Any Ofsted/nursery managers that can offer some advice??

I’d have thought it would be something safeguarding xx

I’ve had 2 friends whose kids nurseries ended up closed after Ofsted inspection. One was following up a whistleblower complaint for safeguarding issues where they discovered the nursery didn’t have enough staff so ratios were not being kept and there had been some accidents to children as they were left unattended. That nursery never reopened. The other the nursery was also closed and never reopened because staff were physically abusing children. If Ofsted have failed and closed the facility it’s likely due to a serious safeguarding issue. I would be looking for childcare elsewhere immediately.

@Neena oh wow

Physically abusing a child! Why would anyone do this

It has to be safeguarding xx

@BUKOLA I know, sickening isn’t it. The worst part for me was the staff members were only targeting black and Asian children. My friend’s daughter is black, she showed me the cctv footage of one staff member hitting her across her bum. The whole thing is in the hands of the police right now. I will never understand if you don’t like people, specifically children and the elderly where there is much abuse in care settings, why you would take a job there. They must get off on knowing most places don’t have cctv so they won’t get caught. Incog - have a read of this: https://earlyyears.blog.gov.uk/2024/04/26/why-we-might-suspend-a-childcare-providers-registration-and-what-happens-next/ Also your husband sounds very naive. Ofsted don’t go around shutting down establishments willy nilly. Look at the criteria for why they do. It’s very serious.

@Neena omg as a black mum, this is worrisome! I wonder what the world is turning to. My child goes to nursery and they are rated good. Now, I can’t stop thinking about this

@Neena thanks for the advice and taking the time to respond. Not thankful for the judgement, it’s really not necessary to be rude.

@Amber Field thanks Amber, can I ask how you know? The only thing that makes me feel a little better is they recently lost their manager and the nursery owner doesn’t work there, so possibly an overhaul of the staff might resolve it

There’s nothing else I can think of that would warrant an immediate close. Safeguarding can mean a real broad of things though from one extreme to the other. It could be that the manager is the safeguarding lead and they don’t have another one yet or the one who is hasn’t had the necessary training which is against the law but easily fixable! You’ll soon find out and then make your decision if you want to continue with the nursery x

Coming from a childcare background, I would have to agree it would be safeguarding related. Either for children or staff, people being at risk etc.. They will be monitored very closely when reopened. Without knowing what's happened I would wait for the report to come out and have a read. Having gone through many inspections, some come in with a bee in their bonnet from the moment you open the door to them. My old setting was given 'inadequate' because they didn't agree with forest schooling 4 year olds.. even though we had all the correct qualifications, risk assessments and permissions. (This was before they became popular). She even questioned every parent on collection and was getting visually more frustrated when they sang our praises. Having said that, they wouldn't just close it for no reason. So definitely look into it and weigh your options. But don't worry right now, luckily there is still time for you to make a decision

@Amber Field thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I know a school that nearly failed Ofsted because someone in admin forgot to file a DBS report for a new teacher, but the teacher had one and everything else was above board, so essentially an admin error, though I can understand why it’s so important. Hoping it’s something as simple as that.

@Chelsea thanks so much for explaining with your experience. There is time but unfortunately places are few and far between atm, which is why we sorted it out so early 😭 called around a few places this morning and the waiting lists go well into next year and you have to put a deposit down to go on them. With any luck it’s something easily fixable and they’ll reopen no issues. They sounded confident on the phone 🤞🏻

As a teacher myself I’ve seen offsted take very drastic actions for small, easily solvable technical issues (not safeguarding issues). So it could just be some box that wasn’t ticked. Our German preschool where my toddler goes was just told a little while ago that they would have to limit hours to 4 hours a day from the following day, just because they didn’t have enough English books in their book corner!! They had glowing marks on everything else… The children are all from German speaking homes and there to learn more German. Now they’ve changed their license (way the childcare is set up) and it’s fine again… offsted can be very box ticking, so if believe them if they say it wasn’t to do with safeguarding.

It has to be safeguarding issue. My previous nursery got ‘inadequate’ and were given 6 weeks to make improvements while also still running, and they did and it went to ‘good’. We were also told straight away why OFSTED failed them, and we were emailed the concerns the day of the visit. So the fact they aren’t sharing it, is very concerning.