The group's Kiddi Caru Nursery in Harlow, Essex was inspected in February and found to be inadequate due to ‘significant weakness in leadership and management, putting children’s health, safety and learning at serious risk of harm’, according to Ofsted.
Prior to the latest inspection, the nursery had held an outstanding grade for 17 years, since its very first inspection in 2005.
In a statement, Grandir, which bought Kiddi Caru nurseries in 2017, states, ‘We are hugely disappointed that on the day of the inspection, Ofsted graded the nursery as Inadequate. We strongly disagree with this inspection outcome and believe the information in the report to be unfair and unfounded and therefore we subsequently submitted a formal complaint and appeal.
‘Harlow is a good setting, with a great reputation and recent visits from the local authority raised no concerns in relation to the nursery. The nursery has a strong leadership team and has held very high standards for several years.
‘Our priority is to support the nursery team through this difficult period. Regardless of this inspection outcome, we are always focused on development and improvement and we will continue to do so. Families are being reassured that the nursery is not unsafe, and staff’s knowledge of safeguarding is effective. The safety and well-being of all children in our care is our highest priority.’
According to Grandir, which operates 50 nurseries in this country along with other settings in France, Germany, the United States and Canada, Ofsted have upheld the inadequate inspection rating for Kiddi Caru Harlow and the nursery will be re-inspected within the next four months.
Inspection report
Kiddi Caru Harlow’s Ofsted inspection report suggests the setting is inadequate for reasons, including:
- The management team not making sure there is an effective curriculum in place to help children embed the knowledge and skills they need and can use in different situations. It says, in most rooms, staff are unclear about what children need to learn next.
- Staff appointed to key roles, such as the special educational needs and/or disabilities co-ordinators, have not received specific training to help them target teaching and support these groups of children as effectively as possible.
- The process for managing accidents that occur in the nursery is not clear.
- The arrangement for safeguarding are not effective. There is not a universally understood and agreed method for the swift reporting of child protection or safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding knowledge among staff varies widely and the majority have ‘worrying’ gaps in their current knowledge about wider safeguarding issues and child protection concerns.
It does however acknowledge there are some ‘good moments’, such as children ‘enjoying social mealtimes’, opportunities for children to develop ‘larger physical skills’ and the provision of a ‘varied, nutritionally balanced menu.’
Grandir confirmed to Nursery World, the nursery had met the requirements set out by Ofsted within the inspection report, which covered safeguarding knowledge and procedures, by the agreed date.
- Findings from a Nursery World survey on inspections under the EIF will be published in the May issue, out next week.