Staining nursery falls from "good" to "inadequate" in latest Ofsted report

Grunty’s Day Care, based on Newton Hall Holiday Park, Staining, were awarded the rating after the latest inspection- undertaken on August 8, 2019 by Ofsted inspector Karen Cox- which stated that children's well-being and safety was compromised.

The report also declared that staff language use and recruitment procedures were not up to statutory regulations.

The report said: “Staff do not correctly model language for children.

“The manager and staff do not assure children's safety. Their risk assessment processes are not rigorous.

“Potential hazards, specifically in the outdoor area, are sometimes overlooked and not always eliminated promptly enough to reduce the risk of harm to children.

“Not all staff consistently gather detailed information about children's existing skills and abilities when they first start at the setting.”

The report also stated that Grunty’s recruitment processes were not rigorous enough, in respect to not ensuring all staff are suitable to work within the setting, which compromised children’s safety.

Despite the inadequate rating, staff were praised for their “welcoming and caring environment” and the complimentary attitudes towards the nursery from parents.

Sally Sullivan, manager of Grunty’s Day Care, said: “Such findings are extremely important to us here at Grunty’s.

“The areas identified have been rectified with immediate effect, taking appropriate action.

“We have introduced checklists and procedures to verify risk assessments have been completed, improving our self-evaluation.

“Familiar language was used such as ‘handies’ when the Ofsted standard is ‘hands’ and ‘yeah’ and not ‘yes’. All staff have been reminded of the need to pronounce all syllables.

“The inspector went to great lengths to praise the teaching of our practitioners and the learning and development of the children.”

Ofsted have suggested that in order to improve, Grunty’s must “implement robust recruitment procedures to ensure that all staff working with children are suitable to do so.”

The report also suggested that Grunty’s should: “ensure that risk assessments identify all possible hazards to children and that all reasonable steps are taken to minimise these risks, in order to promote children's safety.”