Would you send your child to a nursery that had a poor ofstead rating?

[lboogy]

Looking for a nursery in Pinner and there's one that has a required improvement rating. The previous year it was inadequate.

Concerns were around staff and management and one instance where there was an incident that they didn't report to ofstead but did to other agencies.

Just wondering whether to bother enquiring

If it was safety and staffing i.e. not meeting ratios in the baby room - then they would be off my list, nurseries are expensive and there are many settings to choose from.

If it was that the toys are plastic and there are wall decorations ( think the movement is now towards natural materials and limited decoration) then I'd go and see for myself if I could see my child thrive in that setting.

For me personally, having a very stable staffing set up with a good range of ages was really important to me as I was working fulltime hours and good networker relationships were really important.

keyworker - not networker!

It depends on the reasons why. You can read the report and get a feel for it. My DD's nursery had lower ofsted than the other two locally but the better rated ones don't take under two's. However I have nothing to complain about with her nursery at all. Having been through the courts with social services I can see that the authorities have different ideas of what constitutes as to good and poor, to what an actual parent would feel. I think the issue with my DD's nursery was that some of the decor was old but in my opinion I'd rather go somewhere that didn't look amazing than somewhere looking perfect because it shows me that the management are more focused on putting their energy to the children's well being than decor for the walls. Saying that I also know for a fact that one of the nurseries with a higher ofsted report has a worker who comes in seriously hungover every single day without anyone knowing. So it just goes to show. I would go in and meet the staff and get a feel for it yourself if you can.

Thanks ladies. No harm in looking I suppose.
Thanks 😊

How long ago were the ofsted reports done? They are generally a snapshot on the day and staff may have changed so it's worth looking at that.

It depends on what it was for and I would want more information. Our lovely nursery (which is amazing and all our dc have gone there) was rated as requires improvement for about 9 months. It was something to do with record keeping and some form wasn't filed within the 14 day period or something. They are otherwise absolutely amazing and I've never had an issue in the 7 years we have used them, and definitely see no safeguarding worries there. If it's something relatively minor like that, I wouldn't be too concerned if it wasn't indicative of a broader pattern. The fact they've had an inadequate and a requiring improvement though speaks to there being some bigger issues.

There was a poorly rated preschool near us that actually lost a child and was allowed to continue to operate for another year. They went out on a day trip and left a child (who had SEN as well) behind at the nursery for several hours! They didn't even know she was there because they kept no proper records of who was attending day to day. They eventually discovered her when they came back after lunch. They were shut for awhile but allowed to re-open after implementing new procedures. Ofsted came back the next year and they had gone back to keeping no records of what children were in on any given day and were shut permanently and immediately. If it's something more like that, I would have concerns obviously. Also, ask local parents, they will know if it's a good place or not and ask to speak to current parents. I do this often for our nursery and am always happy to answer questions from a parents perspective.