A playgroup says it disagrees with "everything" within an education watchdog report which has seen it labelled "inadequate".

St Paul’s Peel Playgroup in Little Hulton was inspected last month by Ofsted which has resulted in it dropping two levels in the ranking system.

Previously a good facility – the second highest rating – St Paul’s quality and education and behaviour and attitudes were said to require improvement, while personal development and leadership and management was described as inadequate.

Inspector Lois Hulley reported that children’s safety is “not assured” in the playgroup which is situated in St Paul's Community Hall on Manchester Road West.

She added: “The designated lead for safeguarding fails to respond to concerns about children's safety.

"They do not report concerns to the relevant agencies.

“Furthermore, they do not keep records in relation to concerns.

“Additionally, not all staff have a good understanding of 'Prevent' duty. This means that children are not adequately safeguarded.”

Inspector Hulley also noted that the quality of education is a cause for concern.

She said: “There has been a significant decrease in the quality of the playgroup since the last inspection.

“Children do not benefit from an ambitious and exciting curriculum that supports their individual learning.

“Staff's expectations of what children can achieve are often too low.

"This results in staff providing learning opportunities that are boring and lacking in sufficient challenge. For example, children soon tire of a threading activity and wander away.

“Children are reluctantly brought back to the activity by staff, but they are disengaged in their learning.”

Despite this, it was also recognised that staff have developed positive relationships with the children and their families.

“Most children settle into playgroup happily and enjoy playing alongside their peers,” Inspector Hulley said.

“The premises are kept safe and secure. Staff complete risk assessments of the play areas.

"This helps to minimise the risk of accident and injury to children.”

But in response, a spokesperson for the playgroup said: “We do not agree with the Ofsted report.

“We have never had a bad report until this time.

“We’d like to thank parents for the support they’ve shown us.”

When asked what the specifically disagree with, the spokesperson said: “Everything.”

“We are disappointed, and things will be turned around,” they added.

“We’ve had great feedback from parents, and they also don’t agree with the report.

“Everything has already been implemented and they were already being done at the time.”