6 mth old bitten and scratched at nursery

[Mistymoo]

My neice is 6 mths old and attends a nursery for babies up to 18 mths. The other Thurs my sis got a phone call to say that her dd had been bitten by another child . When she arrived her dd was scratched, had a bloody nose and had been bitten. My sis took her to hospital to get her checked out - all was fine. Hospital asked lots of questions.

When her dd woke up the next morning she was badly bruised and so she was kept of nursery.
My sis is concerened that esp on a Thurs they seem to have more children and no extra staff and some children are older than 18 mths. The reason she chose this nursery was because it was for younger ones and not a big mix of ages.

She is on holiday for a week now but intends to go into the nursery to discuss the matter when she is calmer. I was wondering if there are any questions she should be asking or things she should be clarifying? I've never had to use a nursery like this so I am unsure and wondered if anyone had some experience with this type of thing I would be grateful. TIA

Has she seen an Ofsted report from this nursery?

Message withdrawn

Does OFSTED cover Scotland? Sorry for my ignorance.

she needs to check the actual staff ratios
1:2 IIRC for babies under 1 year (will have to check)

biting does happen at nursery - my DS was bitten twice

however, bruising and a bloody nose is way over anything that is even in the realms of what is acceptable

i think your sister has done well to not raise merry hell already

ratios:

children under two: 3:1. Provision will be made for extra staff if necessary, such as when there are a lot of younger babies on the premises, when it might be necessary to have a ratio of 2:1

I think she should call Ofsted and talk to them. She doesnt need to report it, but raise her concerns. The ratio should be three children per 1 member of staff.

I rang ofsted and reported my oldest sons nursery when a member of staff hit my son on the head with a wooden train station to show him hitting is not right..... The upshot of that was a visit from Ofsted to the nursery, and all staff were sent on training!

Message withdrawn

blimey!! a bloody nose, bitten and scratched!...Poor child. I would withdraw her from the nursery.

this is the equivalent to OFSTED in Scotland

there should be a separation of children - a 6 month old and an 18 month old should not be together

they have totally different needs

What is a child of 6 months doing with children of 18months anyway??? Are there not meant to be seperate areas?
(Excuse me for being ignorant, but the nursery DS went to had a room for 0-1yrs, one for 1-2yrs and then one for 2-4 yrs.)

i agree VS - my DS has attended nursery from 6 months - he started in the baby room and then went up to the toddlers

x post ruby.

yes thats right as i remember when DD was in a nursery and they had seperate rooms for 0 - 1 yrs old, 1 -2 yrs old and 2 - 5 yrs old

and me with you!

Sorry for hijack.

No I carried on sending him there, because it was only one month prior to going on holiday for 3 weeks and then he was due to start Reception. The member of staff was reprimanded, sent on a course, and made to apologise to my son, and have a session about how to behave to others with the proper respect. I was satisfied by the way the manager dealt with this, involving head office, talking to ofsted, and re-assessing all staff and sending them on refresher courses. The staff member in question was in her fifties, and had immense personal problems as her country had just been invaded and she had heard nothing from her family. Extreme personal circumstances I think.

THe point is, Ofsted (or the equivalent in scotland) is there to ensure that every child in the country is safe when at the nursery. They should be informed, so they can be involved in helping improve things.

RubySippers - I'm not sure if HMIe deal with nurseries for this age pre-school I think means 3 and 4 year old nurseries. I could be wrong. I know there is also the Care Commission which she may be able to try.

I will ask her a bit more to see what sort of service they provide and whether the younger ones are away from the older ones.

I too was concerned about how much she was hurt. I know that biting etc does happen but for so much to happen before there was any intervention seems unbelievable.

really hope your niece is ok ...

I am sure either HMIE or CC can signpost you to the right place

I would certainly have a word with the manager & ask

"how this was allowed to happen given the high ratios of staff to children under OFSTED guidlines (or your equiv)"

then smile sweetly & sit back awaiting an explanation (whilst trying not to seeth inwardly as you would be!)If you are not happy then contact OFSTED.

Children do bite/scratch but with 3 children max to one member of staff, any potential "lungers" could be kept safely contained whilst playing alongside the others.

Under 2's are often kept together, unless you have large enough nummbers to have a room for each age group it's just not practicable to do otherwise.

We have a small baby room of 6 babes max & 2 staff. If there are nearly 2 year olds who need more space/stimulus then we move them up but keep them in the same ratios.

Given that your neice's nursery specialises in under 2's MM I would have thought they should have higher ratios as they must have more babes in arms than most.