Nursery I booked just had a terrible inspection

[wakarimasen]

Hi

I am a first time Mum and before my baby was born I looked at some nurseries and put his name down for one of them. This nursery had "Very good" ratings in all categories for the last few years of inspections by the Care Commission (I'm in Scotland). Anyway when I went in to pay the deposit, I saw that they were being inspected so I kept my eye on the website for this year's report. This report has now been published and the nursery has a number of "weak" gradings in relation to health and safety - broken play equipment outside, pools of water left as a potential drowning risk, no records of when medicine's given to children, and basic hygeine levels were poor. They have also been given an "unsatisfactory" grading for management largely due to these issues.

I am really shocked by this report and I now have to decide what to do. I'm pretty sure I'll need to now find an alternative nursery but can I ask for my deposit back based on the poor report? My husband thought we should ask to see their action plan before pulling him out but I'm not so sure....

Most of the issues seem to be of the 'can't be arsed' type. Can't be arsed to check for garden dangers, keep records, or replace broken things. It will need good management to get those things under control again, but if management is unsatisfactory.... Stay clear. It's unlikely to change much. Have a look at the action plan but the best way to judge a nursery is on their past actions. The management should never have let it get like that, so why would they be the best people to lead it forwards?
Ask for your money back and see what they say.

I would steer clear too.

I would find a new nursery. I doubt you will get the deposit back, but no harm asking.