A nursery in Urmston where children were 'at risk' has closed after being deemed 'inadequate' by inspectors. The Ofsted report for Davyhulme Day Nursery revealed internal fire doors did not work properly following a visit on September 21.
"These doors do not close or have to be forcefully opened," the report by inspector Suzanne Fenwick said. "These, along with other hazards to children's health, such as the cleaning supplies cupboard being left open, are not adequately risk assessed."
Ofsted said it intended to take 'enforcement action', following the inspection of the facility. However, the nursery has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it has now closed.
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In a statement, a spokesperson said: "The nursery has now closed. The inspection wasn’t actually completed. We lodged a complaint with Ofsted and they haven’t replied at all. The nursery will not be reopening."
As well as being 'inadequate' overall, it received the same rating for categories including the quality of its education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management. A previous inspection had rated the full-day-care facility which looked after 30 children on Davyhulme Road as 'Good'.
But in the latest report, Ms Fenwick said: "The provider has failed to ensure that there are adequately qualified and experienced staff always working with children. Furthermore, the small number of core staff are expected to undertake an unmanageable workload.
"At times, throughout the day, children are not being sufficiently supervised due to the way staff are deployed." Because of this, she said, children are left to play with the minimal resources available to them.
"Children have very limited access to any challenging or purposeful learning opportunities," she went on. "Staff do not have high enough expectations for children. Therefore, there are gaps in children's learning and development."
However, she said children 'make friends in this nursery and staff are kind and caring to them'. "But because of staffing issues, children are unable to develop strong relationships with key members of staff," she said.
Ms Fenwick said the arrangements for safeguarding [of the children] were 'not effective'. "Some staff have very limited knowledge and understanding of safeguarding," she said. "And some staff are unaware of who the nursery manager and deputy manager are.
"These staff do not know the nursery's safeguarding policies and procedures. In addition, they do not know the correct procedures for reporting concerns about the welfare of children." She said that the provision was 'inadequate' and Ofsted intended to take enforcement action.
A Welfare Requirements Notice was being issued requiring the facility to:
- Ensure all staff, including agency staff, receive induction training to help them understand their roles and responsibilities, including information about emergency evacuation procedures, safeguarding, child protection and health and safety issues.
- Ensure staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children and that they are adequately supervised, including while eating, and deploy staff to make sure children are always safe.
- Introduce reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children, staff and others on the premises in case of an emergency, such as ensuring fire doors are free from obstruction and easily opened.
- Ensure that staff and children are not exposed to risks and manage risks appropriately, such as ensuring fire doors open and close properly, and that staircases leading to cleaning supply rooms are not accessible to children.
- Ensure all staff are trained to understand the nursery safeguarding policy and procedures and ensure that all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues, including identified possible signs and symptoms of abuse.
- Ensure that the key-person system is effective and that every child's care is tailored to meet their individual needs.
- Ensure that there are effective arrangements in place to support children with SEND.
To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the nursery must ensure staff consider the individual needs, interests and development of each child in their care and use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development. In her report, Ms Fenwick said it was the first inspection since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Davyhulme Day Nursery spokesperson added: "Closing a nursery is always the last resort. We did return the full month's fees to the parents and we are in the process of organising a get-together for the children and team so that they can properly say goodbye.
"We have also offered any support we can for the children in their transition to the new childcare setting. We understand that money is not the answer but sadly it was the only thing we could offer. We didn’t want our families to have to find funds to pay registration fees etc to their new settings.
"We understand that this is disruptive but the current situation is just impossible to manage. The industry lacks qualified staff and funding. It has become harder and harder to operate.
"We are very sorry about how this has impacted our families and it was not a decision we took lightly. "
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