nursery accident, ofsted?

[Idk92]

My DS had an accident at nursery which was quite bad. He tripped over a toy, landed and hit his head on the side of a big easel and bit down on his lip causing a big chunk of lip to be bitten off and lots of bleeding. I have since found out he was in a room with 3 members of staff all unqualified and I believe unqualified staff shouldn't be alone with the children without a qualified member of staff.

A horrible accident, and dreadful for you all. But it was an accident and I don’t see how it would have been prevented. The question is how was the situation handled after it happened? But nothing you have so far written here suggests that the response was poor. Accidents happen. They’re awful and distressing. Often when accidents happen we are filled with emotions: guilt and fear and anger and we want to put the blame somewhere. It’s not usually helpful though. I imagine that these staff are feeling dreadful and (especially as trainees) rather traumatised. Exacerbating that by threatening OFSTED is unhelpful and unfair.

How do you even know this? I’d be very shocked if the nursery had pointed out to you they are all unqualified.

Also going to echo what others have said, being qualified wouldn’t have stopped your child falling.

It wasn’t negligence or anything that could have been stopped if a member of staff with higher qualifications was in the room. It was an accident, they happen.

The point of informing Ofsted is to improve things for everybody else including the staff.
Generally speaking childcare settings are filled with underconfident young people, Who are completely unaware of their rights even if they’re aware of the law which they would be as part of their qualification.

It does nobody any favours a side of the nursery owners to keep quiet about these incidents

Also something to point out about qualifications. A young girl straight from college into her 1st ever job with no childcare experience is qualified. An experienced member of staff, mother and grandma might not be qualified.

The nursery ratios can work across the building and the manager can deploy staff as necessary.

This probably doesn't count as a 'serious accident' in Ofsted terms.

You must tell Ofsted about any of the following:

• anything that requires resuscitation
• admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
• a broken bone or fracture
• dislocation of any major joint, such as the shoulder, knee, hip or elbow
• any loss of consciousness
• severe breathing difficulties, including asphyxia
• anything leading to hypothermia or heat-induced illness

Nursery don't need to report anything Ofsted consider 'minor'

You do not need to tell Ofsted about minor injuries. These include:

• animal and insect bites, such as a bee sting that doesn’t cause an allergic reaction
• sprains, strains and bruising, for example if a child sprains their wrist tripping over their shoelaces
• cuts and grazes
• minor burns and scalds
• dislocation of minor joints, such as a finger or toe
• wound infections

She is not reporting the incident, she’s reporting the fact that there were no qualified staff supervising hers and the other children.

This! ⬆️

Op was the incident handled correctly after your child had the accident? Was all the correct steps taken as would by someone qualified? Was the room staged for a potential accident that a qualified person would have made an assessment that might have forseen such an incident? Has the nursery failed with staffing rules regardless to all these points ? If the answer is no then im not sure what you want ofsted to do. Sometimes we want to lay blame on accidents when there is no blame. Its just an accident.

Ok, sorry for the drip feed, so the nursery had an unannounced inspection back in October. This was due to a complaint that some staff were 'unsuitable' ratios not met and that rooms were unsafe due to trip hazards i.e lots of toys left out and all over the floor, wires on show etc. Apparently Ofsted visited and found that rooms were unsafe due to trip hazards but didn't make comment of finding anything else that was complained about. Ofsted came back a little while later and found that the nursery had took steps to sort this but it's got me wondering if they have gone back to how it was before if things are being left out and trip hazards. The nursery told me that any first aid wasn't done straight away because it was apprentices in the room and they had to shout out to the Level 3 member of staff for help who was on the same floor but had left them in there whilst some of the other children were in the main room with them. This was because they didn't know what to do and apparently no one actually saw it happen but obviously heard the bang as he hit his head and my DS on the floor very distraught with a chunk of his lip gone. They explained all this to me.

Yes, that’s fine, if there is something wrong here. I’m not sure (and that seems to be true of the majority on this thread) what the nursery have necessarily done wrong though. @Moonlightexpress put’s the question far better than I did, but the accident sounds like an accident, the staffing issue may or may not be an issue (we don’t have enough details to know) and the accident doesn’t sound like a room set up issue as the child tripped over a toy (they move) and hit an easel. It sounds like an accident to me and that wouldn’t have been prevented by having someone more qualified present. And we know nothing of how they responded to the accident, which in itself suggests that the response was probably fine. I, and I suspect everyone else here who have said it doesn’t sound like a matter for OFSTED aren’t suggesting anything should be covered up or the nursery protected, we’re just saying that what has been presented doesn’t sound like something that needs reporting. It was, however distressing and severe, just an accident.

Just sounds like an accident to me, unaffected by the staffing. Are there other issues you are worried about?

I agree that 'accidents happen' but this sounds like even if it couldn't have been avoided, someone should have been there faster - pretty much instantly. I'd also be more widely concerned about my child's health and safety and also that he was receiving quality care in other ways e.g. ambitious language used in conversation, caring relationships with staff.
You've been rather shut down on this thread OP; I'm an EYFS manager and have been for many years and I think there's a problem here. How do you feel generally about his care and progress? If you feel the nursery to be excellent, maybe this incident just requires a chat with the manager and reassurance. But I might be looking for a new nursery.

Why do so many Mums Net AIBU drip feed information?
‘AIBU my husband was feeding our child while holding him and I think this is awful’
Of course YABU says everyone…
‘Shows how much you all know’ responds the OP, ‘he was holding him while walking across a tightrope above a pond full of crocodiles!’

Just give people the information!

But beyond that, staffing sounds an issue, yes.

I’m not up to date on what the rules are for qualified vs unqualified staff. No, qualifications don’t in themselves stop accidents and accidents happen BUT if a setting is ignoring things like qualified staff ratios they are also likely to be cutting corners elsewhere with training, equipment safety etc etc. An unsuitable environment increases likelihood of accidents.

It is always worth reporting any breech of the rules because it often uncovers other issues. But you need to establish what rules, if any, were broken. If there were then definitely report.

This really

You didn’t think it would be helpful to mention all this in your original post? Please, use some common sense.

ffs it was an accident

ridiculous drip feed post

YABU - it was an accident, these things happen unfortunately regardless of who his in the room at the time.

My son tripped over a chair leg at nursery and smacked his head on a table, ended up with a lovely gash on his forehead. There were several ‘qualified’ members of staff in the room including the nursery manager….and i’d literally just walked into the room to pick him up. It was an accident, no one could’ve stopped it happening, including myself.

All besides the point and completely irrelevant, in order to be legally operating as a nursery and compliant, There needs to be a certain ratio of qualified staff to unqualified staff in each room of the nursery at all times licensing has agreed Are the opening hours.
Compliance is black and white.
Yes or no

He tripped over a toy. It happens. Don't be daft. It was an accident. It won't be the last

Well done for knowing this. Are you planning on commenting on every other post that doesn’t necessarily know that this is correct or is it just my post you’ve singled out to demonstrate your knowledge?

There are children at risk so I’ll comment.
On the Internet, in Person, wherever I see it because as a decent human being that’s what we do, we share our knowledge to protect the vulnerable in our society.

And that’s absolutely fine. I’m only wondering why you felt the need to make your comment a response to something I said. It’s perfectly possible to comment on a thread - and yours would have been a perfectly good addition to the thread - without doing it as direct response to someone else’s comment. I’m not sure why you chose to jump on my comment when about 80-90% of posts on here have also said that this was an accident and not something for OFSTED.