Nursery asked to me to keep daughter home due to OFSTED visiting

[Fidgitigdif123]

So my daughter is 4 and has a diagnosis of autism. She has a speech and language delay, and needs some support throughout the day, particularly when it comes to toileting, but isn't too difficult to handle, and she generally keeps herself to herself. The nursery are always praising her for how good she's been during the day, and they always say she's a happy girl who enjoys being there.
I had a phone call from her key worker the other day (who also happens to be one of the nursery managers), asking me to keep her home the following day because they have an OFSTED inspector visiting. Apparently they don't have enough staff to be able to support my daughter while the OFSTED inspector is visiting (apparently they'll need a member of staff to show the inspector around, which will mean my daughter won't have anyone to support her during the visit).
I'm confused by this, as there's been countless times where they've had several staff off sick at one time (including her key worker), and yet she's still been able to go into nursery.
I'm actually starting to think they just want her out of the way for the day so it'll be easier for them to focus on the inspection, but surely this would be the best time to show off how good they are at dealing with children with SEN and other disabilities?
I genuinely don't know if I'm right in being a little bit upset about this, as it feels like they just want to sweep her under the carpet; like they're embarrassed by her being there or something.

Me neither and I would actually report this tbh

I know of several situations where teachers were admonished by Ofsted for not doing things the parents of the child concerned actually hadn’t wanted anyway.

The idea is laudable but the method of application makes it too blunt a tool to do the good it ought to do.

It slightly reminds me of when DH comes home after being out of the situation and gets all the childcare out of perspective . He means well but sometimes dipping in and out you can’t get proper context. For instance one dc had a particularly onerous load of prep and was in tears of exhaustion and frustration, saying it was more than they could manage. I said I bet you can actually. The normal rule is no devices on a school night. However I had incentivised by saying if you tackle all this by xpm you can have 30 minutes as a reward. Dc turned themselves inside out and got it done beautifully. Settled down with device and DH walked in the door and instantly confiscated it. Normally it was the right thing, the rule was not a bad one generally speaking, but he was descending on the situation without proper context.

Would you say your car's MOT cause a lot of issues? I suffer great angst, anxiety, frustration not to mention expense every time my car goes for it's MOT. And also every time my GP starts taking my blood pressure I begin to worry, panic even... But these things are meant for our good, wouldn't you agree? Personally, I've not met a "jumped up and power hungry" Ofsted inspector. I guess there may be some, if you've met them -- in the context of an inspection exercise. 😀

This!
It would be more even-handed if Teachers could also rate the inspection when it is "Inadequate."

@eatingandeating

Agree, nobody enjoys being tested and inspected. Imagine if we didn't have to sit a driving test and just let out all and sundry on the roads.
What about food hygiene inspections? If we didn't have those there would be several more cases of food poisoning and potential deaths.

OFSTED exists for the protection of children - I've always found the reports really thorough and informative in my experience. No one just looks at the grading and that grading can be changed in a relatively short period of time as they will be re- inspected.

Oh Joy!
Do you think that was any comfort to Ruth Perry?

The solution to the tragedy of Ruth Perry is not to guilt parents into making things easier for settings that are having an OFSTED inspection.

OP's child should not be used as a pawn in the OFSTED row.

Exactly.

Of course Ruth's death was an awful tragedy.

Do you think there shouldn't be OFSTED inspections?

The sad thing is that schools may feel under such pressure from this system that it is not necessarily surprising if they focus on the needs of the inspection rather than the needs of the child.
If Ofsted were actually helpful maybe they would not feel this way.

Ofsted give a lot of other information to the school, and have a dialogue throughout. It's not just a one word report. Every team I worked with was caring and knowledgeable. I worked with SEND and EYFS children for 40 years and had specialist inspection training. Of course it's stressful, I found the same when it was me at school. But nothing additional is required, if the setting is doing the right thing in the first place that will be acknowledged. And they are the staunchest supporters of Special needs and disadvantaged pupils. There is no reason to keep a SEND child at home. And I never found inspectors to be "power hungry", they just wanted to ensure children were getting a good deal and being kept safe

So you'd be happy for teachers / parents to rate the inspection.

