PARENTS of children at a pre-school have slammed a recent Ofsted report which gave the facility an ‘inadequate’ rating.

Old Basing Pre-School, in The Street, was featured in The Gazette two weeks ago after an inspection by Ofsted deemed the school to be ‘inadequate.’ The report said that “safeguarding is not effective,” “quality of teaching is weak” and a “lack of suitable checks of staff put children at risk.”

However, parents have claimed the report to be “unfair” and not a “true reflection” of the pre-school and although they accept there are some areas for development, they feel that they are being addressed by the team at the pre-school.

The independent group of parents told The Gazette: “Whilst we are not disagreeing in full with the Ofsted report, we feel that the downgrading to inadequate is undeserved.”

Curtis Basterfield, one parent, said: “I’m so shocked to read the report and really feel it is not a true reflection of the preschool. My youngest son spent two-and-a-half years at the pre-school and it’s a massive part of his memories. In my opinion the manager and her team provide a friendly, safe and stimulating environment for children and we couldn’t praise them enough for that.”

Rebecca Phillipson, another parent, added: “Both my boys went here, and I looked at other pre-schools in the area and loved Old Basing Pre-School over the others. The manager made me feel so welcome. I am shocked at this article. My boys learnt so much and had a good start to what school life would be like. I was so sad when my youngest left and I knew I wouldn’t be going back.”

The parents all believed that while the pre-school is not perfect, it did not deserve the ‘inadequate’ Ofsted report it received.

The parents added they have seen the pre-school team putting a huge amount of effort into preparing themselves for the next inspection that should be in six months.

The parents group added: “We are also concerned about any closure as a result of the forthcoming inspection and would not wish to contemplate sending our children elsewhere.”

A total of 22 families have rallied behind the pre-school on the parent forum which they say is a clear display of the overwhelming support for Old Basing Pre-School.

The management at Old Basing Pre-School was unable to comment.