A pre-school has hit back at Ofsted, after its rating plummeted from “good” to “inadequate”.

The watchdog raised issues with safeguarding processes at Squirrels in Canterbury, previously visited by inspectors in 2019, but the establishment says the new grading is not justified.

The report says “consistent and robust processes” for monitoring possible concerns about youngsters are not followed by staff leads for safeguarding. But is does make clear children are “happy and confident in this welcoming nursery”.

Inspectors say that designated leads for safeguarding at the Hales Drive pre-school, which has 35 children on roll, “do not consistently follow up on potential risks to children's safety and well-being”.

They add: “For example, they fail to obtain a full explanation of when and how a child has obtained a pre-existing injury. Leaders do not consistently initiate communication with other professionals working with vulnerable children.”

The report, published this month, adds that records kept for children are not up to date, meaning key details that could help to prevent risks, are not managed well enough.

However, the pre-school rebutted parts of the document when contacted by KentOnline.

Isabelle Gollogly, a trustee, said: “The staff at Squirrels Pre-school don't agree with this report as we don't feel it justifies an 'inadequate' rating.

“Our inspection was normal but there was one issue to do with our safeguarding paperwork.”

She added: “We always take note of any sign of injury on a child, which may or may not be an indicator of concerns with a child's home life. There were no concerns with any children.

“Ofsted felt we could use a better way of documenting existing injuries to help spot any potential concerns at home.”

The safeguarding concerns stand out in a report which otherwise details supportive and engaged staff, and thriving children.

“The staff at Squirrels Preschool CIO don't agree with this report...”

The document says the tots “have close bonds with staff who value each child highly and take time to get to know children well”.

Officials observed that the Squirrels curriculum caters to childrens’ interests, learning needs and stages of development.

Squirrels was marked “inadeqate” in two out of four categories in the report – personal development and leadership and management. It was marked “good” in quality of education and behaviour and attitudes.

To improve their rating, the pre-school was instructed to put in place robust procedures to monitor any concerns about children’s welfare and improve the planning of activities.

Ms Gollogly said: “We have been working closely with Kent County Council over the past few weeks to revise our safeguarding procedure and method of documenting information.

“We feel we are ready and hope for an early re-inspection which we are confident will go well.”