WHISTLE BLOWER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CHILDCARERS<<<<<<<<<<<BBC1..............NOW.......

[RTKangaDYSONMummy]

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Don't feel guilty about sending your child to a nursery. remeber that programmes like this only show a very small number of nurseries, a mere fraction compared to how many are out there.

Just make sure that when you are at the nursery that you take in everything around you and f you are ever feeling uneasy or concerned about something, take action there and then with the manager or person in charge. By keeping eyes and ears open you should generally be fine IME.

There are many good nurseries out there; hard to keep in mind when you watch a prgramme like this - but there are; thing is filming good nurseries in acion doesn't make "good" TV does it?

tiredemma - did you report the nursery?

I have worked in two nurserys.
One was AWFUL. I mean really awful and the other was good, and by good I mean the staff loved the kids, the doors were always locked, (they werent in the other), each keyworker knew the kids and would notice if one wasnt in the room, send someone/go themselves to check where they were if they werent all in the same room etc.
The staff to children ratios IMO are often not followed. Often I was with 30+ kids while the other 5 staff tidied the nursery away. Fecking Nightmare oh unqualified and not CRB checked for a long long time, btw

Totally agree with Hula.

There are awful childminders out there too. And great ones.

And besides, at least with a nursery there's safety in numbers in that any total nutter would probably get outed by the other staff which wouldn't be the case with a sole charge carer.

DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!

The source was an Ofsted inspector who has seen a lot of nurseries and risked her job to alert parents. Of course there are great nurseries but now we know they can't be found by checking the Ofsted reports.

Tiredemma you did well sticking up for yourself at the time. My heart was in my mouth when the reporter took the toddlers on that speedboat. I suppose it WAS all for the greater good and she would only have been replaced by someone equally under-qualified -- but at that point in her shoes I would have had to say no way, no how, I am not safe enough to be trusted with these children in this situation. But she did it.

How come she walks into a different job every week when she just wants to show them up, and I'm chomping at the bit to start CMing and can't cos they're doing my background checks on a ridiculous number of addresses!
Dh is now smug because I want to be at home with DS so we don't need to panic.
Want to agree with everyone who is saying they only show a small number of nurseries - and they are looking for ones that illustrate their point. PLEASE don't panic and/or feel guilty, go with your instincts, if you were happy with them before now, don't take them out tomorrow!

Ok, but the programme makers approached Ofsted to find the nursery with a high number of complaints and one under investigation by the local authority.

I watched a similar programme about 3 yrs ago & it bore no resemblance to what I knew of nurseries. I also felt protectively angry on behalf of all the childcare workers who do a superb job.

Of course as a parent I anguished when I did return to work but the reality is their nursery is a warm, cuddly and caring place. They could not be in better hands. In fact I am worried about how much ds will miss it when he starts school!

But some ppl will think this is what childcare in the UK is - this is their 'window' into that world, and what a depressing, worrying and guilt-inducing window that is.

Heated I understand that you feel protective of childcare workers. I am very close friends with a woman who's going to have an awful time tomorrow with people wondering if their children are safe at her nursery (er which they are).

But it doesn't matter what people "in general" think, in terms of our choices about work/home. What matters is that Ofsted should function and protect our children. I think that having a go at the programme is just wasting critical
energy which should be directed elsewhere.

go di hwill have to send dd to a nursery later this year and i feel sick at the thought now. those poor little beggars on the tv just now, made my blood boil.

Ofted are shite.
They tick boxes.
Brown skinned doll TICK
Multi Cultural Books TICK
Labelled Box with shite toys in it TICK
Paper Towels not Towel SUPER TICK passed the health bit even tho the toilets are grim...

Felt it was Daily Mail journalism.

How many parents now feel worried or guilty?

Heated what would you suggest?

A journalist is contacted by an Ofsted inspector who gives some startling information about the unreliability of the reports produced by her employer and is prepared to risk her job to expose this.

What does the journalist say? "Do mind if we don't bother as I don't want to scare parents, I think it's ok if sub-standard childcare is ok'd by Ofsted, so long as the parents don't know."?

Sorry, am on a rant but really cannot see why the programme is getting the flak when it's Ofsted at the heart of it. The government must be delighted everything will all be blamed on the meeja again.

Who cares Heated? Good if they do. Maybe it will make them question their choices of childcare, make them aware that the situations they thought they were leaving their children in are not as safe and pleasant as the hoped and make them more likely to watch out for problems. Personally I would like to be aware of someone shoving my kid's head into a mattress and calling him a Shitbag. How about those tiny kids in Egypt having experiences such as going on speed boats without their parents to check that all safety precautions are being taken? I was actually shaking when I was watching those kids being shepherded round that resort. I cant bear the thought of them being taken on holiday and then just being shoved into exactly the same environment as they are in at home with strangers while their parents swan off for some "me time" Some holiday for them.

I know that the situations on this programme are more than likely in the minority but that they exist at all needs to be addressed. It was a horrible programme but I am glad I saw it so I am more aware of what is going on when the time comes for me to choose childcare for my kids.

I found that very disturbing and will have nightmares about it. Mark Warner holidays-what a shocker. As for the poor babies in the nursery.........

So how many of us are going to be asking questions at nursery tomorrow?

Mine seems to have a really stable staff

That is what I look for above everything else, though I may watch the program again and do some more thinking...

By stable staff I mean no turnover

On reflection, i think it was sensationalism and aimed at causing a bit of panic however, gut feeling goes a long way and if you felt uncomfortable with a nursery then you wouldn't leave your child there would you? Or is that just me? I think the Mark Warner thing is horrendous as they are misleading families who are forking out megabucks and there safety is completely substandard and unacceptable.

Well I am obviously a double bad parent!

I am a parent of 2 children at Buttons Day Nursery. I am also off to Egypt with Mark Warner - looked great didn't it. Joking aside DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON TV. In my opinion Whistleblower was a shoddy piece of journalism that completely misrepresented this particular nursery. Whilst some of the footage made uncomfortable viewing the programme was completely biased and in some cases factually incorrect. Judgements of a nursery should not be made by someone who, by her own admission, has no experience of working with children and who has a vested interest in sensationalising the story and editing the footage for her own benefit.

Ms Willcocks claimed she was not CRB checked and her references not checked. False - her CRB check came through on 22nd August. Her references WERE followed up but they did not respond.

Ms Willcocks told the nursery mamanger that she did not have any experience. This is not uncommon considering the age of most of the employees. She was taken on as a probationary trainee - hence her low pay.

She claims she was left in sole charge of 13 children. This is also false - they were all pre-school children age 3+. Remember if these children were in state nursery they would be in a class of 30. Furthermore there was another member of staff in the pre-school area at this time.

This list goes on....

My children love the nursery. Personally I am more outraged by the fact that the BBC used footage of my children, without my permission to put forward a point of view that I completely disagree with.

Ozack -- If her references were followed up and did not respond the manager of the nursery should not have employed her.

She was taken on as a probationary trainee and given no training, and left in charge of many children alone. You don't deny that, you just say they were all 3+.

Ozack it is always good to have another side of the story, but I think you too have a vested interest -- in defending the nursery. If you are happy with your childcare, good.

But the story will have been checked and checked and checked again by lawyers. Far from being sensationalist they will have been ultra cautious. It's doubtful that factual mistakes would have slipped through. It wasn't shoddy. And they blanked out the faces of the children.