to be suspicious of nursery manager? (bit long ...)

[anotherbadnight]

totally willing to accept I may be being neurotic but here goes ... dcs go to a day nursery in a private house. The owners have a swimming pool in their garden. There is no fence around the pool but there is a very high fence with a gate in it (which kids could not open) separating their private garden and pool from the kids' areas. Three times now the gate in that high fence has been open when I've dropped dcs off. I have mentioned it to staff members who have closed it and today I told the owner herself that I was very concerned about it. She said that it was done deliberately as part of her health and safety risk assessment.

Every morning they carry out a boundary check (I think that's what she called it) and leaving the gate open from time to time was part of this risk assessment. She said it was to see whether children would go through the gate. Sometimes, she said, they leave the front door open for the same reason. Then she said it was to see whether parents noticed this sort of thing, and I had so well done! Now this all sounds insane to me but I know h&s can be insane. Could this possibly be true?

I don't get on with her very well anyway and have come close to moving them out before but as one is settled and the other is settling I don't want to fly off the handle.

I think it sounds bonkers. I'd move from there ni a heartbeat if I didn't get on with her

She sounds barking

She sounds absolutely barking... Find another nursery.

Loony. their H&S has nothing to do with whether parents notice things or not - it is all their responsibility.

Sounds like a rather patronising excuse to me.

x post sophie!

IT sounds a bit far-fetched to me!

Like "well done, you spotted the deliberate mistake we made". To disguise it being a mistake IYSWIM. But then I know nothing about H&S and registrations and so on.

Extraordinary. Do other parents have any idea what a dangerous loon the owner is?

From my experience of H&S (not in nurseries but in schools) that sounds like a load of cobblers. You assess on a theoretical basis, not by placing actual risks in children's paths. I'd complain but leave anyway.

for you!

No she is surely bluffing. Why would it matter whether the parents noticed it or not - it is the responsibility of the nursery staff to ensure the safety of the site. Also, why would she need to check whether children go through the gate to the pool? Of course there is always the possibility that one would, even if on 60 of their safety checks no child did.

sounds utter rubbish. You've caught her out and she's trying to cover it up.

Deliberately left the gate open?? FGS. After the very sad story about the toddler drowning this week I'd have thought she would have been ULTRA careful.

I would seriously think of moving them out. I'd be SO anxious if my DCs were there.

That's the same as when you're in school and the teacher makes a mistake and when you point it out she says "oh that was a test, well done for spotting my deliberate mistake".

Utter rubbish!

When a child drowns is she going to say "oh, it was a test but he failed it."

Either a) report it to Ofsted or b) move DCs.

Hi ABN, it is total bollocks, otherwise every nursery could use this excuse when reported. She is a woman running a very badly manged nursery imo.

That sounds like total rubbish, she is just making up something to try and shut you up. I can't believe that anyone would do that deliberately let alone for H&S.

You could always double-check with Ofsted (or whoever the regulatory body is) but I suspect that staff are moving back and foward between the two areas and forgetting to close the gate (perhaps because they are carrying something and have their hands full).

I don't know much about the ways and means of H&S myself, but that sounds like utter nonsense to me.

Surely one would presume that the children will go through it, and therefore take appropriate precautions in order to prevent them from doing so?

She's making excuses for her lack of responsibilty, and poor excuses at that, I'd certainly have words with her and seriously consider finding a new nursery for my dc.

After all even if what she was saying was true,that the children have never breached the gate even if it was left open 20 consecutive days, it doesn't mean that it will never happen.

I reckon she was thinking on her feet and came up with what she thought was a valid excuse for the door being open constantly. A completely insane bushitty excuse. I would move your dc's, i really would. It's not for the parents to police a nursery's security arrangements. I've never heard of this sort of thing happening anywhere. "Just to see if the kids go out" ffs

Isn't that "criminal negligence". Next time, take a photo of the open gate and ring the police there and then. That cannot possibly be legal.

Report the nursery to Ofsted

The more I think about it the crosser I am

She's talking absolute nonsense. Boundary checks would involve making sure gates wee secure - not opening them and seeing if a child went through them.. So if during a "test" a child wanders through what are nursey owners going to tell HSE?? "We'd left the gates open as part of our security checks??"

She has totally lied to avoid dealing with a poor safety issue.
The fact that the place is unsafe is bad enough. But the fact that she is prepared to lie ( and assume that you are stupid) rather than recoginise and deal with such a serious issue would be the reason my DC would be out of there this evening....

How will you ever trust anything she ever tells you - if your child gets hurt or upset you will never know what really happened.

actually I agree with tiger feet and would report this incident

In fact forget having words with her, go immediately to Ofsted as Tiger suggested, and pull your children out of there as soon as possible.

I'd expect even a person who had little experience with children to recognise the potential danger and take appropriate precautions to prevent a tragedy.

OMG agree that you should take pictures and send them to the police and offsed.
I absolutely would never have sent my children to a nursery with a pool on the premises. Whether the gate was kept locked or not.
And I am absolutely not a neurotic mother- but open water near small children is just a huge risk that you should not take.
I won't even let my two stay at Ils holiday home till they can swim well - its 100 yards down a path to a jetty onto the deepest lake in England!
Move your child as soon as you can.

I would sooo report to ofsted, but get your dc's out !