SIX staff members have been dismissed from a nursery after the education watchdog investigated concerns about widespread bullying among staff.

Bright Horizons day nursery and pre-school in Wokingham went under investigation by Ofsted after concerns were raised about the ‘suitability of staff’ at the school.

The investigation revealed that not all members of staff had a secure understanding of their roles and responsibilities, including safeguarding and six staff members have since left the school.

Ofsted also found a number of other problems, including inappropriate child behaviour management and school meals that were not consistently checked or handled by staff to ensure children were offered meals in line with their dietary requirements.

An Ofsted spokesman said: “On 17 August we received a complaint about the behaviour of staff at Bright Horizons day nursery. We then carried out an announced visit to the nursery, where we found a number of concerns that led us to issue the provider with a welfare requirements notice.

“On 25 October we conducted another unannounced visit to see what action the provider had taken to comply with the welfare requirements. The provider had made a number of steps towards improvement but had not yet completed their investigation into some staff’s behaviour.

“We continue to work with the nursery and have been kept up to date with developments. We intend to carry out a further visit in the future to confirm the provider continues to make progress.”

An anonymous source contacted the News and said Bright Horizons was failing children due to a lack of permanent staff, despite the school denying that children have been at risk.

The same source says that one child suffered a bad head injury while at school while under the care of staff during this period.

Responding to the investigation, a Bright Horizons spokesman added: “Our number one priority is the safety and wellbeing of the children in our care.

“There has been an internal investigation at the nursery to understand whether the behaviour displayed by certain staff met the high standards that we expect from them.

“In certain cases this fell short, and we have worked swiftly to address this. However, there is no suggestion that the physical welfare of children was put at risk.”