A playgroup which teaches two, three and four year olds has been deemed to be “inadequate” by Ofsted.

The education watchdog published a report on Busy Bees Playgroup in Stevenage on Saturday, following an inspection last month.

Ofsted found that the quality and standards of early years provision at the playgroup, based at The Oval Community Centre in Vardon Road, reflected the lowest grading of “inadequate”.

Although the inspection found that parents had been complimentary about the playgroup, the report said: “The leadership and management of the playgroup are inadequate because the monitoring of staff understanding and practice is weak. As a result, the provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of care and early years education.

“Children’s behaviour is not managed consistently because some members of staff do not put into practice the playgroup’s own behaviour management policy. This results in some inappropriate behaviour management methods being used. This does not give children clear messages on how to behave in an appropriate manner and it also contributes to children’s distress.

“Not all children have their needs met successfully. This is because planning is not effective in matching activities to children’s individual needs. For example, children who are behind expectations in their communication and personal and social skills are not provided with individually tailored learning opportunities to develop these on a daily basis. This results in some children making little or no progress in the prime areas of learning.”

The playgroup, which is not affiliated with the Busy Bees national chain which has nurseries in London Road and Whitehorse Lane, will be reinspected in the next 12 months.

Jeannette Thomas, chairman of the Oval Community Management Committee which runs the playgroup, said: “We are hugely disappointed with the outcome of the inspection. We would like to assure all of our parents and carers that all actions stated are already being addressed. Many of these changes are now being implemented and the rest will be in place for the forthcoming reinspection. We are also working with the early years advisory team at Hertfordshire County Council to move forward.”