Nursery Negligence?

[Shaashi]

18 month old twins started nursery 2.5 days a week 5 weeks ago. 3 settling sessions 1 hour long: first session I sat by door with mask on, no other children in the room, blinds were down with artificial lights on sunny morning. 2nd 2 hour slots i had to drop them off and not allowed in due to covid.
All staff wear masks all the time until this week so babies never see whole face.

Twins cry, cling, say NO every time I drop them off. They are very distressed at home all the time since starting nursery, not playing, clinging, Crying, tantrums saying NO. Change in characters. Don't greet or say bye to staff.

Twice I have collected them from the outside space on cold afternoons with no cardigans or hats on, just thin long sleeved tops with plastic puddle suits ( no warmth) .

I want to take twins out of nursery as they are so unhappy there snd it's heartbreaking for me to deal with their distress at home.

Since birth they have been cared for by nannies and friends at home and on outings and always happy and kissing and cuddling them.

Manager says contract is 2 months notice. Can I claim they have been negligent in physical care not keeping them warm, snd social / emotional health by not properly settling them and being able to see staff faces?

No, that’s not negligence

Sounds fairly standard for settling them into nursery in a pandemic at that age. I don’t see what negligence grounds you have. If you aren’t happy, hand in notice and pay the remainder of the contract.

Do you provide outer clothing such a snow suits for them or do you just provide an unlined puddle suit?

If the contract says its two months then its two months, but Ofsted might be interested if you feel they aren't being looked after properly.

Your twins aren’t happy and don’t sound like they are settling- that’s not negligence. Take them out, it’s clearly not suiting them, they aren’t coping.
But if the notice is 2 months then it’s 2 months. That’s what you signed up to presumably?

Of course it's not negligence. It sounds pretty much par for the course for such young babies going to nursery.

It sounds horrible but it's unlikely the nursery is in breach of contract. Have you seen any other nurseries that you like better and that have places available?

You have choices 1. It's not been a long time, so keep at it for a couple more weeks. Speak to their key worker to make sure the nursery is helping them settle. Or 2. Try find a childminder. Ok I am biased as I am one. We can focus more on each child, we can tailor curriculum to individuals. I have looked after lots of children who were previously at nurseries and never settled. We meet up every day with other childminder children in parks and groups, so they still get periods of lots of children.

@Nelliephant1

Of course it's not negligence. It sounds pretty much par for the course for such young babies going to nursery.

It really doesn't. You should expect higher standards for your childcare.

Outdoors with not enough clothing on is simply not good enough. Presumably they own coats. Why are they not wearing them?

Masks would be an issue for me too although that has stopped now anyway.

As for them crying that's not the nurseries fault and five weeks isn't that long but the other issues would put me off.

If you've signed a contract though there is likely nothing you can do. You could just pay it in one go and take them out anyway.

@Nelliephant1

Of course it's not negligence. It sounds pretty much par for the course for such young babies going to nursery.

Completely disagree. I wouldn't want to send my child to a setting as described. Why do they have masks on all day? Why don't they put coats on? They sound shit.

Not negligent at all.

Exactly what I experienced and I went with a childminder after. Happy child from day dot.

They sound rubbish. I would keep my children/find somewhere else and just not pay for these last 2 months. I’d let them try to take me to court. You can’t force people to bring their children by threatening them with contracts if your standard of care is so poor, that’s appalling.

It's not negligence. It's just not parenting them exactly as you would every second of the day. They aren't coming to any harm.

But if you don't want them there you need to give notice as per the contract you signed.

Sounds like a very poor setting. I’d stop paying and tell them why. Potentially you could say it’s breach of contract as their is implied term that they will provide a basic level of care. Not sure if it would hold up to be honest, but the damage to their reputation probably won’t be worth them persuing you.

^there

Oh my goodness at the people saying this is par for the course.
I’m not sure how keeping children in darkness on a sunny day, or in clothing that’s not adequately warm, is in anyway good care.
I’m fact I would argue that if it was proven these things were happening frequently - that a child didn’t have warm clothes, and was kept in darkness during the day, then it would be child neglect.
If a parent sent their dc to school or nursery in winter with no coat I would sincerely hope the school would try to find out the reasons why and raise a safeguarding concern.

The mask issues is debatable. At this stage in the pandemic I wouldn’t be happy at my dc primary school teachers wearing masks. I think it’s not necessary. We need to move on now.

If I were you I’d write down all of these incidents. Explain that you are withdrawing your child due to your concerns about their welfare.
Then for the sake of other dc report to ofsted.
If they try to bill you and you don’t pay, I’m not sure what they could realistically do.
But there’s no way I could leave my ds in an environment that I believed was neglectful. Go with your instinct.

Not negligent.

Sorry, but you'll need to pay up.

Don’t be ridiculous

If it’s so bad why have you continued to send them for 5 weeks? You’re claiming negligence but you left them over a month to be neglected in their care?

My husband is CEV, we have been so careful for two years. We have a 20 month old grandchild.

I can’t believe that nursery staff are still wearing masks? And just wtf are the pulled down blinds about?

I don’t think it can be called negligence (bloody weird, yes) and tbh I don’t know why you signed them up there.

Take the loss, move them to somewhere normal and move on.

Not negligent, just shit.

Your children are probably unsettled as it's such a huge change to them.

The warmth thing would bother me but it depends on the situation. How long they were outside for, how cold it was, did you provide suitable clothing.

The masks thing - non issue. Everyone's in the same boat.
The 'artificial light' - non issue.

I don't think they're negligent.
It's a huge change to young children and they're bound to be unsettled for a while.

But yeah, contract wise, you'll need to pay up.

Surely you knew that the staff wore masks when you signed up? Honestly I wouldn’t have sent my children to a nursery which had a mask policy, staff haven’t worn masks at my children’s nursery throughout the pandemic but this is what you agreed to. The lack of appropriate clothing is crap but not sure you could claim negligence.

I think in a lot of nurseries people are paid so little for a job that is hard and I don't even think always her sick pay or othr rights in some. I would avoid nurseries for under threes and ones where the staff.is younger. Obvs this is just not possible for many who have to work.