Help please on Ofsted action

[Bekbean]

Hallo all
I had my pre-reg on the 11th August, and it went well and Mrs Ofsted asked me to make a dily checklist and to write some additional policies for my actions and when she saw the garden she told me that ivy is poisonous and I thought she said I should review my risk assessment for the garden. Now the letter has come through it says I must "ensure that children must not have access to dangerous plants in the garden" by the 27th of August. So do I really have to pull up every bit of ivy - not a very realistic prospect as it grows all round the rockery bit next to the pond and can't be fenced off without drilling into the patio, and then do I have to remove the wisteria, which I also notice is on the RHS dangerous plant list, or can I meet this action by putting into my RA's that children will be educated to respect plants in the garden and lo's watched closely?


Thanks for reading

Rebekah

[sarah707]

Most inspectors will tell you to totally get rid of ivy or fence it off if it's in a specific part of the garden.

If wisteria is on the list, then I suggest you remove that as well - sorry not a great plant person, someone else will know more than me.

Then you need to write your risk assessment to show that you have considered any other dangerous plants or bulbs.

Trouble is, even with constant supervision, you need to go to the loo sometimes or a child might need to come in for an emergency and you leave others outside, or the doorbell rings... what do you do then? Bringing every child in and locking the door is a bit severe if you see what I mean.

I am afraid that it is one of those sacrifices that sometimes have to be made when you work from home.

Good luck with the rest of your application! :D

[sweets]

inspectors are so different! i got rid of some foxgloves in my garden before my pre-reg and told the inspector this and she said "what a shame i bet they were nice, i grew up with a laburnam tree in the garden and never came to harm!"
I think it depends on your garden really as to wether to get rid of the ivy, would you ever leave the children to pop to the loo? would you want to take them with you. it also depends on the age of the children you have, obviously non of us would leave a crawling or toddling baby, but may do with a 3/4 year old for a min and they should be of an age to know not to eat a plant!

[Rosiemay]

hello - I had my pre-reg in July.

The inspector asked me to remove the ivy but she didn't make it an action. I think she meant that I just had to remove the ivy that is at ground level and could leave the ivy growing up an old wall. I'm not 100% sure though...

rosie x

[breezy]

I had to remove all my ivy and the hellebores :(
seems silly as most plants are poisonous to some degree.

[PRINCESSDAISYFLOWER]

I was made to remove all the ivy in my garden

[mama2three]

my mrs ofsted came on the 11th as well , and said ''I presume youve checked the ivy is not the poisonous type'' and that was it. Plus there are acres of it , and I really would be there all winter trying to remove it all. Youve got me worried now incase I get a different inspector at my 1st 'real' inspection and end up getting unsatisfactory because of it. Aaarrgh! :(

[zillervalley]

Hi when i moved into my house the garden was full of plants some poisonous and some i didnt know if they were, i was told to get rid even though my darden is not on my registration


ziller

[wellybelly]

I got a list of plants (with photos) off the web which are poisonous, used the photos to check my garden then stuck the list in with my risk assessments.

I'm sorry I dont have the web page address though

[Rosiemay]

Hello just been googling ivy and apparently it is a misconception that ivy is poisonous. This is because of an american ivy called 'poison ivy'. This doesn't grow here and other ivies are fine.

Hope that's useful.

Just wondering whether i should phone my inspector and tell her that I've done some research and the ivy is not poisonous or just put it in a risk assessment?

Thanks,
Rosie x

[christine e]

Hello just been googling ivy and apparently it is a misconception that ivy is poisonous. This is because of an american ivy called 'poison ivy'. This doesn't grow here and other ivies are fine.

Hope that's useful.

Just wondering whether i should phone my inspector and tell her that I've done some research and the ivy is not poisonous or just put it in a risk assessment?

Thanks,
Rosie x

How about printing off what you found on the internet and attaching to your risk assessment - also perhaps you could share the link with others on the forum so they could use it for reference.

Cx

[Mollymop]

Hello just been googling ivy and apparently it is a misconception that ivy is poisonous. This is because of an american ivy called 'poison ivy'. This doesn't grow here and other ivies are fine.



I thought that too!

[sonia ann]

Hello just been googling ivy and apparently it is a misconception that ivy is poisonous. This is because of an american ivy called 'poison ivy'. This doesn't grow here and other ivies are fine.

Hope that's useful.

Just wondering whether i should phone my inspector and tell her that I've done some research and the ivy is not poisonous or just put it in a risk assessment?

Thanks,
Rosie x

my garden is full of ivy......in 13yrs no-one has bought it up as a problem at my inspections.....I was also under the impession that our native ivies are ok

[sarah707]

I was told to get rid of my ivy by Social Services many years ago... so I did! :rolleyes: :D

[Pauline]

Things like this make me sad. While I agree totally that you must do whatever Ofsted say and I have myself removed ivy from the garden to be on the safe side and meet their requirements. I still wonder why we feel the need to wrap children in cotton wool and protect them from so many so called hazards?

