Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Nursery rated inadequate - help

82 replies

CathyandHealthcliff · 30/08/2019 22:08

I’m in such a predicament tonight, I feel sick.
I already suffer with anxiety and I’m dreading going back to work next week. I’ve been having panic attacks about it.
He’ll be going two days a week.

The nursery we’ve chosen has a homely feel and the staff are lovely with the children. They get taken out on walks in the local area often and have a lot of outside time.
The children always seem happy and well looked after there.

Anyway, the ofsted report has just gone online and they have been rated inadequate in all areas.
I’m absolutely gutted.
I’m starting back at work next week and it’s too late to find anywhere else now. Plus he’s done several settling in sessions.
We don’t have any other alternatives for childcare. I don’t know what to do. Please be gentle with me, I feel really delicate and devastated tonight.

OP posts:
SoozC · 30/08/2019 22:42

Teacher here. It sounds as though the safeguarding is a relatively minor issue that's easily solved, fortunately.

With regards to the other negatives, sometimes just missing one piece of paperwork can be enough to downgrade a setting. You can guarantee that most, if not all, of the staff there are gutted and you will finds things improve rapidly. An Improvement Partner or outstanding setting will be allocated to the nursery to provide support and this will happen quickly. Ofsted will be in again in a matter of months to do another check.

I appreciate Ofsted reports can be worrying for parents, especially if it's your first experience of them in relation to your child, but it honestly sounds worse than I'm sure it is in reality. I bet the nursery will be doing everything in their power to communicate what's happening to parents and to make all the necessary steps to improving.

Try to focus on how lovely the staff are and the other benefits. If, in a few months' time, you're not happy you can look into an alternative.

(Sorry, you say you work in a school so I'm sure you're familiar with the processes. My last paragraph still stands!)

Juliehooligan · 30/08/2019 22:43

How does your child react to going? If he is happy to be left there, then go off his mood. Ofstead reports are all well and good, but at the end of the day it’s all about ticking a box saying good or bad.

Redbrook · 30/08/2019 22:53

Also please bear in mind that the inspection was likely to have been some time ago and that the management & staff will have known for a while what the outcome was before the report was published. They will likely have been working to improve ever since the inspection. All the issues could well have been addressed by now.

I appreciate that this is different, but I worked in a healthcare setting which was graded inadequate; by the time the report was published the setting had known for several months and had made significant improvements.

mumwon · 30/08/2019 22:59

re ofsted (excm here) I remember a cm at school I collected from -she was dire - always complaining about the dc she looked after & dc parents - & comparing this dc to her wonderful dc (not!) She got a good for OFSTED -pure blinking paperwork (no I wasn't jealous I actual got - well -I did OK shall we say Grin) the point was this woman really wasn't professional & broke all confidentiality standards) the problem is what is the background of the assessor - was she school based & didn't understand the nature of nurseries of cm? I bet your nursery was lax on paperwork &the safe guarding is about whether they kept records up to date - it may be the manager was a bit old fashioned - go chat with nursery & ask them what they missed out on & what they intend to do about it. from what I understand nowadays if you do well at OFSTED you don't get examined for a few years but if you don't they keep a very strict eye on the establishment & you have a review in a set time to check you have improved. I think the policy paperwork has gone to far & is more about making it easier to mark for OFSTED & not about the real live caring of the dc. How many grannies would fail OFSTED Grin!

Original poster
CathyandHealthcliff · 30/08/2019 23:01

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I guess they are fairly old fashioned, as one of the staff members said to me my DS would be bringing home pictures he’s drawn for me and so on.

OP posts:
toadabode · 30/08/2019 23:02

So sorry to hear this but surely you simply can't send your DC to a nursery rated inadequate in all areas? I know I couldn't, I'd feel as though I was hugely letting my DC down. Requires improvement perhaps, but not inadequate. Inspectors get a feel for a place they're inspecting - to rate somewhere inadequate in all areas would not have been a decision taken lightly and is a reflection of their overall impression of the service. Steer clear

Original poster
CathyandHealthcliff · 30/08/2019 23:05

@toadabode I know that, which is why I posted, but what can I do at this late stage? I’m starting back on Wednesday.

OP posts:
trilbydoll · 30/08/2019 23:06

If they're rated inadequate don't they get a few months to put things right and then ofsted come back?

Our nursery had a disastrous surprise ofsted visit. They got a new manager who went through the place like a whirlwind and within a few months it was 100x better (not that I'd been unhappy before!)

At one point over the 5 years we used them they got rated Good and the reason they weren't outstanding was given as 'staff do not put out activities in the garden before children arrive' - I can't get worked up about that tbh!

CGTER567 · 30/08/2019 23:12

Many reports alone don't mean much. I work in a non-educational sector which has similar inspections and honestly you can be failed for some ridiculous things. On the other hand, those care homes on Panorama all seemed to have "good" ratings....

toadabode · 30/08/2019 23:13

Delay your return to work if you have to until you find an appropriate nursery. So sorry you're in this situation - I'd be physically ill. It's not ideal by any means but your DC comes first so if that means a fall out with your workplace you'll just have to take it on the chin and know that you've done your best by your DC

NailsNeedDoing · 30/08/2019 23:13

If you work in a school then you should know better than most that OFSTED reports don't really give an accurate picture. If you have a good feeling about the nursery, then trust your instincts. That's got to be better than assuming everything is brilliant just because a setting got an outstanding when the reality is very different when there aren't inspectors around.

