A PRE-SCHOOL which closed down its sister site last year has now lost its “outstanding” Ofsted rating.

Dandelions Community Pre-School, based at St Mark’s Primary School, in Hatch Warren, was inspected in December and a report published in January said it is now “good” overall. It was previously graded as “outstanding”.

As reported in the Gazette, the committee which runs the pre-school went through a turbulent time last year, closing Snapdragons Community Pre-School, in Old Down Hall, Kempshott, because not enough children were registered.

However, the Ofsted report was full of praise for the staff and management at Dandelions, which has 56 children on its roll.

It said: “The dedicated manager and staff share consistently high expectations for every child. They provide a welcoming and nurturing environment where all children flourish.”

It added: “Staff provide regular feedback about children's progress and are extremely supportive towards families. Parents are highly positive in their comments, especially regarding the progress children make and how well they are cared for.”

The inspector found children’s behaviour was good, and said: “Children play harmoniously together and understand the need to share and take turns. Staff give meaningful praise to children for their very good behaviour and individual efforts, supporting them to develop a positive sense of themselves.”

In order to improve, Dandelions was asked to review the deployment of staff to “provide children with consistently effective support” and enhance staff supervision to “raise the teaching to an even higher level”.

Jane Stone, manager of Dandelions, said the new Ofsted framework was the reason their overall rating had changed, explaining: “The framework has changed so it is much harder [to achieve outstanding]. I’m very proud of our good rating.”

She was adamant that standards had not fallen at Dandelions, adding: “From our point of view people who don’t know about the new framework, for any new parent, they just see the rating. There’s not been enough about it. I don’t think I’m on my own in feeling like this.”