Nursery with a bad Ofsted...

[AspirationalToiletries]

was built next to my office, opened in Jan, Ofstedded in March:

WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SECURE FUTURE IMPROVEMENT?
To improve the quality and standards of care, the registered person must take the following actions:
? implement thorough risk assessments and address potential hazards to ensure children's safety
? ensure that Ofsted is informed of significant events promptly
? ensure parents receive written information about the complaints procedure

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education, the registered person must take the following actions:
? develop staff understanding of how to interact effectively to support children's learning through play
? develop an effective method to record children's progress and achievements; use the information to plan their next steps in learning and share it with parents
? review the planning of the day to ensure the older children receive a programme more suited to their ages and abilities
? improve the quality of information provided to parents about the educational curriculum

--

How bad is that, for a new nursery?
They're a new branch of a small local co-op chain so it's not like they're novices at the game.

Is it worth looking round and asking what they've done about it, or should I just steer clear?
DD will only be 1 so isn't in the 3+ 'nursery education' bracket.

you ask how bad it is - I wouldn't say it was good.

There's nothing to stop you going and looking and asking. it could be that they gave the job of nursery manager to the wrong person and might change their minds after this and employ someone else. I think if I owned this nursery I would do this - I mean, someone was paid to take this job on and really hasn't done their job well have they.

A complete change of staff would probably help.

what grade did they get?

communication is so key in nursery as is the staff members' interaction with the children that these two things would ring alarm bells for me

TBH as nametaken says go and have a look and ask what they are doing to change things etc

"The quality and standards of the care are inadequate - notice of action to improve. The
registered person does not meet the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.
The quality and standards of the nursery education are inadequate - notice of action to improve."

I was a bit shocked to be honest.

eek - think you should definitely look elsewhere for now

where are you based? If you ring your local council they can send you a list of registered childcare providers

DD's actually on the waiting list for my employer's nursery ('satisfactory' ofsted, colleagues' kids are happy there etc) and has been since the 12wk scan, but no guarantee of a place so am casting my net wider.

ALso considering a Montessori one, but Ofsted told them off for keeping all the books out of reach of the children two inspections running - what kind of numpty must one be not to put that right within 4yrs?

No local childminders with spaces, before you ask...

If they got an inadquate in March they should have been Ofsted'd again 6 months later (so, in September), they may well be up to 'satisfactory' by now. Many of those complaints are about record-keeping, have you noticed? They are mostly being marked down for not creating big enough paper-trails.

You could simply walk in with a copy of those comments and ask what have they done to improve. They should have detailed written evidence ready to show Ofsted -- and you.

The only comments in the original list that concern me are about staff not interacting enough with the children, not having challenging enough stuff for older children and risk assessment issues. If you otherwise liked the nursery and were satisfied they were taking steps to address those deficiencies, I would still consider it.

our nursery got a bad Ofsted report. It made them much more vigilant, really pull their socks up etc and the standard of care was much higher. Unfortunately it led to a hike in the price too

Check the re-inspection. This is my opinion, but if the re-inspection did not say "good" or "outstanding", I would stay away.
All new nurseries will have teething problems, but to start off with inadequate means that the nursery is badly thought out from the start. If it improved to "satisfactory", it means that the nursery did the bare minimum to stay in business. Is this the type of people you want looking after your baby?

I would not send my child there until re-inspection shows significant improvement. I would be particularly concerned about the safety issues and the fact that staff need to develop their interaction skills with little people. The inspection report is pretty worrying. (I work in the field of special needs and specialise in Early Years)

You cant always believe the ofsted reports to be a true picture. you have to remember that ofsted are obsessed with paper evidence to substantiate everything.

The staff interaction could be that the staff froze while being watched,I really dont know.

However I am slightly concerned that they got an inadequate rather than a satisfactory.