Children's safety compromised by 'inappropriate supervision' at Leeds nursery - Ofsted report
A Leeds nursery has suffered a dramatic downgrade after a number of major safeguarding concerns were raised by Ofsted inspectors.
Partou Yeadon Day Nursery & Pre-School, located on New Road, Yeadon, received a ‘Needs attention’ rating in four categories, and an ‘Urgent improvement’ rating in the remaining two categories during a visit by Ofsted.
Inspectors visited the nursery on November 13, 2025, making it one of the first Leeds sites to be graded under Ofsted’s newly revised framework, which replaces single-word grades with a detailed report card.
Under the new system, one-word grades have been replaced with a colour-coded “traffic light” report card, split into six categories: achievement, behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, children's welfare and well-being, and leadership and governance.
Visiting inspectors said: “Leaders have failed to ensure that children in the baby room are supervised by an adequate number of staff, in line with the staff: child ratios of the early years foundation stage.
“Procedures put in place, following previous actions, to ensure ratios are correct and children are supervised to keep them safe have not been implemented, resulting in children in the baby room being left with inappropriate supervision. This compromises children's safety.
“Staff provide healthy home-cooked meals that follow national guidelines. At mealtimes, staff do not ensure that children are always within sight and hearing when eating. Staff supporting children to wash their hands are not available to ensure children's safety from potential choking.”
A spokesperson for Partou Yeadon, previously rated Good in March 2022, said they were “hugely disappointed by the Ofsted report” and “took immediate action to address the failings” by launching a major work programme to strengthen practice across the nursery.
Staff identify children's next steps through regular assessment and observation of what children know and can do, the report noted. However, leaders “do not have effective systems in place” to support staff to make the adaptions needed to ensure children make positive progress from their starting points.
Children “behave well” at Partou Yeadon and staff “treat children respectfully” in their interactions, according to the report. However, when children are upset, staff do not consistently inform children before picking them up. “This often startles children and upsets them further.”
The education watchdog added: “Leaders have failed to ensure staff know who to contact if an allegation is made against a member of staff. This compromises children's safety. A comprehensive action plan has been created based on leadership observations, and actions and recommendations recently received.
“Leaders have identified areas for improvement and have started to implement some changes. However, this has not been implemented yet well enough to support children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities to achieve as well as they can do.
“Parental partnerships are not effective. Parents comment on the lack of shared information regarding children's learning and development and ideas to continue their learning at home. Information about daily routines is not consistently shared in a timely manner to help parents with their child's home routines.”
A sequenced curriculum, highlighting what staff want children to learn, has not yet been implemented. Staff's assessment and expectations of what they want children to learn, especially within the baby room, is “unrealistic for the ages and stages of children's development,” the report said.
Despite this, children “actively listen and engage with stories for extended periods of time,” according to inspectors. This helps children develop a love of books and stories. Staff also teach children to develop their independence skills
As part of work being undertaken by Partou Yeadon following the inspection, a new Nursery Manager and Senior Deputy Manager with “many years of collective experience in leadership roles,” have been appointed.
A nursery spokesperson said: “Safeguarding refresher training has been completed by the full management team, coupled with a review and enforcement of key policies across the setting and additional training across all areas of activity for every team member.
“The initial inspection was followed by an Ofsted regulatory monitoring visit on December 9, 2025, during which the inspector confirmed that all required next steps from the original visit had been met and the nursery will return to the normal inspection cycle, with a re-inspection within six months.
“Our focus remains firmly on embedding the changes already implemented, further deepening our partnership with families and ensuring every child continues to receive safe, high-quality care and meaningful learning experiences.”