Should I be reporting them to Ofsted?

[Moonfeather]

My child is 18 months, he’s been attending nursery for 5 months and I’ve already decided I want to move him but I’m wondering if I need to report them to Ofsted.

In the past 5 months:

• a member of staff opened a door with him stood behind, knocking him off his feet and leaving him with a huge bump and bruise on his head
• I witnessed a member of staff handle a baby/toddler with unnecessary force which led to them knocking their head.
• In the past 2 weeks he’s fallen over in the garden which resulted in a black eye and he’s been bitten 3 times by the same child, all of which have left marks days after.
• There’s also been 3 or 4 occasions where on pick up I’ve had to ask someone to change him as he’d soiled his nappy and no one had noticed.

I reported the first 2 incidents to head office. I know some of these are just nursery accidents and difficult to stop happening, but I think the accumulation of everything has really affected how confident I feel in them looking after him properly. Should I be reporting to Oftsted? I know others with children at the nursery and they seem happy.

I would report them yes. Falling over and the odd bite are not unusual but the handling by force is my biggest worry. If he regulary has a full nappy at pick up I'd not be happy. I have 2 in nursery they get plenty of bruises from falls but it's no more than they get at home. It's the other stuff that worry me.

Yes. Although after the door incident they should have reported themselves, as they caused an injury due to lack of care. Most nurseries have a window panel in the doors for this reason, you’re supposed to carefully check before opening and give another staff member a chance to move the child if there’s one in front of the door and you need to open it.

As above, would be OK with bruises from falling and we had a biting situation where our child was bitten several times however each time was taken seriously and we were invited to a meeting with the manger and room leader to discuss how they were managing the behaviour in the room, without naming the other children. We get at least 1 accident form a week but he's clumsy at home and as hes 3 now he tells me what has happened and its the same as theyve said. The nappies, the inappropriate force and the door situation would be the line for me. Have you given feedback?

Yes, they certainly need reporting and please take your son out of there. These are safeguarding matters.

First two are concerns.
Third one - maybe but bumps, falls and bites are things that happen in a nursery day. The context is the important part - falling off a climbing frame is different to falling because they were running - and whether they are giving an full explanation and taking it seriously.
Nappies - are they soiling a freshly changed nappy or is it full with wee too? We often have a baby that will soil a fresh nappy right after a change so it just may not have been smelled yet. That is different to a soiled nappy that has been on for a long time. Ask for times of the changes if they don’t tell you already.

Thanks for all of your replies. I agree, the first 2 really concerned me and if I’m being totally honest I still haven’t forgiven them for nearly knocking him out with the door, hence why I’m seeking opinions as I think that may be affecting my judgement on the other incidents (which arguably it should do as it’s cumulative).

He was playing with/on a bike in the garden and fell off but landed on a tray that had been put out with toys in, the cut he had was centimetres from his eyeball so he was lucky. At 18 months shouldn’t they be closely supervised when playing with bikes or things with wheels? He’s usually changed an hour before I arrive, when I picked him up last it was stuck to his skin so had been there a little while at least. It didn’t really smell though, it took me a while to notice

number 2 is making me very worried and I would report urgently

the others are not great either. Accidents do happen but the should record them and investigate them.

on their website you should be able to see their

outside play risk assessment and perhaps an under 2 outside play policy. They should have cleared the space. This sounds like poor curriculum planning.
accident reporting policy
bumped head policy

the biting- 1/2 times is unfortunate but 3 is unacceptable. The need to have staff on the kids at all times to mitigate this happening. What other SEND plan and their graduated response for the biting child and how they keep the other children safe.

You can call the NSPCC too for advice and reporting.

Ask it there is anything in place for the biting especially as its the same child..they might already be shadowing them but they can be so quick and unfortunately around that age it can be common. If not anything in placr there needs to be!

The man handling is a bad one and something the nursery shouldve taken seriously. Ofsted are confusing most likely they'll do a phone call follow up if anything but never know. May form a bigger picture and all

• I witnessed a member of staff handle a baby/toddler with unnecessary force which led to them knocking their head

This is the only one that would be an Ofsted issue for me. Did you get an outcome from your complaint to the management?