How to tackle this security problem at nursery...help

[JennaJ]

Hi,

I need some advice. My ds (3) goes to a school nursery in the mornings. This morning after I dropped him off I found a little girl from the nursery in the alley that runs from the school playground to the road (outside of all the school gates)...about 10m from the road (30m from school). She had her coat off and no one was around and she was crying for her mum. Now I don't know the little girl but I had to pick her up crying and drag take her back into school. I went to the nursery head and explained I had found her outside in the street looking for mum and she just said ohh right curtly, took her off me and went about her business.
At pickup I cornered the mum and explained and I was really surprised that she seemed TOTALLY un concerned that I had found her daughter outside of school and near to the road. She didn't hang about and speak to the teachers or anything.
NOW- Im not really that happy..I leave my son in this place every morning. No one had noticed she had gone..the gates were all wide open so she had free access to the road. If I hadn't picked her up she may have ended up in the road...that could have been my ds. He wouldn't have stopped in the alley and cried he would have kept on going!!!
I KNOW this is totally unacceptable but Im very unsure about how to deal with it..I don't have a good relationship with the nursery head (who is also Ds keyworker). He has SN and can be a handful and she doesn't cope well..she has also lost his speech therapy refferal form 3 times...so he isn't even on the waiting list yet despite him being there nearly 2 terms..so I can't really approach her!! The school has no head teacher at the moment..the deputy is acting up...do you think I would be out of order to go and have an informal chat with her?

Please let me know what you think?

Jenna

[bubblagirl]

i would take my ds out for time being and find out who you can amke a formal complaint to

my ds nursery has someone at door at all times and when dc inside all doors are chained no one allowed to let them selves out member of staff goes with and chains door again

i think you need to deal with this asap we had a nursery close down near us because of this unfortunatly the child didnt stop at the road and was knocked over

nursery was closed down as failed to up the security i would not feel comfortable to leave my ds there knowing how bad there security is
the fact i saw how good they are with security is what made me feel comfortable due to tragic accident at the closed nursery

i think either way they should be reported befre any other accident comes about which next time could be your ds

[mustsleep]

i would defo mention it to the head it's scandalous

even if its only to make her aware, i bet the nursery head hasnlt notified her

surely on a morning (or at the beginning of a nursery session) there should be someone at the door making sure that none of the children are leaving

the same o at pick up time they need to see that the parent is there not just release the kids

[maviscrewit]

I am in a similar position with my dd's nursery but not quite so serious. When I went to pick her up she was outside in the playground which is secure, on her own. All the other children were inside and no one had noticed she was missing. I think she had been out there for 15-20 minutes. It then turned out another little girl was out there too, so they failed to notice two children were missing. I am livid and complained to the head. She was extrememtly apologetic but refused to accept the children had been left out there - they had sneaked out despite having their coats on!! I have contacted Ofsted as this is not acceptable at all. In your case the child had access to a road so the consequences could have been dire. The nursery has a duty of care to all the children and has fallen way below the standards expected. I have a feeling this sort of thing happens more than we would dare to think about. I mean if I hadn't come to pick my daughter up would they have told me about the incident - I think not. I am now in the dilemma of whether to let her continue to go or not. I feel very let down and have lost my trust in them.

I would complain to Ofsted as this is extremely serious and the child's safety was compromised. The number is 08456 404040. You need to be sure procedures are put in place to ensure this never happens again and an investigation by Ofsted will rattle them.

Good luck! What a nightmare. All you want is the best for your children and for them to be safe. It really shouldn't be too much to ask.

[milliec]

Message withdrawn

[chankins]

I would complain and tell ofsted. It would break your heart if you didn't and the same thing happened again, but this time the child was not so lucky.
How on earth can a child get out ?
Why aren't doors locked etc ?
The attitude is even worse. They should have been horrified, in tears, bending over backwards to apologise, and speak to the childs mother before you did !
That kind of defensive hush hush attitude is even more worrying than the fact a child got out.

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

Nicola is this for a course, or are you a journalist?

[callmeovercautious]

Report it to OFSTED. No second chances in these situations.