Nursery suspended by ofsted!

[MamaBear878]

Hi all
A bit confused on what to do as our nursery was suspended by Ofsted for 6 weeks but the reasons are a bit unclear. They've mentioned safeguarding concerns but the owner suggested they're aesthetic reasons for which they got shut down...
This is also not the first time this has happened! Is it time to look elsewhere ?
TIA

To be honest there are more and more nurseries where quality is declining due to lack of money, staff etc. it's not well paid and outgoings are going up due to increased energy bills, etc at our old nursery they were advertising for nursery staff to start as apprentices on very low pay. The hours are long and it is a demanding job, all of these things add pressures and make it more likely that standards will slip.

Unannounced there will be a complaint , could be a concern through various reasons a child could have gone to hospital and concern about safety / there are a million reasons also member of staff could have had concerns and complained .

complaints happen but it seems there is substance to this complaint .

It’s a lot more common these days and Ofsted has been criticised for its trigger-happy approach.
They are too quick to suspend and they take too long to investigate. They don’t keep parents informed.

I don't think they can be too quick to suspend a nursery if they think the children are at risk.

Because the owner doesn’t want to give you the detailed reasons because they know they’re presiding over a shit show. Time to pull out.

A nursery near me was closed for unsafe shelves nailed up over the cots. I imagine that owner thought that was an aesthetic issue too.

The fact it's not the first time it has happened and the nursery are downplaying it would mean my child wouldn't be going back there.

The downplaying suggests they're not taking it seriously and an owner who had been closed once before should be even more on top of things than anyone else.

A school not far from us (independent so people were paying for this), got an inadequate from Ofsted because the fire doors had been locked shut. 🙄

Hey everyone
Update - they just sent a long email with explanations. Wonder if they saw this thread
It appears as though the suspension was around paperwork and a slippery area outdoors. They've reassured that everything is being fixed but like others have said, if they've been suspended before ...they should have been even more cautious. Sadly this is it for me. I do feel bad for them as everyone is struggling with the rising cost of living etc But this is about my child and I cannot make excuses!

I suspect there's more to it than that.
A slippery area outdoors doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would have Ofsted insisting on immediate collection of all children and closure of the nursery.

Their bar for believing children to be at risk is very low.
Ofsted is not fit for purpose. They are one of the biggest reasons for the low number of places.

We got 20 minutes notice for the closure of our nursery. I can't give the details
Ofsted did a 6 week suspension. Close to the end of it they said that hadn't been able to complete an assessment. This happened at the second time but they then gave details for the dates for an assessment at the nursery a few weeks into the 3rd set of 6 week suspension.
They didn't manage to complete the assessment but had concerns and needed the nursery to make change before they returned.
The nursery made the decision to hand back their licence as they had run of our cash and sold the business to another family run nursery.

We were due to move when the nursery was closed and already had booked in to view 2 nurseries 2 days after our nursery closed. One has availability straight away but we were uneasy and this was justified in the end as 6 months later that nursery closed after the fire brigade reported the nursery to Ofsted. We went with the other one which had a space 8 weeks later. We got through the period with very understanding employers, a little help from family and then an ad-hoc nursery in a gym where you book by the hour.

Really sorry this happened to you. Is there a way to see the report, do they publish it online?

Searching the forums to see if anyone had been through the suspension of their childcare provider and this is the closest I could find, so forgive the bumping of the thread.

DC had been attending an after school club with a childminder who are now into their third consecutive period of suspension. The issue seems to have been (the lack of) sharing concerns about children with other agencies.

The latest update from Ofsted suggests the safeguarding lead needs to increase their knowledge of guidance when it comes to this. However the due date from the initial suspension was over two months ago now and there's still at least one more month of suspension to go. This seems like quite a long suspension for something Ofsted have provided a clear resolution to.

We've managed up until now but I had expected things to be cleared up for the start of the year. As it is I've had to look into some more longer term alternative arrangements, although there is no like-for-like replacement in our area. It would be a shame for the provider to close as although I find they can be a bit haphazard at times DC does enjoy going there.

Has anyone been in similar circumstances and seen a favourable outcome for the provider?

@DecoySaveloy
You would be better off posting a new thread rather than hoping people will look at a zombie one

I would contact Ofsted by email and tell them your situation and copy exactly the explanation that has been communicated to parents and ask them if they will confirm this is the reason.