This story about the Plymouth nursery is worrying

[crumpet]

I hope it's not as serious as it sounds
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8090790.stm

not when mine were at nursery

they had a sort of nappy changing area (where everyone went) so you could never be sure you were on your own iyswim

will depend on the nursery I guess but to be able to stage whatever she needed to stage and take photos, she'd have to have a fair amount of time I would have thought

ratio of adults to babies in nurseries in one adult to three babies. This rises to 1-5 after 1 yo iirc, and 1-8 from age three and up.

So it is impossible to always have two adults present during nappy changes etc.

fox, due to her age she probably got more opportunities to be alone with children... as a lot of nursery staff are young and so would not challenge someone older than them. Just my view.

Nursery toilets in modern nurseries tend to be quite open I've found (from temping in nurseries). Some nurseries have a policy that when changing children, there are two staff present (one in mostly an observation capacity). Not sure how common that is though.

but NN take children alone to changing area.on mats if young or to toilet area

yes other staff are around ut i suppose a determined predator will take any opportunity

in all childcare workers have periods of sole unsupervised access to children.CM work alone and unsupervised

The ratios are Minimum Requirements. Good nurseries will have at least one extra staff member above the Minimum Requirements for each age range. But the more staff a nursery has, the more it costs - staffing costs is a large expense for nurseries.

yes I agree with you Nick, seems like one of the only logical conclusions. And yes, that's my experience of nuseries too (open loos and nappy change areas used by everyone).

Just one of those stories I can't really comprehend tbh. The abuse of trust just horrific. I really hope people come forward with information about her and they can shut down the whole horrid circle she obviously belonged to.

lets acknowledge vast majority of child carers are capable and trustworthy

hard working and underpaid

we don't know the facts yet though
the abuse coud have been to her own 2 children
and the photos from the nursery
not looking forward to all of this being dragged through the media when the court case comes round

unfortunately it is suggested nursery was the location

MI did you see my link?
aanswers your question,

"seven offences including two of sexual assault by penetration"

Yes, I do hope that this hasn't done huge damage to the reputation of the nursery or it's owners. Assuming a CRB check and references were taken, He/She is not at fault.

In our nursery there is a window into the nappy changing area and everything is really open. Their policy is always two adults present when taking a child to the loo. I think this is more to protect the nursery workers from accusations than risk of abuse. Its similar to my GP always having another person in the room if having to examine a patient in a more intimate area.

I think what is characteristic for peadophiles is that they are incredibly devious and build up trust over a long time. AND it seems you can never guess who they are.

Still, really think its important to keep things in perspective.

This is just so awful.

Not only for the poor children and their families, but there will be a ripple effect now for everyone that has ever known or worked with that woman. They will constantly be asking themselves "why didn't I spot it" or "why didn't I know"?

Her own family will be subject to a really in-depth investigation and every aspect of her children's lives will be scrutinised, and potentially her children's friends too.

The effects of this are so far reaching and so potentially awful

This is one of those stories that I can't really comprehend either... how does such activity at a nursery go unnoticed.

BigChris you make a very valid point, we don't know the details... in fact it's surprising we know as much as we do, as this sort of thing doesn't tend to get this much publicity. It could be related to her own children... time will tell.

unfortunately some people with access to vulnerable people abuse their status

but thankfully it is rare

As a teacher I have often taken 4/5yr olds to the loo and changed wet and soiled knickers. Almost always on my own and often when you take a child in from break, you're the only 2 people in that end of the building. It just isn't practical or IMO necessary to buddy up. Just like cleaning up a cut knee. I don't know any other school staff who glove up.

It's awful but the fact is that these people are rare and we cannot start worrying that our kids are in danger at nursery.

i'm just soooo angry anyone thinks they have the right to abuse children.

the pathology of abusers is that they have skewed and dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours

I'm amazed at the level of detail in the news reports. The name, the photo, her age, location, number of children. She was only arrested yesterday, I think(?). Would be very interested to know why she has been "outed" like this when so many suspects "cannot be named for legal reasons".
And how can this level of reporting mean that she will get a fair trial? I feel nervous about it all.

Quite. I really feel for her kids. Their entire school will know all about it and nervous parents will be telling their kids not to play with her kids.

I wonder if the nursery leaked the info in order to clear up who was involved.

I just heard on channel 4 news that she alledgedly used to invite some of the nursery children to her home for tea..so she had surely spun a very clever web to carry out her alledged crime ..imagine how much the parents trusted her to accept her invitations( whether or not the parents weere there as well is not clear but either way it does tell you how well she managed pr..

press release and information and disclosure usually come from police

How about forget all the details, if she is found guily, lethal injection. Or give her to me. Either works. In fact send em all my way, the amount of time I have spent crying myself to sleep about these things (oversensitive maybe but just thinking about my kids being curled up safe in bed sets me off), and to think we are paying for all these sodding mental health reports ahhhh dont get me started.

wow, first post baying for capital punishment - that took longer than I expected