TRAINING has been stepped up at a council run child care centre after school inspectors found that 'children's safety and welfare are compromised'.

Castle Hill Young People's Centre — an after-school and holiday club —has been graded inadequate by Ofsted after it was found that the manager failed to notify the education watchdog of a 'significant event' that took place on the premises.

Education chiefs at Bolton Council have moved swiftly to reassure parents that the incident was not of a criminal nature and no child was put at risk .

The Bolton News understands the 'event' happened in another part of the centre and did not involve a youngster in the child care setting, which looks after children aged four to 12-years-old.

The centre is also the venue for a youth club.

A council spokesman said: “First and foremost we’d like to reassure families that safeguarding is of paramount importance and we have ensured staff received the relevant refresher training with immediate effect."

He added that an action plan is being implemented at the Tonge Moor centre — and also pointed to the many strengths identified in the report.

Ofsted rated the effectiveness of leadership and management, plus personal development, behaviour and welfare as inadequate.

Ofsted inspector Donna Birch reported: "The management team does not demonstrate a secure knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage.

"They did not know the correct procedures to follow if an allegation is made about a member of staff."

She added: "Weaknesses in leadership and management mean that children's safety and welfare are compromised."

The report stated that all staff members were qualified and vetted but there was a lack of regular training.

Strengths highlighted included quality of teaching, learning and assessment, which was was marked as ‘good’ and and the staff described as enthusiastic, kind and caring staff, with children being settled, happy and exceptionally well behaved.

Parents were positive about the centre, saying that their children ‘love attending’ and that staff are ‘fantastic’. Staff were described as role models to the children in the report.

The centre was praised for providing a 'wealth of stimulating and fun activities' for children, who show a positive attitude to learning and take pride in their achievements.

The council spokesman said: "We welcome the positive comments about the strengths of this well-regarded setting.

"This is a very disappointing outcome to the inspection and we are determined to put measures in place to ensure a much better outcome next time.

"Staff are passionate and dedicated to providing a good service for our families. They work hard to create a happy, positive and safe environment for the children and are committed to improving standards further."