Would you put a complaint in to management? Nursery

[EleryBates]

I have a 3 yr old DS and 15 month DS both in nursery. One is downstairs in the 2.5-3.5 room and one is upstairs in the tots room. On Friday, one of the tots staff decided to bring my 15 month old downstairs to his brother. This was at around 5:45. I was due to arrive at 6pm. They do the shut down between these times as well. My 15 month old was hit on the head with a steel bucket that they used for water play, apparently by a child from the downstairs room with SEN. This resulted in quite a bad deep gash to the head, requiring a hospital visit and for it to be glued. I feel like they was not watching my 15 month old for this to happen. What would you do?

I think kids move fast and a 3 year old could hit a baby even while being watched. Accidents happen.

There's no harm in speaking to the manager though about what happened and what they're putting in place to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I'd say the buckets should probably be changed. This child could just as easily hit your older child on the head with bucket. Maybe plastic buckets would be better.

I agree. Really stupid to have steel buckets with under 4s lobbing them around. Surely any risk assessment would highlight that plastic buckets are obviously safer? Hope your youngest ds recovers quickly.

Accidents happen. I wouldn’t complain, they are doing their best. I hope your son is ok

Solid sensible advice
hope your lad is ok x

if the child required hospital treatment, the Nursery manger should be speaking to you about it. It would be part of their protocol.

Why does is matter that the other child had SEN (and how do you know?) Any kid could have done this.

I would ask for a risk assessment for the buckets and a risk assessment for when the toddlers go into the older room.

They have to do a risk assessment for every piece of equipment that comes into the room. I would also ask them about the ratios and how they work when a younger child enters the room.

I’d move nursery. It sounds awful. The amount of people on here justifying such an incident is shocking.

We’re just coming to the end of 3 years at nursery and nothing even remotely close to this has ever happened. People would be horrified if it had.

The standards people accept are woefully low.

Agree with @NuffSaidSam , accidents happen and provided this is a one off ,would just speak to the manager about how this can be avoided in future, without putting in a complaint.

You're kidding yourself if you think one child has never hit another child with a toy at your nursery. It's an almost daily occurrence. Maybe everyone's been lucky and there hasn't been an injury serious enough for you to have heard about, but kids hitting each other is part and parcel of nursery life I'm afraid.

I agree with @Scenic11. Although accidents do happen, I would want to be sure that this was an unavoidable incident so I would expect them to review it for learning.
it doesn’t sound completely unavoidable based on what you have said because: a 15 month was in the older room, the buckets were steel, a child was potentially unsupervised etc etc.

I agree with this. Meet with the manager first, check you're satisfied they have measures in place to reduce the risk of it happening again.

If you're brushed off or they tell you they don't intend to do anything differently, that is the point to consider a formal complaint/change of nursery.

Fwiw I'm in the middle. I don't think it's such a clear cut case of neglect or bad risk assessment that you should go in all guns blazing or pull your kids out immediately. But I also don't think this is just one of those accidents that happens and couldn't have been prevented, it sounds like there's a couple of things the nursery needs to look at, including the equipment and the close down process at the end of the day. A good nursery will be willing to be open and look for ways to improve.

I would complain. Accidents happen but they shouldn’t happen between children with such a big age gap.

A toddler being hit by another toddler is not the same as a toddler being hit by a child two years older. The staff were obviously trying to tidy up and get everything done so that could go home quicker, which is fair enough if they aren’t paid for clean up time after the children have gone, but the nursery is at fault for not supervising more closely when they chose to mix age groups for their convenience.

My son broke his foot at nursery- i didn't complain but I waited to see what they did next
They were proactive, changed the risk assesment (and sent it to me before I asked!) And changed how they use that equipment.
Id see what the nursery offer you

Surely children of different ages should always be kept seperate? And what about ratios?

I think it’s pretty normal to merge the rooms close to closing time and I’d appreciate that they were trying to have both kids ready for you. I would have a word though- supervision for the child with SEN doesn’t appear to have been adequate and metal buckets in a nursery probably not the best idea, lighter plastic ones would be better so I want to know what changes they’re making to ensure there isn’t a repeat.

We’re all the tots brought down or just your DS? I’d be questioning if the ratios were still correct and asking then what the plan is to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Steel buckets are a stupid idea and they should have been watching your child v carefully as presumably some activities would be too old for him.
id complain so it’s recorded but tbh I’d just want them to keep my children in their appropriate rooms. And yes they should change the buckets as it was an accident waiting to happen.

I would not be happy about this at all

I would definately want a face to face with the manager. I'd expect plans to already be in motion in terms of learning, risk assessment, and any changes to practice required. I'd expect this to be seen as a serious incident. Staff ratios would likely still be OK at that time, as lots of children will of already left. I wouldn't jump to move, if you are generally happy and they respond appropriately. Hope your little one is OK.

Doing their best with steel buckets? Are you serious? Doing their best would be using plastic buckets. Clearly they are taking risks here.

I wouldn't be complaining but I would be asking about their policies.
Firstly you say your child was hit by a child with sen - who told you that the child has sen as not sure it is appropriate for them to disclose that, in the same way they can't say the name of the child.
Secondly the staffing and level of supervision. Are they still within ratio when they move rooms? Are staff still focused on the children or are they doing enough of the day tidying?
Thirdly I would be expecting them to check in with you and your child. When did it happen and when is your child next in? If it happened Friday then I would expect them to be speaking to you today to check how they are doing. They should also have filled out an accident form and you should have seen this.
I would also be asking them about how they will ensure accidents like this don't happen again - the toys that were available such as the steel bucket could perhaps be put away when younger children are in the room - are they actually steel?

This wouldn't be able to happen in my DCs' nursery because although kids in the preschool room are allowed to play with all sorts of risky stuff, now that I'm thinking about it I've realised that I have never seen a child under 2 allowed into the preschool areas unless brought there by a parent during collection time. If they combine the age groups near closing time when there are only a few kids left, they bring the older ones into the baby area, not the other way around, or they take them outside into the garden. I'd be more worried about this aspect than the metal buckets - there must surely be lots of toys that aren't suitable for smaller children in there, and even though a child getting hit over the head with a metal bucket is probably not frequent, your toddler getting hold of small parts and putting them in his mouth is pretty likely.