Would ibu to contact Ofsted? Seriously bemused by their grading system.

[ifgrandmahadawilly]

A few months ago, when I was looking for childcare for my 20 month old, I visited a local nursery. They had a banner outside advertising their Ofsted rating as 'Outstanding'.

The place was absolutely shocking. At the time I reasoned that maybe their Ofsted rating had been given a few years ago and the place had just deteriorated since then. However, this week I have walked past the building on my way home from work and they have a brand new sign up saying 'Rated Outstanding 2015 - 2016'. .

The last visit left me so saddened and upset that I did think about contacting Ofsted. I talked myself out of it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, would my opinion bare any weight, as I've never actually used the nursery? Secondly, it's hard to put into words what exactly was so 'off' about the place - it was just a culmination of small things. However, the experience has just played on my mind ever since and I feel so sorry for any of the babies that have to bet left there.

Here's a summation of my experience of the nursery (sorry, it's looong).

During the visit, neither the staff member showing me around, nor any of the other staff showed the least bit of interest in my daughter, not even saying hello.

My first impression of the toddler room downstairs was - Rundown, messy (toys strewn all over the floor), Disorganised (baskets of toys literally stacked up to the ceiling), cramped, generally a bit 'meh' but nothing too bad. The toddlers were all taking part in a singing and dancing session at the time but the activities they had previously been engaged with were still set up on the tables with staff making no effort to tidy / put them away.

The Outdoor area was good.

Then, however, they took me upstairs to the baby room (under 2's). Oh-my-word. It was gob-smackingly bad. There were 4 babies plonked in bouncers (one of them asleep) around a single toy with staff paying them no attention whatsoever and gossiping amongst themselves. There was a little boy who had crawled off on his own, also getting no attention There was a nap area you could see into. During the twenty minutes I was there, one of the children had been awake, standing up in their cot the whole time but it was only as I was leaving that a staff member noticed (the reason I was there for twenty minutes is that a staff member went to find me a prospectus but couldn't locate one).

The babies all looked completely miserable and un-stimualted. There was a serious shortage of toys and the place looked dingy and grubby. There was a notice board up with pictures of activities the children had taken part in and some comments but even these seemed a bit half-arsed.

When I asked about daily routine, I was told that they 'do stuff with them, of course' . Asking about food, they told me that 'dinner could be a slice of pizza or some soup' WTAF?

Laughingly, they were charging £52 a day.

Is there anything I can do?

[Griphook]

I've know chain nurseries to love staff from other nurseries on the day if inspection to ensure ratios were met, ofsted didn't have a clue. Complain, it will take 5 minutes, there's nothing to lose

[ifgrandmahadawilly]

Oh, it is a chain of local nurseries.

I think I will write in. If Ofsted think I'm talking nonsense they can just discard but it will stop playing on my mind.