My autistic daughter was "doing fine" at nursery for a long time. Turns out she was actually hurting others, standing on the tables to wee, throwing things, etc. Her behavior got so bad that they eventually asked her to leave saying they couldn't handle her, which was a complete shock to me. I also worked at a nursery, we were regularly told to lie to parents about incidents. Unfortunately I thought that was just at the place I worked but I guess it's more common than I originally thought.

As someone who has worked in a crèche they just don't care about certain things. I was constantly over ratio on my own with kids ages 1-18 months but when an inspector came in they magically had staff. We didn't get sick pay because it was told when first employed it was to pay for cover staff. There was no cover staff kids were just shuffled around. The centre just doesn't have enough staff for the amount of kids in there and are trying to hide it. I would send her in. Not your problem maybe they should hire the correct amount and not try to cut corners.

The school is always able to give feedback. I always hoped I'd done a good job and been helpful.

So worrying especially for the babies 😞 I feel sorry for the underpaid and overworked nursery staff.

Profit over principles it seems for many of these places, cram in as many in as you can, then exclude some on inspection days.

I worked in a nursery for a year, I didn't like it because I didn't think some of the staff were very nice, they were very different to the parents faces though. I also went for an interview for a job at another nursery, it soon became clear that the teacher was off and I was just being used as unpaid staff to keep the numbers right. After that I was very careful about where I sent mine, and didn't send him until he was old enough to tell me what had happened that day.

They've put you in a tricky situation now though - if you report it would you still want your child going there? I wouldn't. Mind you now they've done this I'd be seriously considering pulling them anyway - if they really think your dd is well behaved and so great why did they ask you to keep her home? I'd be having serious doubts about this place.

If the school feel they cannot do the best for your daughter in that time you should accept it. Your daughters welfare and a positive Ofsted report are more important than a missed day or two. As someone else said it is not so much a reflection on your daughter or the school, but on Ofsted.

But somehow ofsted can't seem to persuade schools that inspections are helpful - hence the disruption (while inspectors are there).
Don't know how much weight is given to school feedback.

I know of an amazing nursery who did well with SEN children. On the day they couldn’t do a particular support activity/game because staff were tied up with Ofsted. When asked if they’d done it that day staff said no and they had a negative comment about it being inconsistent. The only reason being it was due to staff dealing with ofsted!

There are so many shades involved in ofsted reports that can be unfair to hard working staff and nurseries. I doubt their request was anything to do with how they feel about your daughter but more that they wouldn’t be able to give her the support and attention they usually do.

Alas, it's not OFSTED's business to persuade schools that inspections are good for their teachers' and parents' breakfast any more than it's the business of Exam Boards to persuade children (and their parents) that examinations (and one letter judgements A, B, F, etc.) are good for their health & well being, or the MOT centres to persuade car owners that the MOTs are good for their driving experience, or the Blood Test departments to tell us that blood tests are a healthy pastime though sometimes one letter blood test result ("positive") is devastating! Societies agree upon or are forced to undertake "monitoring" and "feedback": we should keep searching for alternative ways of looking after our progress, prosperity and well being, of course! In the meanwhile, inspections, examinations, feedback, judgements and more... Alas!! Personally, I'd dearly prefer a smile, a friendly handshake, a kiss on the cheeks, and a hug after all inspections, examinations .. but that will happen one day on Mars or Jupiter or wherever I live..-- not "Luton airpo"😀

The very first Ofsted I had soon after they started was fine. I felt they knew what they were talking about and the observations they made were helpful. I changed my plans on a whim because of the weather conditions (Nursery class) and they praised my observation of the children's needs. The last one was in 2014 and was a whole different experience.

I do. I am old enough to remember regular visits from HMIs and County Advisors which were always very helpful. A system which points out weaknesses and helps correct them would be good. Ofsted is not that.

I feel too that a more supportive / less adversarial system is needed.

@CaptainMyCaptain

"I do. I am old enough to remember regular visits from HMIs and County Advisors which were always very helpful. A system which points out weaknesses and helps correct them would be good. Ofsted is not that."

I think it must be working in some areas though?
A local school near me went from "Inadequate" (with a full report of improvements and unsafe practices that they currently had), to "requires improvement at next inspection, then to "good" at the latest one.