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Original poster

Nursery safeguarding issue

51 replies

Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:10

Nursery safeguarding issue - advice needed

So today I went to collect my 3 year old from nursery only to be ushered into the managers office to be informed of “ serious incident “
This incident happens to be that they left my little boy in his nursery room - alone ! For 30 minutes whilst the class went off to soft play in a completely separate area outside of nursery.
I was and still am in shock - they are calling me tomorrow morning to discuss in detail and will log the incident with ofsted - but what if anything can be done /should be done to prevent this happening again
They had temporary staff in today so I don’t know but I’m feeling horribly uneasy about sending him back ?

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OP posts:
Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:10

G

OP posts:
Thehop · 19/12/2018 22:13

Oh god.

I’d be pleased that they were honest.

Pleased that they had escalated in line with requirements and contacted OFSTED.

I’d be very bloody angry and really would struggle to trust them again, I’m sorry.

missyB1 · 19/12/2018 22:17

How on earth did it happen? They obviously didn’t count the children. We count ours out whenever we go out, and do regular headcounts wherever we are.

At least they have been honest I suppose, and it will almost certainly never happen again as they will be paranoid now.
But I would be horrified if I was you.

pastabest · 19/12/2018 22:19

At least they were honest.

But wow.

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:20

Thank you for the reply
I was and am bloody furious - luckily my boy thought it was one big adventure and couldn’t wait to tell me how “he had been left alone , all alone with no friends “ 😭
But I mentioned ofsted first so Idk if I forced their hand , also they wouldn’t share at first how long he was left alone for - I had to wait 2 hrs to get the confirmation as they couldn’t share with me this as they hadn’t completed the investigation /interviewing the staff who were around . I was so cross that information was not shared but I’m unsure of best practise ect . Horrible as he loves nursery so much but it breaks my heart to think of him all alone ! On top of that he fell over and hit his head today - so my thoughts were shouldn’t he have been supervised all day with a head injury as a priority ??

OP posts:
PinotAndPlaydough · 19/12/2018 22:21

This is awful and I’m so sorry that happened to your son, I hope he wasn’t too distressed. I work in childcare and it sounds like they are dealing with this brilliantly, I know of many places that simply would t have told you and just given the staff a telling off. The fact they are going through all the proper channels is excellent. I agree with th pp it’s going to be very hard for you to trust them again and you have every right to be very cross. Take comfort in the fact that they have told you and are dealing with it appropriately, it’s a sign of a good setting despite what’s happened.

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:21

I also don’t know if they were so keen to share as he was over sharing with anyone who would listed and manager made reference to that - we have had to tell you as he will tell you but then said we pull tell you anyway 🙄

OP posts:
Makatoned · 19/12/2018 22:21

Absolutely no consolation what so ever but you can bet it won’t happen again as they will make a point of being more vigilant about it. But completely understand how it would be hard to trust again

Cranky17 · 19/12/2018 22:22

There are lots of things they can do, but at the moment I’d want to know why they waited till you got there? Surely ds would have been upset, they should have contacted you and ask you to come in early to offer comfort.
I’d also want to known whether this was a miss count or whether ds was marked on onthe register, this could be very serious if there had been a fire.
Your poor ds hope he’s ok

pastabest · 19/12/2018 22:23

Actually I would be questioning the 30 mins thing unless is the soft play area is literally next door!?

hazeyjane · 19/12/2018 22:24

I was going to say that they could hardly not tell you, as a lot of 3 year olds would definitely let you know what had happened!!

It is awful, and even worse with head injury involved

Cranky17 · 19/12/2018 22:25

I’d also want to see there lost child policy. And there minutes from the investigation. I’d pick it apart tii felt I had the truth

Kolo · 19/12/2018 22:25

How was your little boy at the time and this evening? I’d be really upset about that.

I’m pretty sure ofsted will have some advice and guidance for the nursery to investigate what went wrong and what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It won’t be the first time they’ve dealt with a safeguarding issue.

