Little Hippos Nursery and Daycare in Newtown, Birmingham had its registration cancelled and was closed by Ofsted this month.
An enforcement action letter from Ofsted says that it received a notification from an outside agency on 21 September 2012 that raised concerns about the suitability of the company, which was prosecuted for health and safety violations when a child fractured his skull after falling from a fire escape in 2011. Ofsted claims it was not notified of the outcome of the court case on 20 September by the provider.
Following the incident, the nursery was re-registered in April 2012. Reports suggest the nursery was re-registered under the former owner's wife's name. However, a job advertisement posted on Jobhits.co.uk on 17 October 2012 gives contact details for the former owner Mr Irshad Ahmed.
Mr Ahmed pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on 20 September 2012 to two offences: one of failing to ensure that a child in the nursery's care was not exposed to risks to their health and safety, and another for failing to notify the local authority of the accident within ten days.
An investigation carried out at the setting under the new registration also raised concerns over the risk to children's safety and well-being, as children and staff had not rehearsed an emergency evacuation following changes to the use of premises.
A further monitoring visit found that the nursery, which was featured on the Channel 4 Dispatches programme in February this year, was unable to demonstrate how public liability insurance is carried.
An Ofsted spokesperson said, 'As soon as Ofsted was made aware of the serious incident at Little Hippos Nursery, Summer Lane, we carried out a thorough investigation while working with the provider and other relevant agencies. This has included considerable enforcement activity and compliance action throughout the investigation.'
Last month, Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said it planned to ensure that inadequate settings that have closed down cannot re-open and re-register with Ofsted under a new name.
While Ofsted has the power to refuse new registrations on the basis of the suitability of the provider and the premises for young children, it cannot prevent providers re-registering a setting because of a loophole that exists.
Ofsted told Nursery World that in the past two years it has begun to link together the settings that have re-registered so users can view existing inspection reports under the setting's old registration.
However, when Nursery World searched for Little Hippos Nursery in Ofsted's online database, only the most recent inspection report was available to view. There was no information to suggest that the nursery had re-registered in April last year and why.
This was also true of another setting that re-registered in 2006 under a new name, but no information or old reports are linked to the webpage.
Early years consultant Marion Dowling welcomed the move by Ofsted to link information on its website, but said that more needs to be done. 'The website isn't accessible. Ofsted needs to make it easier for the average parent to get information.'
Jennie Johnson, owner of Kids Allowed, said, 'Although I don't want to comment on specific nurseries, clearly there is a loophole that allows providers to re-register and remain in business. Linking information on the Ofsted website is a step in the right direction, but the preference would be for these nurseries not to be able to re-register at all or for their nursery directors to be suspended from working in the sector for a number of years.'
An Ofsted spokesperson said, 'Ofsted takes the matter of re-registering very seriously. Ofsted's priority is the safety of children and we make as much information available about registered childcare providers as current legislation allows.
'We also encourage parents to check carefully all the information available to them about registered providers, for example, previous inspection reports, a history of complaints, and any conditions applying to the setting. This information is available on the Ofsted website, together with a guidance leaflet for parents and information about closed settings.
'When visiting a prospective nursery, parents are also entitled to ask the provider for any information they think they need to make a decision, including sight of the setting's complaints log. Ofsted is currently working with the Department for Education to link closed settings in a more user-friendly way to make it easier for parents.'