handed an Inadequate rating, having previously been rated as Outstanding.

The report states that the welfare of children is “compromised”, and possible signs of child abuse could be missed and concerns raised by staff members not followed up or documented effectively.

The report adds Unitots Nursery has not taken child protection concerns or allegations received seriously.

It continues: “Managers have contributed to a culture where safeguarding policies are not followed.

“For example, they have not taken child protection concerns or allegations received seriously.

“These failings mean that children's safety is not assured.”

READ MORE: The Ofsted rating of every nursery in Worcester

However, a spokesperson for the nursery has slammed the report, calling it ‘unjust’.

They said: “Unitots take the safety of children very seriously and the opening lines of the published Ofsted report are not a true and fair reflection of the care children receive while they are at the nursery.

“As the implication of the Ofsted report was that children were unsafe, we specifically asked Ofsted if we should close the nursery. They have not requested we do so.

“Instead, they have focussed on what happens to children when they are not at nursery, but still rated the nursery as inadequate. This is completely illogical, unfair and unjust.”

One particular issue noted in the report is that staff did not check up with parents of children who were absent on the day of the inspection, July 19.

A spokesperson for the nursery, which has been based at the university for more than 25 years, claims that the absences were due to the high temperatures on the day, and that many parents had made it clear in advance that they would not be sending their children.

“Unitots accepts there are some specific areas of record keeping concerning children’s absence from nursery for example which require improvement.

“We have already implemented a detailed action plan. We do not accept that the nursery is inadequate.

“Despite this rating, there is no finding by Ofsted that children are in any way unsafe when they are in the care of our staff at nursery.

“We will therefore be contesting the report vigorously.”

The report, released on Thursday, October 13, does acknowledge that the quality of education is good  and that children “enjoy coming to nursery and are confident, polite and have high levels of self-esteem”.

However, it also states a few improvements that must be made.

According to the report, Unitots Nursery must ensure that managers and staff improve their knowledge of child protection, improve the manager’s understanding of how to implement the setting's managing allegations policy, maintain effective safeguarding records, and make better use of supervision to promote improvement.