A West Hampstead nursery has been given three weeks to improve after it was today given the worst possible Ofsted rating.

Sington Nursery, in Broomsleigh Street, was rated “inadequate”: lowest on a scale of four. At its last inspection in 2015, it was considered “good”, which is second on the rank.

Ofsted inspector Rizwana Nagoor criticised staff for having poor knowledge of the government’s anti-terror Prevent programme. The quality of teaching, meanwhile, is “variable” and staff were also judged for not managing children’s bad behaviour.

In the report, published this morning, Ms Nagoor set a deadline of June 7 for staff to improve their understanding of Prevent, and for them to undergo training to develop their teaching skills.

The nursery, which registered in 2010, is for children between two and four. It’s run by Camden Community Nurseries, employs 12 staff and currently has 27 children on its roll.

Camilla Hollweck, a trustee at the nursery, said in response to the report this afternoon: “We accept the challenges identified in the report, but are confident that the action plan that has been immediately implemented by our management team following the evaluation will resolve all concerns raised.”

In the report, Ms Nagoor fleshed out her concerns about the nursery’s “ineffective” safeguarding: “Staff have poor knowledge of child protection concerns relating to the ‘Prevent’ duty guidance.

“Poor and inconsistent staff supervision and a lack of professional development opportunities have had a significant impact on the weak quality of teaching.”

But she did point out that risk assessments of the premises and visitor access procedures are in order.

Of the teaching quality, Ms Nagoor said children “enjoy their time”, but that staff don’t build on their learning: “Occasionally, staff count objects for children and talk about colours, and children enjoy doing puzzles.

“However, children are not consistently encouraged to practise and extend their counting skills during play as part of their preparation for school.” She summed up that the children are “capable of making better progress”.

But the staff were praised for “positive and warm relationships” with the children, who also enjoy a healthy diet at the nursery prepared by an “experienced chef”.