A New Malden children’s day care centre has been deemed “inadequate” after inspectors found that unsecured fire exits could have allowed children to wander into a nearby public car park.

The Malden Centre Creche, in Blagdon Road, was rated inadequate by Ofsted after they inspected the centre on Wednesday, December 30, having fallen from a “good” rating issued by the regulator little more than two months earlier.

The report was particularly critical of the centre’s management, Places for People Leisure, with Ofsted judging the provider to be “ineffective” in its safeguarding of children.

It said: “The provider and manager do not evaluate effectively the creche, play scheme and out-of-school provision to identify weaknesses and make improvements.

“The premises are not safe and secure. Children can leave unsupervised through the fire exits in the main play area. These exits lead on to a public car park.”

The report also stated that the creche had not informed Ofsted of a change of manager – a breach of Childcare Register requirements – and failed to train staff in ensuring the safety of the children.

A spokeswoman for Places for People Leisure said: “We are committed to providing a safe, happy and child-centred environment at our holiday club, creche and afterschool club and we are obviously very disappointed by the overall Ofsted inspection results.

“Following Ofsted’s inspection of the holiday club and receiving the report, we have put measures in place to address these areas and meet their recommendations.”

Despite the overall inadequate rating, Ofsted did find the quality of teaching, learning and assessments to be good.

Inspectors said: “Staff promote children’s good health effectively. Children particularly enjoy the good range of physical activities available.

“Children play imaginatively and confidently help themselves to art and craft resources to make creative designs.

“Staff know children well and what they like to do. Staff provide a good range of opportunities that successfully capture their enthusiasm during their play.”

The creche is managed by Places for People Leisure on behalf of Kingston Council.

The company also manages the Kingfisher Leisure Centre, Kingsmeadow Athletics Fitness Centre and the Tolworth Recreation Centre.

A Kingston Council spokesman said: “Places for People Leisure, who run the Malden Leisure Centre and its creche, are a fully independent body.

“However, Achieving for Children [Kingston’s children’s services company] will nonetheless be providing advice and guidance to help support them to meet Ofsted’s requirement to improve their rating over the coming months.”

At the time of the inspection, which was carried out during the holiday play scheme, a total of 34 children, ranging from four to seven years old, were registered at the centre.