Quick responses please to nursey dilemma - have to pick ds up in an hour

[saadia]

Dropped ds off at nursery a little late this morning and there was a little girl all alone outside. The nursery is such that there's a main door to the building, which anyone can easily open, even kids, and then a secure door to the nursery hall which only grown-ups can open.

I thought the girl must be with someone but there was no-one around so I rang the nursery bell and it turned out she was supposed to be inside. Not sure what happened - either her mum hadn't made sure that the girl had gone into the nursery, or the staff hadn't noticed her coming out (when other children were going in). Anyhow, I don't know this girl's mum but really feel I should seek her out and tell her what happened.

I'm sure you will all agree but not sure how to word it without seeming to accuse her of negligence. Ds will not be going tomorrow and nursery is closed next week, so have to say something today.

how on earth did that happen...speak to a member of staff, they must be held responsible and made aware of the situation...poor little thing....

Ask her if the nursery have told her about xxx being outside- say the bare minimum hth

Oh, yes I would say something. I would get a scope for what the mother seems like - if she appears defensive, I would take it cautiously, but otherwise assume she took her daughter in and it was an error on the part of the nursery. Have you ever had any reason to think they are less than vigilant?

Definitely say something to the nursery staff/manager, if it was a staff error, it could happen again and next time there might not be someone coming in........
I noticed that the main front door to the nursery my DS goes to wasn't always locked and told the staff...they were fine and could understand why I was concerned.

That's a good idea gothicmama. Yes mothernature I think I will mention it to the staff as well. I should have said something when they let her in this morning but I'm terrible in these spontaneous situations and always end up regretting what I said or feeling like I should have said something else.

you must speak to them about this, what you describe is an extremely dangerous situation - something similar happened at ds's nursery - they tightened up the procedures in response to the incident.

No bouj, I've never had any reason to doubt them before. I just keep thinking what would have happened if the girl had wandered off, there is a very busy road outside.

Agree with the others - as a parent I would definitely want to know about this. I think Gothicmama's tack is the right one, say the minimum, but if you possibly can, say it today so that she can tackle them on the spot. Am and about this, it really should not happen. Not even once.

this is what happened at ds's nursery here

Thanks for that bossykate, awful to think how common these incidents are.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, in that I don't know if it was the girl's mother who just left her without making sure she'd gone in, or staff not noticing her hanging about outside. Either way I will mention it and suggest that they have someone monitoring the outer door .

The nursery itself is fine I think, although the staff always seem a bit rushed, which I put down to the fact that they were working with kids. Ds will be going there until the summer hols and he only goes two mornings a week, but now I'm having doubts about their general level of care, although ds is very happy there and loves it.

Thanks all for your responses. Just picked up ds, spoke to the staff.

Turned out the nursery had already spoken to the girl's mother about what happened, so then I didn't speak to her about it.

The nursery head also explained to me what had happened. The mother had left the girl but had not made sure she had actually gone inside. The nursery seemed very keen to explain to me how all this happened and give assurances that it wouldn't happen again. They seemed to be taking it very seriously and I think they might be right that the mother should also have made sure the girl was inside, although obviously the nursery has to take responsibility too.

Anyway, I'm thinking I should now let the matter drop.

Thats Great Saadia, I bet you feel a lot better now??

Well, don't feel good about it but I think parents do need to be made aware that they have to make sure their kids are inside before they leave. I'm hoping that the incident will also make the staff more vigilant.