Nursery bosses are appealing the results of a damning Ofsted inspection which rated them unsatisfactory less than two years after they were hailed as outstanding.

Inspector Sue Mann said staff at Dizzy Ducks Day Nursery in Fyfield Road, Ongar, did not understand their responsibilities towards children there and that some lacked the skills to manage behaviour.

She added that planning for children in the upper age group of two to five-year-olds did not cover all areas of learning set out by the watchdog and that staff target setting was ineffective.

She added: “Staff engage children in activities and then leave the activity and the children halfway through.

“This means that children lose interest, and do not gain any learning from the activity.”

She said children were seen sitting at a table for almost an hour at lunchtime, before getting bored and wandering off.

“The nursery has recently appointed a manager responsible for the monitoring of educational programmes,” she added. “However, she has not identified the weaknesses in the older room.”

Nursery director Sian Nisbett said: “We are appealing the report.

“The previous report published in August 2011 was outstanding, so it’s difficult to see how things could go so terribly wrong.

“In the same week as this report, we’ve also been shortlisted for a national award from Nursery World magazine.”

In a letter to parents, she admitted that there had been staffing issues recently, with one worker taking maternity leave and a long-term staff member moving on.

But she added: “I wholeheartedly do not believe that the report is reflective of the nursery as it currently operates in any way.”

She said she could not speak about the exact contents of the report until the appeal process was complete.