cm club - can i get your thought on my ds incident at nursery.

[jellyjelly]

Posted in nurseries as well but would appreciate your view too.

my son who is 3.5 yrs goes to state nursery every morning in the week. He started 4 weeks ago. Bit of background to the nursery, it is wellliked, graded gold star by ofsted. Good nursery to go to.

Nursery does training sessions for parents and the parents can put their children their in their creche for the training. Ds is allergic to eggs so i told them this on the training and said that he musnt eat eggs or anything with eggs in. anyway he was given a chocolate cake and they didnt relise till i asked how he had been, doing etc, eaten and they said they had given him an cake. When i said he shoudltn have eggs there faces changed.

Second thing and this is the bit that i am really annoyed about.

This morning took him all happy into his classroom when i returned i was greeted by an assistant who had a record book and in there was a form saying that xx fell through the grid in the pond, took a huge amount of comforting/tlc after he was found crying. Also said that they had given a lesson in pond safety.

They said and it isnt on the form that he was stuck. I saw his clothes (before i even knew what had happened)we extremely wet like almost machine wet with only a small amount of dry on them.

I kindof feel that they had been given a 2nd chance after the first one and now not sure if i should give them a 3rd and 2 mistakes have been made.

I really dont know what to do and i expressed concern at the welcome evening that a pond with a grid on might not be the safest but i was reassured that it was safe.

He ran to me when he saw me when i picked him up and i got the biggest scared cuddle ever.

Ps - am childminder so i know what they should be doing.

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To me there are 5 incidents here, in fact.

Egg
Fall into water
Fell THROUGH grid into pond - from what you have posted - is that right? which suggests grid was unfastened in some way
Didn't ring you straight away - you found out when you went there (is that right?)
Didn't inform head teacher of such a serious incident

One incident bad, two consider pulling, five - too many in my book. Sorry.

aapreciate all views, i explained to her that it didnt just seemto be one leg it was all of him because of how wet his clothes were.

egg was the first incident quite a while ago now, not today
yes he seemed to fall through grid and into the water.
found out when i went to pick him up, not sure how long after.
yes the head didnt know about it at all.

BUMPING FOR EVENING CROWD

Thought ponds should be fenced off?

Both incidents sounds very worrying TBH - sounds like the staff are not very well trained, if at all.

I would be very concerned.

Just seen this at both incidents.
I would be equally concerned at both.
Both are potenially very serious and depending on how far into the pond your son got, both could have potentially fatal consequeces.

What happened today?
I hope they took it extremely serioulsy

Good God where ere the staff when he went through the grid and why weren't you phoned. I would of pulled mine out over the egg let alone the pond.

FWIW I have a friends who's children are galaxacemic (spelling) they sent them to a local nursery and the kids started being ill. Turns out that the staff had been giving them biscuits containing milk even though they had been told that any dairy products would affect the kids livers and could potentially kill them. Children were pulled out on the spot.

jellyjelly - how did you get on? what did the head say?

I think both incidents are appalling. Only a couple of years ago a young boy died because of being given milk i think it was in a nursery in milton keynes, they should not have even taken the risk. Your child could have had a serious reaction, or worse. The fact that they didn't even realise until you got there and asked about his day makes it even worse. It should be in big writing up on there wall.

The pond is just as bad, it only take 1 inch of water or less for a child to drown, and as you said he was stuck, this could have happened had he falen differently, he should have been supervised and i would be seriosuly worried after two major incidents liek this that could have both been life threatening.

Absolutely inexcusable. I would report them to ofsted and make your unhappiness clear. I have done this in the past for a nursery i worked for, and they had a surprise inspection and a time limit to make things secure and safe and get policies up to date, they were very thorough. You would never forgive yourself if something went wrong and worse happened to your child and another persons. Ofsted will take the responsibility from you.

I would of been furious at both, don't you pay for thier care??? Would you feel comfortable saying to a parent of a mindee- oh I know you said no egg but he/she had a cake??? I know I wouldn't and I know OFSTED wouldn't either. What if his reaction had been serious like the little boy who died from having milk at nursery (I think it was milk?). Also the chicken casserole thing is awful, and as for the oh it happens attitude- that attitude is why it happens!!!
I would not of been happy about the pond either, god knows how clean the water is, and call me over reactive but if you were paying for thier care and entrusted you child to them, I don't think they would've filled me with confidence.
I just wouldn't let him go again or reccomend them either.

I posted this yesterday on the education bit, still very worried but more chilled than i was.
ds didnt want to go into nursery and wanted daddy alot more than normal.

Went into nursery today to talk to the head, she sadi that he got both his legs stuck in the grid so had to get 2 teachers to get him out.

I said i was disappointed as i hadnt been called and her reply was its not daycare he was comforted after etc.

They have padlocked the gates until the pond has a fence around it to stop children walking to near it. The cant put a smaller grid on it.

This wasnt the first incident and she did say that alot of other parents would just accept it. (that made me feel bad)most get one leg stuck but not my boy.

I said a change of procedures should be made as it was a scratch or anything minor.

jelly - just read through the Education thread and just wanted to say I am DISGUSTED in the way you have been spoken to by the head. That in itself would be enough to pull my ds out - they are trying to make light of really serious issues!!!

Have you phoned Ofsted for advice? If you don't want to report them now, you can always ask them what they think of the incident generally to start with.

Although I said earlier I don't like the idea of ponds, I would be ok if it was fenced off with a padlock so basically kept locked. I'd be ok with a very small group of children visiting the pond with a teacher, therefore being supervised, but the idea of a pond children can go to un-supervised worries me a lot!

I would certainly complain to some of the people mentioned on the other thread and mention the way they've belittled you etc.

I personally couldn't go back after being spoken to like that!!!

Good luck whatever happens :)

I think i will be calling ifsted and ask them to visit even if they arent due an inspection.

Just found this thread,

I would say that both incidents could have been FATAL... your child could have DIED. Luckly he didn't, his reaction to Egg wasn't servere and he was spotted in the pond before he drowned.

You have already complained (via a meeting with the head) to the provision, the next step is to take it up with the regulator (Ofsted most likely).

I am interested to know what sort of provision this is, as the comment from the head teacher about it not being daycare is of interest. Is this a nursery attached to a school? Schools are now taking children even as young as 3 years old - yet under law, children do not have to attend school until they are 5 years old. Schools are designed for children age 5+ in my opinion. If they choose to take children younger, then they must improve SAFETY.

If it is a school, have you complained to the board of governors? How about the LEA? I certainly feel that an official complaint should be made to all parties concerned; provision, regulator, governors, LEA etc.

It is state nursery ie for the term after they are 3 they get 5 morning a week. We used to go to a toddler group which was how the egg bit happened when i done a course thye have a creche attached so the parents can train for things.

It also has a private nursery which is on the same site so it is lots of things together. No it isnt a school at all.

jelly, I would not be sending my DS back. The incidents are both serious, and should not have occurred, and for the head to say other parents would have accepted this, just goes to show how skewed her views on the safety of children are. And her views are important, she's the head; they say a fish stinks from the head!! How can her staff have the appropriate level of care if this is the attitude that comes dwon from the top?

I simply would not be sending my son there again, so feel strong if that's what you decide. No other parent on here would accept what happened, so don't let the head undermine you.

I would want to hear that the pond is being concreted over. Why on earth have a pond in a Nursery fgs!

Good luck, I really feel for you and your DS!

My dd goes to nursery and i would NOT accept this, nor have i ever had any concerns (v minor compared to this) played down. You are in the right. how you deal with it is up to you.