Ofsted rated inadequate nursery - stay or go?

[louise987]

Recently our DD's nursery was rated inadequate by Ofsted (2 areas inadequate, 2 requires improvement = overall inadequate)

DD has been there for 18m, (she's 3) has been very happy and is progressing well from what I can see.

After the rating I'm in two minds, rationally I expect they will be working hard over the next 6 months before the re-inspection to improve so arguably will be the best they've been, and given our DD is happy it would minimise disruption for her.
But the other side of me thinks I'm being foolish - there's no way I would choose a nursery with this rating if I were choosing one for my DD, inadequate is the worst it gets, so I should take her out regardless.

Has anyone kept their child in an inadequately rated nursery and been pleased with their decision? Would you make the same decision again?

[Orlande]

Why was it inadequate?

If it was things like staff not being up to date on prevent or fgm I would give them time to fix it.

If it was unsafe premises or recruitment I would have my child straight out of there.

If it was inadequate teaching and learning then I would also move ASAP - your child only has a year before school so 6 months is a long time to wait.

It is pretty hard to get an inadequate so I would be very interested in the nursery reaction - have they accepted it or offered excuses?

[Littlefish]

How old is your dd? Quite apart from anything else, I don't think that nurseries rated as inadequate are allowed to receive NEF funding from the local authority.

[BackforGood]

What Orlande said.

You need to look more closely at what the report actually says, rather than the headline figures.

I visit a lot of Nurseries every year, and I can tell you there is no strong correlation between the OFSTED ratings and the Nurseries I would or wouldn't leave my own children in if they were that age.
Find out what it s OFSTED are saying is inadequate or RI, and then have a good think and a good close look at what your other options are if you decide to move her.

[louise987]

Thanks all. The nursery's response has been constructive and set out immediate remediation actions (some equipment being deemed unsafe has been fixed for example) and I do feel for them as some very simple actions have changed the situation/rating, but I guess that will come out when the re-inspection takes place.
Safeguarding was highlighted as inadequate but I've seen this is quite a common area to be marked down on due to paperwork - it's concerning thou as it's such an important topic.

I think I'll wait for the re-inspection report which is due in a couple of months and make a decision from there - it's playing on my mind though... I am genuinely interested to hear what other parents have done in this situation as people tend to hold ofsted in such High regard.

The latest ofsted guidance says they can still accept LA funding if rated inadequate so no changes there.

[YetAnotherThing]

Another issue is that once new families looking for a nursery see the inadequate rating nobody will send their kids there, so may not survive financially.

[EleanorofCastile]

Our nursery was rated inadequate, had an inspection 3 months later and is now good. I don’t think anyone took their kids out, partly because they were happy and settled and partly because it would have been impossible to find somewhere else at short notice (waiting lists are over a year long for babies and possibly longer for older children).

I don’t think the manager is very capable and that’s a lot of the problem but the overall team and owner are good, staff are treated well and seem happy so there is a low turnover which I think is one of the most important things.