A Ramsbottom nursery is working to get its “good” grading back after being judged to “require improvement” by Ofsted inspectors.

Daisy Chains, in Kay Brow, was previously rated as good when inspectors visited in May.

But in its latest report, Ofsted said that the quality of teaching across the nursery is inconsistent, and that the monitoring process to ensure that all staff are confident in delivering effective teaching should be improved.

Manager Tina Coward said changes that have seen Ofsted inspections become more rigorous had affected their rating.

Ofsted said: “Practitioners encourage children to join in with the story and anticipate key events.

“As a result, children listen to stories with attention and enthusiasm. However, the quality of teaching across the nursery is inconsistent and this means that not all children benefit from high quality interactions and support.”

The nursery, which opened in 2007, has 15 staff who care for 63 children aged eight months to five years.

The report added: “The children are given chance to settle in to the nursery and are assigned a key person based on who they naturally develop a bond with.

“The children develop secure emotional attachments to chosen adults early in their care.

“However, staff deployment within the pre-school area does not always support the children's individual needs, as a result of this the behaviour can be quite disruptive at times.”

Mrs Coward said: “The Ofsted criteria has gone up which now makes it much harder to get good or outstanding.

“The inspector found some areas which we needed to make improvements and we have formed an action plan to work on those areas.

“We will be having another inspection next year and we believe we will get our good rating back, as the staff are better than that.”