please help - alarming, dangerous incident at nursery

[distressed]

Dh has just phoned me to let me know about a very alarming incident he witnessed at our son's nursery this evening.

What happened was that he found one of ds's friends (aged 2) walking on the pavement outside the nursery. DH asked him where his mummy was - it turns out she wasn't around at all. He had somehow got out of the nursery all by himself. I dread to think what could have happened to him. It is all too easy to imagine that he might have walked out into the road and got run over.

Without going into too much detail, a number of things have concerned us about the nursery recently, most seriously (up to now) the failure to maintain statutory staffing ratios for 2yos in mixed classes with 3+yos. What happened today is a classic example of the types of risk posed by failure to maintain these ratios.

We have complained to the nursery as have other parents, with limited success.

So mumsnetters, can you please help me?

1. Am I overreacting?
2. Can I complain to Ofsted or the EY dept of the local authority?
3. How should we approach yet another complaint to the nursery on this issue? Threaten them with Ofsted, EY etc?
4. Should I start looking for alternative childcare immediately?
5. What other questions should I be asking myself?

This is so upsetting. We have been very happy with the nursery up until the last 3m or so.

Thank you all very much in advance.

hello everyone, just wanted to thank everyone who took the trouble to post advice here over the last couple of days. it has really helped. dh and i have agreed what to do and will be monitoring the situation very closely. i understand we are not the only parents who have contacted ofsted - so lets see what that brings.

thanks for those kind comments about my writing "style" - didn't know i had one!

Thanks for the update, BK - keep us all posted on this one.

This is my worst nightmare. Hope they make some serious changes, fast.

Hi distressed. I've come to this thread rather late, but is the nursery you're talking about in SE London? The reason I ask - my son got out of his nursery on Monday 19th and a member of the public took him back - could be a coincidence but i'd like to find out more details if poss. If it IS my son you're talking about, maybe we can chat further if you're willing?

hi beccaboo

distressed was me. not quite sure how to reply, can you be a bit more specific about your location? my son's nursery is technically sw london (has an sw london postcode) but not v. far out. could have been a bad day for nursery escapes!

hope both he and you are ok after such a distressing incident.

Hello there - thanks for replying. Sounds like there must have been something in the air that day, as my son's nursery is in Brockley/Forest Hill. It's been a real comfort to read this discussion actually, as I am feeling all the things that people have written about, and am really in two minds about what to do. He hasn't been back there since it happened as I'm waiting for them to confirm that they've taken the necessary steps (locks on doors etc) - and it doesn't really inspire confidence that they've taken a fortnight to do it! He got through three unlocked doors in the building and was then able to open a fire door to get outside. Really really scary stuff.

What have you decided to do - are you staying, or looking around for alternatives?

hi there

we have decided to leave him there for the time being. we were reassured by the nursery's attitude and we saw changes in security procedures the same day, which have since been maintained. i have also spoken to ofsted, who will check up on them.

i agree with you that it doesn't inspire confidence that they don't seem to have done anything for a fortnight.

what have you been doing for the fortnight? have you had to take time off? what an absolute pain. you must be beside yourself.

did you complain to ofsted?

Luckily I work from home, but as you can imagine I haven't been able to get much done and he's getting square eyes from watching Cbeebies too much! They wrote me a letter the following day, which they said they were going to copy to Ofsted and Lewisham's Early Years department. I have given them the benefit of the doubt so far - because he was happy there and I'd rather not move him - but my patience has worn thin now, so I intend to put in a complaint next week. Your experience sounds a lot better, it seems that they've responded really well to what happened - if my place had done the same, I'd still be sending my son.

God just read this thread - my dd is at another branch of Distressed's nursery. Have been v happy with them up till now. Should I bring it up or would Mumsnetters think as it's a different nursery it has no bearing on it??? The nursery dd goes to is on a very busy road - doesn't bear thinking about. What an awful thing to happen.