A NURSERY claiming it provides the 'best childcare and education' could be prosecuted after a tip-off revealed it failed to keep its youngsters safe.

Cowley's Little Treasure Day Nursery risks action by education watchdog Ofsted after it branded the centre inadequate in all areas assessed.

It comes after inspector Penny Fisher discovered children's safety and wellbeing was being 'compromised' by staff breaching safeguarding requirements.

But on its website, the nursery claims it is 'safe, well organised and stimulating', and fully qualified staff deliver the best service - despite two staff members not having relevant childcare qualifications.

The inspector has since slapped the Oxford Road nursery with a welfare requirements notice, forcing the team to comply with improvements within the next month or face an interview under caution.

In her report published on Thursday, the inspector said: "Children are not supervised effectively. Sometimes, staff do not notice when children require their care and attention.

"The quality of teaching is not good enough to ensure children are ready to move on to school. Staff do not make sure that the activities provided are well planned and meet children's learning and development needs. This hinders children's progress.

"Throughout the day too many children wander aimlessly or play on their own without sufficient adult support for their learning."

The nursery, which cares for 44 youngsters aged between one and eight, was inspected after Ofsted received information raising fears about children's safety.

Owner Marian Nsune-Kuo Mohammed now has until January 18 to comply with the inspector's seven improvements, including ensuring all potential hazards for children are spotted.

During her visit on November 15, Ms Fisher became concerned staff were not keeping a watchful eye on children in an outdoor play area, spotting a gate leading to an staircase unbolted on the inspection day.

Youngsters also threw, kick and snatched toys from others but staff at times failed to tackle the incidents, instead sometimes becoming abrupt if they did intervene.

Potentially 'hazardous' concrete pillars had not been risk assessed, posing a danger to children running or using tricycles, the inspector noted.

Staff are also sometimes not aware of the number of youngsters at the nursery, which Ms Fisher claimed could cause issues if the building was evacuated.

She added: "Ineffective staff deployment and a lack of vigilance mean that too many incidents go unnoticed or unchallenged by the staff team.

"Staff do not manage children's behaviour well. Too often, staff fail to intervene appropriately and do not support the children to understand why their behaviour is not

acceptable."

But parents did speak highly of the nursery and its staff, who worked well to ensure they explained what children enjoyed and needed to learn, the report read.

Ms Mohammed said all the points raised by Ofsted inspectors had now been addressed.

She added: "On the day of the inspection the inspectors gave us good feedback but they didn't include that in their report.

"The report said parents spoke highly of the nursery but didn't expand on that, which I thought was unfair.

"Staff work closely with parents - the report was unnecessarily negative."