Nursery went home and left dd!

[lookingfortheanswer]

Posting here for traffic, I don't have an aibu.

Went to pick up dd from nursery this afternoon and found the whole place locked up and nobody there. After frantically calling, banging on doors, checking nobody else had picked her up we managed to contact the neighbouring school. The staff who were still there were amazing, helped us to get into the building where we found dd on the toilet, on her own, lights off and doors closed, staff gone home. It took us half an hour to get in so she was there at least that long. She was obviously very upset but is now home and fine and drinking lemonade as a treat while I try to stop shaking.

Obviously this is a huge safeguarding issue and there is no way she is going back. The head of the neighbouring school has been in touch and is organising a meeting for the morning.

Any advice on where to go from here, who to complain to? Should we get legal advice? I am so so angry!

Good grief - appalling.

I dont think i would be going into the nursery to talk to them, i have never been violent in my life but really dont think i could trust myself to talk to them.

I would be contacting the police, social services, ofstead and my health visitor. I would also have to make sure every other parent was informed. Such a serious case of neglect of a child should mean they shouldn't be allowed to remain open.

This is absolutely awful, and absolutely COULD happen, though of course it SHOULD NOT.

I believe you OP!

Keep us posted.

On a plus side, if you do continue to use the nursery, they are probably the least likely nursery to ever let this happen again!!! In which case free fees till she starts school should help you get over the matter pretty quick.

No, I jest, sort of, do let us know what happens, I suspect they will have 50 shades of shit from OFSTED and the LEA...

It is Ofsted's job to find out how this could happen.
This is not unbelieveable - there was that tragic girl last year who was left in the garden at a nursery and died.
I would expect a nursery to shut when all the children had gone home, our local Infants after school club does - my teens have both volunteered there and came home at various times when the last child had been collected.

The only surprising thing is that the OP didn't phone the police quicker. But I know how you hope and put it off, not wanting to seem hysterical, I've done this when my older child went missing having decided to walk herself home.
I expect the OP couldn't believe there was no one there and thought maybe something had gone wrong and the nursery children had had to decamp to the school hall (boil burst or something).

OP please do let us know what happens.

I don't know why people are doubting the nursery's closing time. At the nurseries we have used, they would close as soon as the last child was picked up. I wouldn't be waiting to find out why, straight to Ofsted and the police, don't give them a chance to cover their tracks. If there eas an emergency they would've called op. Someone fucked up big time

Mintyy, what would be the point of staying open with no children there? It seems pretty normal to me that they would be eager to leave. It's not like anyone's going to drop their kid off at 5.30 for half an hour, is it?

Actually my email would read...

to: LA, Ofsted

subj: URGENT: safeguarding failure at BadProcedures Nursery

Dear sirs

It is with regret that I must notify you of a serious safeguarding failure at BadProcedures today.

The nursery's opening hours are 8-6. Today I arrived to collect my 2yo daughter at 5.30 to find the building locked up. Staff elsewhere on the site were able to open the building after around half an hour, and my daughter was found in a toilet cubicle inside the building. No adults or other children were in the building with her.

Fortunately, on this occasion my daughter was unharmed. However, I'm sure you will agree the situation was completely unacceptable.

I look forward to hearing your comments. I shall of course not be entrusting my daughter to their care again.

Yours faithfully

to: nursery

Subject: DD

I hereby withdraw DD from your setting. I request a refund of £n for fees paid in advance.

DD was found in nursery yesterday evening at x o'clock, at least half an hour after the building had been locked up.

The matter is now in the hands of the local authority and Ofsted.

Yours sincerely

Even if the op was 3 hours late or in the accident (sorry, just an example) there are procedures to follow. Call the op, call the persons on the emergency list, worst scenario call the social services that the child has mot been picked up.

Bloody hell. I can see this happening - people get complacent. You can just see a nursery worker keen to get home for whatever, running through the motions of doing a check, sticks head in door, doesn't see a child, heads off to another room.

I'd also try to get in because my thought would be that they're in the back and have locked up earlier so they can leave as soon as the child is picked up. I don't think (probably stupidly) I would think someone else had picked my child up, because that's just too horrible a thought.

and to you

Oh, I dunno. Maybe thinking that as the nursery pays their staff to work until 6pm, that they might stay til 6pm, doing a bit of tidying or preparing for the next day or whatever.

I've never had the luxury of being let off work half an hour early for no good reason so I expect I find it hard to imagine that there are others who do.

I am really shocked by this. It is awful. I would get in contact with the police on the 101 number to get some advice.
I am glad that your DD seems ok. It must have been so awful for both of you.

Why would a nursery be all shut up and no one there at 5.30pm if it is officially open until 6pm? That just sounds incredible to me for starters.

We have used one nursery and one pre school. They both shut up shop as soon as the last child has gone home. If I turn up early and my child is last, the staff are almost dancing with glee at the thought of going home early.

Saves the nursery money, mintyy. We used to get sent home from ours if the kids were picked up early.

1 post only from the OP and 359 replies so far.
I would need more information before commenting with any useful response.

Right, dd is in bed. She seems to be fine, a little shaken up but happy. I am not so fine.

The head of the school has called the lea and maybe others, and given them all our number. We may have to buy her chocolates, the nursery isn't even anything to do with her and she couldn't have been more helpful and lovely. We have had a call from head of children's services who was very apologetic and furious on our behalf and is going to get back to us in the morning. No word from anyone at the nursery yet.

Dp is going to call the police in a minute to get their opinion.

We have a school and preschool that share the same building (separate entrances etc) if preschool was shut my first thought would be to go into the school to see why and what had happened( school is open later).

I can completely see why the op did as she did. I would however be raging to find a two year old in these circumstances.

I agree that ofsted the local council safeguarding team, and any one else I could think of would be getting emails tonight followed up by phone calls at 8am tomorrow. It may even be worth trying to see if there us an out of hours team for the local authority. Before children are in the care of the nursery tomorrow.

Hen15, there are by my count 8 posts from the OP on this thread before yours and one immediately after.

I went cold reading that. Am so glad she is ok OP and hope you have calmed down now. There are just no words for how utterly unacceptable that is. I'm sure you won't rest until you've got to the bottom of it. I am terrified afresh now as I am just about to start my son in nursery. This doesn't bear thinking about. Have to agree with others though that hopefully this was worse for you than for her.

If I turn up early and my child is last, the staff are almost dancing with glee at the thought of going home early.

That's fair enough. Any decent Early Years practitioner earns their keep and some every day. It is hard graft and you have to be professional and caring every second you are there. If they get an early mark, all well and good.

I am, of course, not including the staff responsible for this fiasco amongst decent practitioners.

I believe this could happen. I know of a nursery who took preschoolers out on a trip and left a child behind. The parent was a friend of a friend. The child was left by themselves, at a setting with open water. Fortunately she was found quickly and looked after by a member of the public who noticed she wasn't with anybody. The nursery offered the family free places for the child and her siblings as an "apology" bribe but the parents just didn't want their children to go back.

So glad your dd was ok, OP, that is so so horrible. Agree re Ofsted, and withdrawing her immediately.

OP, so glad to hear your DD is fine. Can't believe the nursery you trusted to look after her let you down so badly. You must be so shaken. Hope you get a nice glass of wine or bath or something relaxing this evening.