A PRESCHOOL in Taunton has been slammed by Ofsted after it found that staff "intimidated" children. 

West Monkton Pre School, based at West Monkton Village Hall in Monkton Heathfield, was rated inadequate by inspectors. 

The governing body visited the school on January 19 to carry out the inspection, and the report was published on February 17.

Ofsted rates schools in four different areas including effectiveness of the leadership and management and quality of teaching. The preschool received an 'inadequate' rating in all areas. 

The report stated: "Although the manager recognises that some staff intimidate children, and other staff have also raised concerns about this, the provider and manager have failed to implement the setting's safeguarding policy to protect children. This compromises children's emotional well-being.

"The provider fails to ensure that staff manage children's behaviour appropriately. Some staff threaten children with punishment and exclude them from activities."

Other concerns such as the quality of teaching and staff training were also written in the report. 

The report did identify one strength in the staff's ability in developing the children's understanding of the world.

The preschool says the inspection took place in light of a significant staffing change, and all employees are now "well established". 

The preschool wrote on its website: "We are very disappointed with the recent Ofsted report as we feel it does not accurately reflect our preschool.

"The Ofsted visit was in light of a significant change of staffing for our setting. All staff are now well established and settled in our preschool.

"Every point of action from the Ofsted report has already been addressed, and we are looking forward to Ofsted visiting again soon, and hopefully they will see a vibrant community of learning through fun, and that our children are happy, safe and supported on their journey through learning.

"We will be holding an open morning every Monday between 10am and 11am for parents and children to see our learning in action."

To read the full report reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/143078