It’s some comfort that the nursery know it was a serious incident and have followed the correct process immediately afterwards. I think the only way you can feel assured now is by meeting with the nursery to find out exactly how it happened and what they are going to do to ensure this never happens again.

I’m struggling to imagine how it could happen. I’m a childcare provider and I’m constantly taking registers and counting heads wherever we are. It must be to do with temp staff being unaware of some of the safeguarding practices??

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:25
  • they would have to tell me anyway , but it felt like if my boy wasn’t so vocal about it perhaps they wouldn’t of shared it and that concerns me . I have asked for an overview of the investigation in writing as to assess it properly but I have been left feeling very uneasy. Thank you to all who have commented so far
OP posts:
Elphie54 · 19/12/2018 22:28

I am glad they are taking it seriously, but wouldn’t trust them again.

Makatoned · 19/12/2018 22:29

I’d be asking as well at what point they realised he was missing. Or was it only when they returned to the room to find him there, as in it could have been longer than 30 mins before anyone noticed had they not returned

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:30

The soft play is in the same building but out of the nursery setting - initially I was told it was 15-20 mins until I asked if I could see the cctv showing the timings ( as I knew it was likely to be 30mins )
The trouble was today was the carol concert and I believe they had parents in and out of the rooms and children leaving prior to normal leaving time so I can see how it may have been missed - but surely there should be a robust process to stop this happening ! I will
Mention the register tomorrow when the head of the nursery chain rings me but I’m so shaken up by it all
Luckily my little boy seemed fine - but it is more the “what ifs” that terrify me !

OP posts:
Nothisispatrick · 19/12/2018 22:34

Omg how! How does that happen?! I worked for years in a preschool and I can’t imagine how it could happen.

MySkirtHasPockets · 19/12/2018 22:34

I can guarantee the chances of anything like that happening again are slim to none, the management team (if they've got anything about them) will be furious this has happened and will definitely have to deal with it, especially if Ofsted have been contacted. They'll be shitting themselves that word will get out and they'll lose business.

See how the conversation goes tomorrow, they need to quickly work out exactly what happened leading up to him being left and how it went unnoticed for so long and work out a plan for dealing with the staff involved and ensuring it doesn't happen again.

Cranky17 · 19/12/2018 22:36

Glad he’s ok, I think you need to look at whether this is a genuine accident which do happen or whether it’s part of a bigger concern. Things that may indicate that would be things like
Staff turn over
Temp staff
Agency staff
Ratios correct or bare minimum
Is the environment calm or chaotic
I would also question why temp staff too children to soft play it’s not necessary and temp staff don’t know the children well

SassitudeandSparkle · 19/12/2018 22:36

Is the softplay session a regular one, OP? I've seen a session marked as for the nursery attached to a softplay we've been to, so I can see why you'd have a good idea of how long he was left for.

They don't seem to be too forthcoming with the facts without a lot of prompting, so I would be wary tbh. It does sound as if they only realised when they returned Sad

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:37

He was alone in the room and was only found when they arrived back from soft play - which is the reason why I want to see the timings on the cctv to make sure they correlate . I simply cannot see how they left without him especially if his key workers were involved in the outing !

OP posts:
Cranky17 · 19/12/2018 22:37

Sorry to keep posting, but I used to run a nursery and things like this and potential covering really is me off

Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:40

Soft play can be a regular thing - it’s more a fun outing but happens perhaps once /twice a month imo. Interestingly I have asked the names of the persons who took the children to soft play as I fully agree that the temp member of staff shouldn’t be escorting the staff outside of the nursery .
I fully agree that they are terrified - they have just had an ofsted inspection last week and their rating improved so I can see how they won’t want this to be out there . Question : is it a legal requirement to log such a breach with ofsted ? Or if I hadn’t mentioned it would they not ?

OP posts:
Original poster
Hobbies22 · 19/12/2018 22:42

@cranky17 Thank you so much for all yor useful info
It’s important to me I fully understand what should happen to enable me to thoroughly question tomorrow how this did happen and where the failings were .

OP posts:
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