A Hampstead nursery has lodged a “vigorous appeal” against an Ofsted report that found it was not doing enough to challenge children.

Church Row Nursery, in the crypt of Hampstead Parish Church, in Church Row, has lodged a formal complaint after it was rated as “requiring improvement” in January.

Nursery staff were told to let children play outside more often and to try to extend children’s vocabularies by asking open-ended questions that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer.

But Marianne Wilson, owner and principle of nursery since 1976, believes the criticism is unfair and unfounded.

She said: “We have launched a vigorous appeal and we’re hopeful that the report will be overturned.

“This is a good nursery and the Ofsted report said children are happy and settled in their environment and they benefit from the close and caring relationship with staff.

“The inspector really contradicted herself in the report.

“It seems there are a lot of negatives in what they’re saying and there were no examples to support their criticisms.

“We were criticised for not having outside space, but we do have the graveyard nearby, so we go out on nature walks, and we do go to Hampstead Heath.’

“We are only here for three hours a day and physical play is part of our curriculum.”

She added: “I feel that because we’re a small nursery and we’re not part of a school, we should be inspected again like a small private nursery.”

An appeal decision is expected by April 24.