Birch Farm Nursery in Hintlesham, which was given an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted in December, has made significant progress to gain the requires improvement rating on its re-inspection last month.

The nursery had initially planned to appeal the first finding but said it was “their word against mine”.

Among the issues raised last time were deployment of staff, and the learning environment conditions.

But during its re-inspection in June published this month, inspectors had recognised an improvement, giving the establishment the ‘requires improvement’ rating.

In the report, inspectors said: “Since the last inspection, the management team has started to make effective improvements.

“Managers now hold regular supervision meetings to monitor staff practice and have started to identify their ongoing professional needs.”

The report added: “The management team have worked hard to make changes to the nursery, they have worked closely with the local authority adviser and all staff are committed to continuous improvement.”

But Mini Shakespeare, owner, said she was pleased the improvements had been recognised, and hailed the work of staff in turning the establishment around.

She said: “It’s much better. The only reason we got Requires Improvement was because it talked about a couple of members of staff, and because they are still getting inducted they [Ofsted] wouldn’t go any higher.

“They could see that everything was in place and there were some really good comments.

“I would have liked it to have been higher, but I absolutely respect the fact that we have members of staff whose induction is three-six months long.”

Gordon Jones, cabinet member for children’s services, education and skills, said: “We are pleased that Birch Farm Nursery has been able to improve upon its previous judgement.

“We acknowledge that there is more to be done and we will continue to assist the nursery to meet Ofsted’s requirements.”