PARENTS of children who attended a nursery in Poole have been left shocked after it closed with just four days’ notice.

The Learning Tree in Lytchett Minster had only taken over the former Willow Lodge Montessori School this summer.

An Ofsted inspection carried out in September saw the formerly ‘good’ nursery rated as ‘inadequate’ in all areas, with concerns over safeguarding and the quality of teaching highlighted in the report.

A letter from the nursery, seen by the Daily Echo, was sent to parents announcing the sudden closure earlier this month.

“It is with great sadness that we have to give you all notice that we will be closing the doors to childcare of The Learning Tree at the end of this week,” it said.

“We are very sorry to you all, and very sad indeed. It has been an extremely difficult time for us and we have not been able to achieve the level of quality we would want in these circumstance.

“We have done everything we could including making huge financial sacrifice and loss to get things back off the ground.”

Michelle Cutler, whose daughters both attended the nursery, said she found it “extremely sad” it had closed “with such short notice”.

“It’s shocking that within three months of it being taken over by The Learning Tree the nursery has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. I had no choice but to pull my youngest daughter out in October following the appalling management, data protection breaches and safeguarding concerns.

“I am not surprised at all that it has been closed down and I feel very sorry for the children and parents affected.”

Another parent, who wished to stay anonymous, said her son had been “unsettled” at the nursery due to a high turnover of staff.

“There were safeguarding concerns, and there was no feedback because no-one knew the children. My son fell and hurt himself one day and they didn’t know what had happened. I was really concerned.

“We stuck with the nursery as they had great ideas to improve, but they never picked up and we eventually thought we couldn’t keep him there.”

The Ofsted inspection found the nursery, which was attended by around 50 children, did not prepare youngsters well enough to move on to school.

The report stated: “Poor staff deployment means children do not receive the interaction they need, and they wander around uninterested, drop toys on the floor when they are unsure what to do with them and become boisterous.”

It added: “Safeguarding is not effective. The management team does not understand the requirements well enough to ensure good outcomes for children.”

The Daily Echo contacted The Learning Tree for a response but they declined to comment.