The nursery will be expecting parents to be worried right now, so talk to them and listen to what they say. If they contact parents and explain the situation and say what they are planning to do to improve, that would be a really good thing. I think you'll likely get a much better idea of the sort of nursery they are from their response to this, and they will be re inspected fairly soon so wait and see what that says. If they continue to be inadequate, it would make sense not to use them, but at this stage you'd be doing nothing wrong by supporting them.

Limezested · 30/08/2019 23:14

Don’t discount your initial gut feeling of it being good enough when you initially viewed it and had settling sessions. The fact it has the lowest rating means ofsted will have set them targets and will be visiting again shortly to ensure things are improving. Although I would be unhappy and disheartened I wouldn’t necessarily change just yet until they had given me reason to feel my child wasn’t safe or being well looked after. As others have said ofsted isn’t the be all and end all

Original poster
CathyandHealthcliff · 30/08/2019 23:15

@toadabode I don’t know if that’s an option when I’ve already told them I’m returning on a specific date.

OP posts:
Original poster
CathyandHealthcliff · 30/08/2019 23:17

I realise not all ofsted reports are reliable. But inadequate in all areas seem extreme!

OP posts:
WWlOOlWW · 30/08/2019 23:18

I'm not in a childcare setting but I do work somewhere inspected by OFSTED. We went from an Outstanding to Inadequate for a ridiculous one off reason.

Have a look at old OFSTED reports and see what they say.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 30/08/2019 23:19

The fire door thing would worry me, tbh. It’s all very well someone saying. Well as long as it’s getting sorted it wouldn’t worry me. However You never know when you need these things in place. I’d want to know exactly when it was going to be fixed, and What alternative safety precautions they had in place. I’ll never apologise for being an over protective parent. Children are too precious.

MelonSlice · 30/08/2019 23:19

What does the previous report say and are there any reoccurring issues?

Paddy1234 · 30/08/2019 23:20

I work in a slightly different sector - do not discount an inadequate- they will be working closely with the provider to address any issues straight away.

toadabode · 30/08/2019 23:21

@limezested genuine question - why would you wait for a nursery rated inadequate in ALL areas to give you a reason to think your child wasn't safe or being well looked after before pulling the plug? I don't think a single report is the be all and end all but I can't see much redemption for a nursery whose inspectors thought that poorly of the service as a whole. Though reading a lot of these responses I feel as though I may be missing something? Am I perhaps just too highly strung?

allezallezallez · 30/08/2019 23:23

Agree with all PPs that Ofsted reports have a different focus to parents looking for a warm and safe environment for their children. Had the same situation with an inadequate nursery where DC was receiving great care.

Visited a lot of places when looking for childcare. One outstanding one did seem genuinely good. Other outstanding one the manager spent the whole tour describing the paperwork they have to do, I saw children were not clean long after they had eaten, staff were told in several rooms to get back to work who were chatting, not good vibes between staff members and all this while prospective parents were on a tour! We assumed their good rating had made them Very complacent.
I read Ofsted reports for all the places we considered and the report for this school was going on about this idea they had about children bringing home things they were interested in to continue learning. I’m sure the reports have their uses but I wanted a place where DC would have care and attention/engagement and staff who seemed happy to be there. Not gimmicks about ‘learning outcomes’ for toddlers.

Think you need to make a judgement about the people you’ve met in there and then decide if you’re happy to go ahead.

toadabode · 30/08/2019 23:24

In that case I'd just phone in sick (something that I would never ever do usually). Though reading a lot of these responses I think I'm way off the mark? I can't imagine ever leaving my DC there but perhaps I'm just being ridiculous, who knows

SweetAsSpice · 30/08/2019 23:26

Yes. If you work in a school then surely you know about the reality of Ofsted.

I sent my child to the ‘best’ nursery in the area, spotted a huge safeguarding concern the second week which they were unable to explain/provide adequate risk assessments when requested. I pulled him straight out.

Go with your gut. Based on the areas of concern you have listed, unless you have omitted a red flag - Have a few words on a piece of paper really changed your opinion on a place you were previously happy to send your child to?

CottonSock · 30/08/2019 23:27

My dd goes to a nursery where I have been complaining about the front door for years (left open, not self closing). I still send her there, other nurseries will have different issues.

ChildminderMum · 30/08/2019 23:29

Sometimes settings get an inadequate for not doing something statutory which means they aren't meeting the requirements of registration - however major issues in all areas - I would be worried.

That isn't just a minor issue with paperwork. It's pretty rare for any setting to be inadequate in every area. It's bad.

If your child was already settled there and going to school soon you might decide the disruption was too much to move - but I wouldn't choose to put my child in a setting knowing it's inadequate.

MarchionessOfCholmondeley · 30/08/2019 23:31

I have sent my kids to an allegedly "outstanding" primary school in the past. The reality it had a head teacher who was good at playing the Ofsted game, knowing which boxes needing ticking. The moment the school was classed outstanding, the arrogant prick knew he could take his foot off the gas, safe in the knowledge it would be a good few years before ofsted would come knocking on his door again. I volunteered to listen to readers for a couple of years and the whole school felt soulless and joyless.

The kids were much happier moving to an "requires improvement" school. Their individual needs seemed to be better catered for.

A setting that is inadequate in all areas will be closely monitored by the powers that be, and could actually be better than an "outstanding" cruising along under historic success