AN under-fire nursery in Melrose has been slammed by inspectors after bosses left nobody in charge when they went on holiday.

A total of 51 children are registered at the Old Station Nursery.

A previous inspection by the Care Inspectorate last year had identified a long list of problems at the pre-school facility - with senior staff given 11 improvement recommendations to fulfil.

And officers from Scottish Borders Council's education department were drafted in to help make the improvements.

But an unannounced follow-up inspection towards the end of June discovered that both the manager and the depute manager of the nursery had gone on holiday - and nobody was left in charge.

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate stated: "We found that the service had been left without any specific person in charge whilst the provider/manager and depute manager were both on holiday.

"This was a risk to children's health and wellbeing."

The Old Station Nursery, which is open to pre-school children as well as hosting an after school club, was scored as 'weak' by inspectors for the quality of management and leadership.

The quality of staffing and environment were both scored as 'adequate' with inspectors agreeing that the quality of care and support was 'good'.

The spokesperson added: "We identified that some staff did not have a good knowledge of child development, nor did they understand the value of observing babies and children.

"They were in need of training and support to carry out quality observations, record information and intentionally promote children's next steps in learning."

The Old Station Nursery has been ordered to meet a further two improvement requirements and seven improvement recommendations ahead of further follow-up inspections.