A YOUNG child was found wandering in a busy road without preschool teachers knowing, a report has revealed.

The youngster at Wesley Preschool Benfleet, Hall Farm Road, Benfleet had left the building and was found in the road by a member of the public.

The incident sparked an unannounced inspection at the centre by Ofsted who has issued a number of warnings for improvements.

Bosses at the preschool say new safety measures have been put in place and all issues raised by the education watchdog have now been addressed.

Ofsted issued two welfare requirements notices, one following the incident and a second after an unannounced inspection in May.

The report published online said: “All early years providers must meet the legal requirements in the ‘Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage’.

“On May 7 we received concerns that this provider was not meeting some of these requirements.

“We also received a notification from the provider about the safeguarding incident. We found that a child had been able to leave the premises unsupervised and was found in the middle of a busy main road by a member of the public.

“We visited the provider and while they had taken steps to secure the premises there were still concerns that needed to be addressed.”

The pre-school was ordered to improve a number of areas including ensuring children are adequately supervised and deploying staff so that all children’s needs are met.

It was also told to ensure children’s behaviour is managed in an appropriate way and take all reasonable steps to ensure children are not exposed to risks and demonstrate how these risks are being managed.

The preschool says Ofsted have since made a return visit and found the issues addressed. A spokesman for the preschool said: “Following the incident additional safety measures have been put in place. We notified Ofsted of the incident as soon as it happened and have taken on board their advice.

“We were visited again by Ofsted on June 30 and they confirmed that we had met the welfare requirement notices.

“The pre-school has been serving the community for over 50 years and has continued to receive positive feedback from parents regarding the hardworking staff and enjoyable learning experiences their children have at Wesley.”