CONCERNS about children's dignity and a culture of box-ticking has led to a damning report for a university college's nursery.

Wolfson College Day Nursery in North Oxford has been rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted in all four areas of assessment - the lowest possible standard.

The regulator raised safety concerns after visiting in May and said staff 'focus too much on ticking assessment boxes'.

Its report, published on Friday, added: "Breaches in safeguarding requirements have a negative impact on children's safety and wellbeing.

"Staff do not receive sufficient support to protect children who may be at risk of harm from extreme views and behaviours.

"They do not follow up children's unexplained absences appropriately, and not all staff ensure children's privacy and dignity during nappy changing."

It said children's attainment was 'not good enough' and some were not equipped with skills they need for school.

The nursery is located in the grounds of Oxford University's Wolfson College in Linton Road, and was last rated 'good' in 2014.

It is run by the governing body of Wolfson College.

Ofsted did note that some parents felt their children were well supported, and children appeared 'happy and settled'.

Its report added: "Staff supervise children closely and follow suitable risk assessments to help prevent accidents.

"The college body shows capacity to improve and implement change.

"Children acquire positive social skills, demonstrate appropriate behaviour and cooperate with routines."

A spokesperson for Wolfson College said: "The nursery is an essential part of the service that the College offers our students, fellows, and community members.

"We are proud that it has been part of Wolfson since 1974 and we are acting on all of Ofsted’s comments urgently.

"We welcome Ofsted’s feedback and take it extremely seriously.

"Immediately following the inspection, we started implementing a comprehensive plan of action to raise the standards in the nursery.

"We have developed an improvement plan working closely with and under the supervision of the local education authority and have already made many of the improvements suggested.

"We have recently appointed a new deputy nursery manager, following the departure of the previous deputy manager last year. 

"We have put in place a mentoring scheme so that the managers of outstanding nurseries nearby in Oxford are now directly assisting our management team in raising standards.

"We aim to raise the nursery to a good standard in the shortest possible time and to strive after that to achieve an outstanding level of provision.

"We are proud of our nursery and are determined that Ofsted’s helpful report will allow it to prosper and thrive in the decades ahead."