Nursery rated Inadequate by Ofsted

[Battenburg11]

My DC’s nursery has recently received an Inadequate rating in all areas by Ofsted and we’re told by the nursery that the Council will revoke their funding so my DC will not be able to receive the 30hours free government funding but they feel confident that the funding will be reinstated once they are re inspected by Ofsted. Nursery said they will raise a complaint against inspector as they feel they were not treated fairly. We are generally happy with nursery.

I’m in a dilemma as to what to do. My DC has formed good friends and bonds well with her Carer so I’m not sure if moving to another nursery would be unsettling for DC but at the same time, we really could do with the free 30 hours to help with our finances and something that we were looking forward to. My DC turns in December.

Does anyone have experience of this as to how soon a nursery will be re inspected and funding reinstated once revoked? Thanks

You need to read the report to find out why they've been rated that way. My dds nursery got an inadequate from Ofsted but reading the report, I wasn't bothered. A lot of it was tick box paperwork stuff (even the safeguarding bits) and I decided I didn't care. DD was happy and thriving.

High staff turnover, lack of positive interaction, lack of supervision all indicate children may not be safe and happy.

@Battenburg11

I’m flattered that you ask for my advice, but don’t really think it’s for me to sway your decision.

The best advice I can give is to read the full report, then speak with the management about any concerns you have. Only then can you make an informed decision as to your next move.

The current inspection framework has a heavy emphasis on education (as defined by Ofsted); an historical trend that became inevitable once childcare was put under the remit of Ofsted. You might need to digs little and ask a few questions to get to the bottom of the 'care' side of things.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I think your refinement to my explanation of the inspection framework is correct. The impression I get from studying the EIF is that any setting that finds itself matching any of the 'inadequate' descriptors is probably so lacking in competence/commitment that it is in a really bad way and unlikely to be ticking many of the 'good' boxes anyway.

@FleurNancy. In many ways, I’m sceptical about Ofsted’s heavy emphasis on education too. But it’s worth noting that early years education is largely about children learning life-skills such as sitting down to eat a meal, conversation skills, enjoying listening to a story, cooperation with one another, self-care/hygiene, etc. Whenever I’ve been inspected I have never done what might be considered an 'educational activity' in the conventional sense, and Ofsted have always been happy.

@Battenburg11

On a practical level, what sort of alternatives exist for you? A lot will depend on your financial situation and how much choice there is inthe local childcare scene.

In my area you couldn’t walk into a vacancy in a decent childcare setting at such short notice. Here you’d be lucky to wait less than 6-12 months for a funded place at a good provider. Some short notice vacancies are available, but only at the low quality settings which parents tend to use as a temporary stopgap whilst they work their way up the waiting list somewhere better.

Won't they have quality of education in there because there's children in there up to starting school age? Aren't they meant to get some kind of education at 3-5 years old when attending either a school nursery or private nursery? My son is being assessed at the moment and they're sending a child psychologist to observe him at playgroup (he just turned 3) so that they can decide if he will need assistance when he starts school nursery in January. If there was no type of education involved, wouldn't he not need assistance? The assistance is purely to make sure he gets the best of the education on offer. He will already have a speech therapist at the nursery with him some days unless his speech is up to scratch by January. The speech therapist comes to our house and attends his playgroup at the moment but once he goes to nursery, speech therapy will purely be carried out at his nursery apart from in the holidays where she will come to our house. So I do think there is an expectation of education even in nurseries. If people don't put their children to nursery as it's not mandatory, at home they too will be expected to offer some education and prepare their child for schooling which is mandatory

All early years settings will be judged on quality of education. Early years starts at birth so no, not just for the 3-5 yr olds.

They get an 'education' from 0-5 - a stimulating environment, songs and stories, a range of activities, interested and engaged adults who talk, show, question, challenge children.

Ofsted aren't looking for anything formal in terms of education in early years.

Similar happened to me with our dc nursery. We chose it because it was rated outstanding and We were paying big money for it on this premise. I'm a teacher so it's important to me. They got a spot inspection and rated as inadequate. I was gutted but wanted to support them as we, like you, really liked it. They held meetings for parents and got in a new manager and open evenings and stuff and it was really positive process. They were reinspected after 6 weeks or something crazy and are now rated good. If you feel you could I would try and support them. They will be feeling awful and hopefully some really good things will come out of it to the benefit of your DC!

It was just because a poster said earlier up the thread the quality of education isn't important but surely it is? Especially with 3-5 year olds

I run a day nursery for 13 years I had an inadequate last year after 4mths get RI my funding got taken away too I am working with the advisor to get good at the moment I am struggling but the good thing about this the parents let their stay most of them was starting school in september the other child stayed so I know what you are going through I think nursery should start a support group to help others who going through this my staff stand by me they even offer to work some hours for free and even buy art stuff from their own pocket I wish you the best but hang in there.

Ofsted inspectors rate a nursery on a day long visit. It's not always the most reliable guage of how good a nursery is. Nursery staff are judging the nursery every day they work there. The high turnover of staff is worrying. A lot of them have rated it as "not worth staying in".

First advice is read the report of its out or when it’s out. May be worth googling some other “inadequate” nurseries and comparing reports.
One nursery in my area has always had a bad reputation and was rated inadequate. It has since shut down and management was dire. I would share link but don’t want to give away who I am, but I can share what some statements:

“ She does not make sure that staff understand and fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities, such as the safe use of mobile phones and cameras at the setting”

”provider does not make sure that staff effectively risk assess the environment”

”For example, they use mobile phones while working with babies, and staff who witness this do not take the appropriate action. This places children at significant risk of harm. “

“ For example, staff do not use the information from training and the nursery policies to ensure they follow the safeguarding procedures”

“The provider and staff do not understand how to use their monitoring process to address gaps in children's development. “

”Children do not make the best possible progress from their starting points to prepare for the next stage in their learning. There are missed opportunities to develop their emerging interests. For example, children ask to sing a song fast and slow again. However, staff tell them they cannot do that now, they can do it another day. “

Now the last statement is the kind that more training and a harder push on staff can be fixed by a next inspection, and all staff across the board are probably guilty of not following through with every single learning opportunity “we can paint tomorrow” “I’ll get the dressing up out later” etc.
And I know many are not fussed about “learning” at nursery, that the children are there to have fun and be happy. But monitoring progress is how we pick up delays- speech delay, possibly developmental delay, physical problems, signs of being on the spectrum etc. They learn through play and that’s how we set it up. I know a child has understood their colour names when I set up paint and they say “I want green!” There is no green. Perfect, I know they’ve understood. Staff need to know how a child develops and if the report says they don’t monitor development effectively I would be worried.

Those ones above though - if that report talks about safe guarding, staff not responding when a staff member breeches conduct, mobile phones, inadequate safety of the physical environment- be concerned, and think carefully.

On a slightly better note it is worth noting that nurseries only get one inspector (so no opinions to bounce off) who could be harsher than others. Half a days notice (they’ll have heard midday the day before) - so like I say, analyse the report carefully. It could be fixable. It could be not worth your child’s early years