Accidents at nursery. Dodgy ratios. Report?

[Danikm151]

Hi all, after 3 incidents in 2 months (2 of which required a visit to a&e and the wound needing to be glued) I’m going to be moving my son to a different nursery as I can’t trust the level of care they are providing. He’s 2 years 4 months.

I understand toddlers have accidents but this just feels excessive.
Management have been very apologetic but I can’t see a change in actions/ procedures.

should I report to Ofsted?
Do I need to go through a formal complaint procedure with the nursery first?

Did the nursery report the incidents that required hospital treatment to ofsted themselves?

Do you know there's an issue with ratios?

What was the outcome of the accidents - did the nursery change their procedures so it wouldn't happen again?

I wouldn't find this acceptable at all. My dd was with her childminder from the age of 1 year through to year 3 at primary school. Not a single incident. CM had 3 other children as well.

They don't need to report to ofsted. Only when there's a hospital stay or something severe.

It depends on the explanation for the accidents. If your DC tripped and banged his head on a toy twice then it is more likely he is slightly clumsy or easily distracted rather than the fault of the nursery.

No real outcome. Just apologies.
i know they don’t have to report to ofsted themselves.
I have worries about the number of staff members supervising(the use no of adults in the building vs adults in the room) they have a lot of placements so I don’t know how many staff are fully qualified.

First incident was bumped against another child into a plastic chair(cut his eye)
another fell against equipment in the playground. - just a bruise
most recent- jumping on a sofa, staff member told him to get down and he fell onto the windowsill when he turned to look- split forehead.
these are the explanations i’ve been given but he was under the supervision of the same staff member each time. That can’t be a coincidence.

I just don’t want another child being injured when it could be avoided.
last ofsted inspection was early 2019 before they moved building.

From what you have said the reasons for accident no I would not report would be massively ott. Nursery's always play with ratios. Those accidents you describe could happen with a childminder or at home also.

To be honest, they really do sound like accidents. Sometimes these things happen even if you have someone with the child one to one at all times. Kids play, they bump into each other. Sometimes kids do things they shouldn't and jump on sofas and sometimes that causes an accident.

Ratios
0yrs-2yrs 3 children 1 staff member
2yrs-3yrs 4 children 1 staff member
3yrs -5yrs 8 children 1 staff member

Should be at least one level 3 qualified nursery nurse within room
Ideally 75 % qualified (level2/3)
25% unqualified

But setting can now use the number in the building due to covid ofstead relaxed some regulations
But this could have changed recently as changes have been made

Wow!! i used to work in the states. Your ratios are great!
Where i worked it was:
0-1 4 kids one staff member
2-3 8 per staff member
3-4 10 kids per staff member

@Louie26 they seem to go by people in the building. Sometimes it’s just 2 in the room to 10 kids at pickup other times just 1 because the other is cleaning up or popping to another room to check things.
it just doesn’t feel right

There is a Government consultation, consult.education.gov.uk/childcare-futures-unit/childcare-regulatory-changes/

In terms of making a complaint, you should follow the nurseries complaints process first and then contact the regulator.