The burden of paperwork at an Oxfordshire pre-school is so great that the supervisor is forced to spend one day a week in her office.

The problem was highlighted by Government inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education, Ofsted, during their recent visit to St Nicholas Pre-school and Playgroup in Boxhill Walk, Abingdon.

"Substantial improvements have been made to the planning systems although the burden of paperwork is now becoming unmanageable," the report said.

Supervisor Lianne Clements spends every Monday completing paperwork. She said: "There are so many demands placed on schools these days. I have to write everything down from planning day-to-day activities in the school to assessing and evaluating children as well as progress reports. I have to devote a whole day and that takes me out of teaching but fortunately we have enough funding to pay for someone to cover for me.

"Over the last five years the job has changed dramatically, in many ways for the better but there is a lot of paper work to get through."

Mrs Clements said that once a planning system was in place it was easier but she believed teachers needed more help.

She added: "I think we would all benefit from training to show us how best to manage our new tasks."

The inspectors' report spoke of "good progress" and "substantial improvements" since the school was last inspected two years ago. The report said that, overall, the quality and standards of educational provision and the progress children were making towards early learning goals were good.

It added that there were no significant weaknesses.

St Nicolas is a charity-run pre-school but receives some funding from the local education authority for the four-year-olds.

Karen Walters, who chairs the school committee, said: "The school has received a very encouraging report from the inspectors.

"Since our last inspection we had to move from our old building next to the main school and into temporary accommodation in the school. Last October, we moved again into our new building. Despite the upheavals we managed an excellent report."