AN Abingdon pre-school has been issued with a notice to improve after receiving Ofsted's lowest rating.

Riverside Pre-School, in Cotman Close, was judged inadequate in all but three of the 17 areas examined, following an inspection in September.

The report has only just been made public.

Criticisms were made of “poor overall management” and the pre-school, run by charity Parents and Children Together, Pact, was issued with a string of improvements which needed to be made by the end of September.

Pact which works on behalf of the Diocese of Oxford, is an adoption agency and runs projects such as the pre-school. It took over Riverside last year and says it is in the process of making improvements.

Ofsted inspector Susan Harvey issued seven steps to be taken, relating to staffing arrangements, the allocation of key workers to each child, parental permissions for medical advice and treatment, complaints and safeguarding procedures and the process for dealing with a missing child.

She said: “The overall documentation for safeguarding children is not provided, resulting in several breaches of the legal requirements.

“Parents do not have ready access to policies and procedures.”

Settling in sessions for children starting at the pre-school were described as poorly organised.

Ms Harvey said parents’ views were not taken into account about the day-to-day running of the pre-school, and they were not fully informed about their children’s experiences there.

The pre-school, which has 33 pupils aged two to five on roll, opened in 1968.

The charity’s chief executive Jan Fishwick said: “Pact stepped in to prevent this much needed provision from closure in 2010 and we are in the process of making several improvements as part of a £10,000 investment.

“We are totally committed to providing good quality early years experiences.”

Areas described as satisfactory included partnerships, healthy lifestyles and developing skills for the future.

The school will receive regular visits to mark progress but the notice to improve will not be removed until a full re-inspection is held.