Is this my sons fault or nursery’s fault?

[Mummymummymummyy]

I just had an email from my 4years old pre school saying there was an incident today and I need to sign the form when he next comes in- as they didn’t mention at pick up. The incident is that he opened the fire door which leads to the nursery main door which opens onto a busy road. The tone of the email is all about how bad it is my son did this and how shocked they all were. It says they they had a talk with him about safety and how bad it is to open the door, and can I also talk to him. I’m glad they took it seriously and mentioned it, but I’m kind of annoyed and wondering if I should be. Surely the issue is that a nursery isn’t properly child proof, if a door can be opened by a child. It’s not like I have taught him to open doors and although of course I will talk to him about it- surely they themselves need to address this. a precious nursery he went to had buttons up high to press to open doors, and buzzers etc.

am I unreasonable to be annoyed?

It’s their problem not yours

Yes logic would say this

It doesn’t sound like it directly opens onto the road but into a corridor that the leads to the road. Presumably there are additional safeguards in place at this point in regards to children escaping the premises.

They are probably making you aware so that you can work with them to reinforce this door should only be opened in a fire. A NT 4 year old can understand rules like this.

Nursery are at fault- why were they not aware of where he was before he even opened the ‘unsafe’ door?

I would be putting it back on them and asking how they are going to
a. Monitor your child
b. Keep him safe
c. Make the area safe.

The door should probably have a glass lock on it that you break if there is a fire. Otherwise it's a huge safeguarding risk.

Most schools have those green open door buttons but out of the reach of children for those sorts of doors. It going onto a main road is seriously scary. He could have ended up in traffic or been taken or just disappeared!

I'm wondering if they left it open because it was hot and he went through it...

I'm very surprised they don't have a safety fence around the perimeter of the preschool. Anyone could get in and the kids can get out!

It going onto a main road is seriously scary. He could have ended up in traffic or been taken or just disappeared!

The fire door doesn't open to a main road. It opens to the main entrance room of the school where there's another set of (presumably non-fire rated) doors.

Read the OP properly. It dosent open on to a road. It opens to the corridor that leads to the main nursery entrance. All that happens was the child entered the corridor. There would be security locks on the door to the outside.

This.

I fitted a basic alarm that went off when my elderly mother’s door was opened. It’s a magnetic contact on the door, one on the door one on the frame and it sounds a buzzer/siren when the contact is broken. It sticks on with double sided tape and cost less than £20. Works off batteries so needs no wiring. Surely something similar should be fitted.

Really? You think schools and parents shouldn’t collaborate to ensure the child is being taught to respect rules for his own safety?
It would be interesting to know the exact wording of this email and whether the child usually listens to adults.
Some parents think their darlings are never in the wrong and everything is always someone else’s fault…in which case, they’re setting them up to fail as adults.

The door didn’t open onto the road.

I would also be asking the nursery when their last fire drill was and whether there was a responsible fire warden staff member present at all times.
Ask to see proof of this.

Perhaps you do need to contact Ofsted - have a chat with them at least.

I agree

I think this is an issue with the nursery. I would think that their emergency exit either shouldn't open onto a road or should had a handle that is too high for a 4 year old to reach. 4 year olds can still struggle with impulse control, and there will potentillay also be 3 year olds in the class too. I would agree you will talk to your son, but ask what they are doing to risk assess the situation with the door to ensure safety.

All the people saying the door opens onto a road obviously can’t be bothered to read the original post! DOOR DOES NOT OPEN ONTO THE ROAD!!! 🤦‍♀️

Agreed. There are far too many parents these days that will not accept that their children need to be taught to listen and follow the rules. The nursery is asking for the parent to back up what they have told the child and to collaborate with the setting to keep the child safe.
The amount of people on here that seem to think that someone has eyes on every child for every second of tbe day is incredible. It just dosent happen like that once they get to age 4. They will often be free to toilet on their own, have free flow play to the outside etc. It is unrealistic to think that your child is watched every second. They need to learn to follow the rules. This child will be starting school soon and I can guarantee that they won't be constantly watched, they will go to the toilets alone and they will be expected to follow rules and parents will be expected to back this up.
It is not about blaming the child, it is about making sure everyone in the child's life is teaching them how to keep safe.

You need to read the OP properly. It does not lead out to a road.

Nursery’s fault - all the way. If a child - anybody’s child - can get out easily there is a problem with both the building and supervision. Blaming your son is really bad; I bet they don’t want the body that has oversight if nurseries getting wind of this incident.

All the people saying the door opens onto a road obviously can’t be bothered to read the original post! DOOR DOES NOT OPEN ONTO THE ROAD!!!

It leads on to a foyer with a door to the road. If this is the fire exit route, the door to the road may also be openable with a push bar or something. We don't know. We also don't know if there were any staff in the entrance area or it was just luck the staff in the room spotted someone had escaped in time.

The fact that there is a form to sign suggests they consider it a H&S incident more serious than e.g. walked into the outdoor play area while we were doing story time. It appears it's not just behaviour it's risk. And if it is risk, parents should understand what precautions are from the nursery side. Like when they take the kids to the park, the precautions aren't just "well we told the kids not to run off, we're shocked this one did".

Becuase they have 20millions children to 1 teacher / carer. It's like a zoo

It’s a bit of both really. A 4 year old should know what doos they can/can’t open. So for example, my son at 4 knew he was not allowed to answer the front door.

as a safeguard, it was always locked by a top bolt that he couldn’t reach.

this is a fire door and will need to have a certain mechanism to allow it to open in the event of a fire.

so, if the children have not been told they cannot go through that door unless there is a fire and they are evacuated, and he’s opened it, then they are responsible and if make it clear to them that they are.
if the children have been told about fire doors and he did it anyway? Then your son is responsible.

I would definitely have a discussion about door safety anyway…. What if he opens the front door in the night whilst you are sleeping? To me that’s just basic safety.

Not his fault it’s theirs. You could kick up a stink about his safety for this instead to be honest. Different if he was a secondary school pupil but he is 4!

They weren’t watching your child.

Ratio is supposed to be 8 to 1 adult. I think a lot of nurseries exceed this massively.

Its 13-1 if there is a qualified teacher.
But of one staff member is helping a child that needs the toilet, and another is dealing with a grazed knee, ones in the garden... then yes they can't be hovering over every child.