Nursery staff using straighteners in baby unit?!?!

[user1469992853]

Hi just needed some advise

I dropped my DD off at nursery and her usual carer wasnt around, i asked where she was to be told she was in the baby unit and would be round shortly. Said carer then poked her head out of one of the nursery rooms with hair straighteners in hand doing her hair. nursery opens at 7:30am and it was 7:50am. both the staff member that had let me in and carer commented on her doing her hair.
She stated she was just doing her hair, she then put them down on top of the water cooler in the baby unit (still plugged in as the wire was tight) saying " i'll just pop them up there out of the way so no one can reach them and finish off in a minute"
I was then taken to the door and seen out. I drove off but about 5 minutes later the gravity of what i had just seen had sunk in.
I rang the nursery asking to speak to the manager to which i was told they were both off for the next fortnight, i demanded to speak to either one of them and got a call back an hour or so later i explained the situation and she said she would go in and sort it.

next morning i dropped DD off at nursery to be greeted by the owner i had complained to, she showed me a documented form which had the details of the conversation we had had, it also stated that my DD's carer had denied that straighteners where used and that i had mistaken it for a hair brush?! It also mentioned that the other staff member had stated she'd only seen a hair brush being used and not straighteners.. baring in mind they'd been laughing about the fact that she was running late and had been using straighteners.

owner asked me to sign it whilst explaining she had told them under no certain terms does it happen again, and in the next breath telling me she trusted her staff fully.

I am now very concerned that not only do they think using straighteners is acceptable in a nursery, that they have the audacity to lie about it when caught and in turn call a customer and a mother a liar in the process. please can someone express their opinions on this as i feel i want to challenge this again but don't know if i'm being over the top.

That's terrible. Is the Manager the owner? It feels like you need to escalate. Is your DD very happy there? I had an incident with a Manager's reaction to a complaint at nursery. Although the original issue was resolvable, I moved DD because management's reaction left me horrified. Was easy to do though because DD hated it there!

I would move child on basis of lie. You have to have complete trust and that would be gone for me

From what i understand there are two owners which share management ( i found out yesterday that my little ones Carer is one of the owners nieces!)

I agree the fact that they lied is what makes a situation go from resolvable to a totally new level. i just want some opinions as i know i'm a fiery person when it comes to my little one and principals. I'm shocked at the audacity of two staff members calling me a liar in effect and the fact that the owner said she can't really comment as it's there word against mine.

She likes the nursery and has been there about a year now, it's literally a minute walk and has the primary school i want to send her to attached to it. She is due to start the preschool in September which is part of the nursery (unfortunately ).

i'd be very conscious of moving her again as i moved her from the previous nursery for lack of nappy changing and a mouthy manager.

I take it they don't have cctv in rooms? You also sound as if you don't want to move child so if that is case you will have to get on with it, staff member said one thing. You said other. Manager believed staff. If it happened over a serious thing they will probably do it again.
How do you them know that child handover every day is accurate. I appreciate practicalities but you then have to take rough with smooth and by sounds of it hope for best

I would be furious about the lie! Unbelievable.
Though it will be difficult to prove their lie, even if you take it further, which is even more infuriating.
I would definitely move, how can you trust them with your child after this?

i dont believe they have CCTV no , the only reason i am slightly against moving her again is because she's been there about a year and due to the fact this is her second nursery i don't want to knock her confidence. she's just turned 3 and its time for pre school in september ( thats when current nursery move them onto preschool )

the more i think about it the more aggravated i am getting, i just can't understand the reason to lie if you know you have been caught, the fact that it isnt one member of staff and it's two makes me very wary and without being personal both ladies are over 40 and should seriously know better ( i'm 24 going on 80! ).

i could have it out with them again but i think it would be fruitless..

Move her to a nursary that has CCTV, my dd does and it excellent.

Can you even imagine if a child had pulled the wire down and grabbed them?

They all then claimed you were mistaken or lying. Can you imagine if your dd hurts herself ? The first priority of this lot would be to lie and cover themselves.

Even though your dd may enjoy it - you need complete trust in your child care giver. This isn't no joke looking after people's kids.

They were blatantly tsking the piss as the boss wasn't in, I wonder what else they have been doing?

There is no CCTV proof that she had the straighteners. It's in the boss best intrest to make this go away. She is on holiday and these girls are all she has got.

I hope you didn't sign it!

I would seek another nursery. I couldn't continue to send my child there knowing they're capable of telling barefaced lies.

currently looking into childminders as we speak i dont think i could cope with putting her into another nursery, if i could afford it i would stay at home and take her to groups myself.
my other thoughts were how would they cover up if someone had burnt themselves. would they say a bowl was too hot or they'd touched a hot drink... either one would be negligent and they certainly wouldn't own up to straighteners in an accident situation. i just cant believe i've even had to deal with such a ridiculous situation. your right she is on holiday and she just needs her staff to stay in jobs,

i'm going to have a word again tomorrow and go from there. i'm feeling very worked up about it again although i'm not sure thats a bad thing.

there's such a pressure to do the right thing by your children you guys are right if there's no trust with the people i'm leaving her with then what sort of mother would i be to let her attend and be in their care.

I would ask for a meeting with yourself (a friend maybe) the manager and the staff involved, they would find it harder to lie to your face

You could say that it needs resolving either via a face to face meeting or by safeguarding referral to local authority/ofsted

Don't get worked up, your being proactive about it.

I just could not trust them again after this. At the very least if you do go hopefully the bosses will review their safeguarding policies. I'd actually be thinking of making a report of it too actually. What if the water cooler started melting when she went to see to the kids

Bloody dangerous!

If you'll have a meeting, you could insist that you want to see the straighteners that looks like hairbrush, which belongs to the person.

To be honest I'd be quite worried about the lack of management if both managers can take the same two weeks of annual leave. It's clear that the staff cannot behave sensibly when they are not being managed properly. That would be a bigger issue for me than the hair straighteners (which is serious I agree). Basically every member of staff in there could be cutting corners and "getting away with it", because they are not being supervised properly. So I would go in, ask who is in charge in the absence of the managers, tell them that you are 100% sure they were using straighteners and if they don't believe you, that is their problem because you do not have to justify what you saw - why would you lie ? You can either move your dd, or you can warn them that if it ever happens again you will definitely leave. Ask that they make sure that if they are both out at the same time, that procedures are put in place to manage staff properly, two weeks is quite a long time. For the record, we once made a complaint about a member of staff at our lovely, lovely nursery (she was new) and she was fired (I suspect there were other issues). I would expect the nursery to formally warn the staff as a minimum.

A nursery must have a designated manager or deputy in charge at all times. They must have a level 3 qualification and first aid training.
Sounds like nobody is in charge?
Is there a named first aider in the manager's absence?
A health and safety policy?
A complaints procedure?

I would report this to Ofsted.

Agree with all others, they are not to be trusted and are arse covering.
However, did you say she starts pre school in September? So is it just a matter of a few weeks?
I'd be complaining to Ofsted and to the school to which it is attached.
It's not so much the incident but the lying.

OP, can understand you're reluctant to change nurseries again with your daughter going to the attached nursery in September. I would try to get a childminder for the next 4 weeks, if you can afford it, or, use any holiday allowance you have from work or your partner or family to help with childcare instead of sending your daughter back to this place which sounds both dangerous and dishonest. If they ask why your daughter's not attending you could just say you / family want a bit of time with her at home before she starts nursery.