Stratford nursery given order to improve
A STRATFORD-UPON-AVON nursery has been ordered to improve following a recent Ofsted inspection which branded it inadequate.
The Happy Futures Nursery, a franchisee of the Monkey Puzzle Group, has plummeted from a rating of good in 2011 to inadequate following an inspection in April.
Ofsted have issued the nursery with a notice to improve and a further inspection will be made within six months to determine whether these improvements have taken place.
If they have not been made there are a range of options available to Ofsted, from issuing further improvement notices to, in the worst case scenario, removing the nursery’s licence.
Some of the most damming findings of the report include parents not always told of any accidents or injuries that have occurred or any first aid treatment that their child has received.
It also found the standard of health and hygiene practices at the nursery did not meet the requirements of health and safety regulations.
Staff were also criticised for not effectively challenging children to help them make the best progress in their learning.
The report wasn’t all bad though, acknowledging the caring, friendly nature of staff, the nutritious meals provided to children and the good role models staff had provided to children.
Happy Futures Nursery looks after 67 children between the age of 1-5 and was first registered in 2010.
One parent, who did not wish to be named, said: “I have taken my child out of the nursery. When I read the report and saw the conclusions on health and hygiene, I was absolutely shocked. When you read that and you go back it does make you notice things, I saw that the floors were dirty, the office was a mess. You would have thought they would have cleaned up given that parents would have been worried about it after seeing the report.
“In the four or five months my child was there, only once did they come back with a picture or anything like that. I’m just so frustrated with pop-up nurseries, this is the second one in Stratford to have been deemed inadequate. I paid £55 per day for my child to go there and they get funding, where is that money being spent?
“Before I read the report I was told by one of the staff that the report wasn’t as good as they had hoped and they said the bad rating was to do with a parent not returning an accident form. When I read it I was shocked, it was a lot worse than just that. They told us that they had a tough inspector and that they would be appealing, but I think a bad workman always blames his tools. Health and hygiene really is basic.
“On the Monkey Puzzle website it highlights how well their nurseries in St Albans and London have done in their Ofsteds, they should really talk about how all their nurseries have done on there.”
The Herald approached both the nursery and the Monkey Puzzle Group, but neither would comment on the Ofsted result.
