one year old children allowed up and down stairs at nursery

[splashy]

Seen a nursery today which had free flow rooms for all the children, over 2 floors, with no stairgates. The stairs were extremely steep. I was concerned about a child who can barely walk being allowed to walk up and down stairs. Is this ok? Am I being too worried about it?

id b calling my local health and saftey officer to check it out x

Hi, In the nursery I used to run, we were put under a lot of pressure from the LEA to provide freeflow to the garden for the 2+ which would of involved going down a flight of stairs. We came to blows over this as I felt it was very un safe and I was un prepared to be let children wander about around the stairs. Was accused of not providing for the children and not meeting their needs or the curriculum, but to be honest the safety of the children is paramount and as I felt as long as they went in the garden at least twice a day their needs were meet. Having watched some of the two year old walking up the stairs I glad I stood my ground. Imho a one year old should not be near stairs without an adult. Some one year old can't even walk. The LEA tried to compromise with us by suggesting that a member of staff stood on the stairs for the session, but I feel that the ratios are to low and this would be a waste of a staff member. I would also be concerned whether a child would be able to go anywhere else within the building. When OFSTED visited I mentioned to them about the freeflow they agreed that it would of been a dangerous idea. It might be worth having a look at their risk assessment

sorry Ds woke up, mean't to read,the risk assessment will give you an idea if safety has been thought about. Not sure how old the child was but even the older children 3+ can get distracted by the simplist things or simply mess about on the stairs.

We have our pre-school rooms upstairs and I have seen children fall down the stairs even when they have been accompanied by a member of staff. Last week, a member of staff fell down our stairs. I wouldn't consider it safe to allow small children to wander up and down stairs. My own daughter fell down the stairs at 13 months, and I was distraught. Luckily, she was fine, not a mark on her. I wouldn't risk it with somebody else's children. The LEA always have these great iseas, but they don't have to deal with the consequences. It's up to the individual nurseries to say 'well, actually, we can't do that because...'

I pulled one of my children out of a nursery as they had to walk up and down the stairs at 14 months. IMO its just not safe.