What happened to teaching children NOT to touch/eat plants? If they are forever protected how will they learn? What will happen in the future when they themselves don't know that some plants must not be touched or eaten, we could be breeding a whole generation of children who won't have the knowledge to pass onto their own children, simply because they never had to learn that a plant was dangerous because it was removed before they even got near it.

I grew up in an age when bleach was left on the bathroom floor, my dad kept car oil in a pop bottle and all sorts of medicines were left on my mum's bedside but we were taught never to touch these things and we survived.

I suppose there were children who did get hurt and I'm not suggesting that it was right, but my point is that we seem to make every situation a risk and remove it 'just in case'

Anyway, that is just my thoughts and my rant for the day :laughing:

[rickysmiths]

I agree 100% Pauline.

Fortunately we moved house 5yrs ago and have an empty garden save a big un-interesting tree at the end. We have grass and I do hanging baskets and pots. I do like sweet peas and I grow them up a wall with a fine netting over them and teach the children not to touch. Otherwise as you have said, how will they learn. I have done a risk assessment. So far I haven't been inspected when they have been in flower!

[margimum]

In my garden I have a red berry tree. Children are taught 'don't touch the berries.. they are for birds!!'(They are not actually poisonous tho)
This week J who is 3 has been repeating this to his sister 20m, and now she goes around singing it in the garden!
We have also been growing peas, which we pick, wash and eat raw straight from the plant.
Children can learn to make sensible decisions and should not be separated from every kind of potential hazard in their lives.
Of course, supervision is important, but so is making judgements for yourself.

[Rosiemay]

I completely agree with what has been said. It seems that in this country we've all gone health and safety mad! Of course we want to keep children safe but it's so important that young children learn about making decisions and about what is safe or not.

The ivy in my garden is mostly growing up a wall behind a flower bed. I am going to leave that alone. There is some at ground level which I will clear. From my research common ivy is not poisonous although like a lot of plants it can be a slight irritant to some people. I think that if we cleared all the plants, flowers and trees in our gardens that this applies to the children would have a pretty bare and ugly area to play in!

The other thing that annoys me is the inconsistency from ofsted. I've only just started with childminding - still waiting for my crbs - but from reading this forum and talking to other childminders there doesn't seem to be much consistency. Why is is that for some inspectors ivy is ok but not for others?!

Sorry to go on. It's only ivy - i know! Now back to a day of cleaning, clearing and packing before we head off to Wales . . .

Rosie x

[Bekbean]

Well I seem to have opened a bit of a can of worms here!

Thanks for all your comments - it seems that I am destined to spend the next couple of days pulling up ivy - perhaps I'll get my children to help (!!!). I certainly wouldn't want a child hurt, and I daresay insurers wouldn't cover me if I had plants known to be dangerous. Let's just hope I never get inspected when the daffs and snowdrops are up!

Rebekah

[buildingblocks]

Things like this make me sad. While I agree totally that you must do whatever Ofsted say and I have myself removed ivy from the garden to be on the safe side and meet their requirements. I still wonder why we feel the need to wrap children in cotton wool and protect them from so many so called hazards?

What happened to teaching children NOT to touch/eat plants? If they are forever protected how will they learn? What will happen in the future when they themselves don't know that some plants must not be touched or eaten, we could be breeding a whole generation of children who won't have the knowledge to pass onto their own children, simply because they never had to learn that a plant was dangerous because it was removed before they even got near it.

I grew up in an age when bleach was left on the bathroom floor, my dad kept car oil in a pop bottle and all sorts of medicines were left on my mum's bedside but we were taught never to touch these things and we survived.

I suppose there were children who did get hurt and I'm not suggesting that it was right, but my point is that we seem to make every situation a risk and remove it 'just in case'

Anyway, that is just my thoughts and my rant for the day :laughing:

I agree with you Pauline and what really gets me cross is the presumption that we are going to just let them eat things anyway (sorry can't find the words that I want to put and that makes no sense to me lol)

At the end of the day what happens at home I am sure we are as careful as parents if not more because they are not our own. One of my parents had no banister at the side of her stairs so a steep drop to one side two boys went up and down for years with no probs it was me that was terrified going up and down the stairs. I have two solid walls at he edge of mine . Another one has a glass greenhouse not fenced off and a pond.

Oh for the days when COMMON SENSE was normal

[buildingblocks]

Well I seem to have opened a bit of a can of worms here!

Thanks for all your comments - it seems that I am destined to spend the next couple of days pulling up ivy - perhaps I'll get my children to help (!!!). I certainly wouldn't want a child hurt, and I daresay insurers wouldn't cover me if I had plants known to be dangerous. Let's just hope I never get inspected when the daffs and snowdrops are up!

Rebekah

Good luck not an easy job and if I am not wrong it will just keep coming back (or is that something different I am thinking of)