Dispatches: Nurseries

[Schnakes]

Hiya, sorry if this has been posted elsewhere - I had a quick flick through but havent spotted it anywhere...

Did anyone watch the Dispatches program about nurseries? If so - what did you think? I thought it was quite strongly biased and Im getting quite tired of the childcare sector getting bashed by the government/in the media...I also didnt really know what the point of the program was - on the one hand it seemed to be saying that Ofsted was rubbish so it should ****** off....on the other hand - it seemed to be saying e should have more ofsted so mistakes dont happen again. Anyway - be interested in other peoples opinions of the program and its contents!

Sx

[carol cameron]

I watched it and thought it was interesting.

The main point that stood out for me was that all a nursery had to do was change it's name and any previous complaints were "wiped off " their record.

This seems so unfair as any parents may not be fully informed about issues in the nursery. In one of the cases Ofsted had previously identified lack of supervision of children and not enough staff for numbers of children !

[MessybutHappy]

I cried because the little girls death, and the little boys fall were both preventable. I was so angry on behalf of the mum who's child was attacked. They didn't really seem to give much context though, and I wanted to know if Ofsted take previous into account even if the re-registration has happened?

[sarah707]

Can you imagine the potential carnage if / when nurseries are allowed 6 x 2 year olds to 1 adult?!?

It's all very, very worrying

Yes of course there are good, caring nursery managers and workers out there. Of course they are. But they simply will not have the time to manage that amount of 2 year olds effectively

I have just written this thread - http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/fo...00-people.html which I think says it all.

Let's keep getting people involved, writing to MPs, shouting from the rooftops, asking people to sign the www.keepratiosdown.co.uk petition...

They have to listen to us!! They have to... x

[vals]

I found it quite frustrating, they didn't show enough, there was a clip with highlighted words from ofsted inspections/complaints, but they picked out a few words so they wouldn't be read in context. They didn't say if they then re inspect to check if the actions have been dealt with.
I was shocked about the name change situation, totally ridiculous.
incredible sad to hear about the loss of children, also made think about how lucky we are having the privilege of being trusted with people's children. Also,how easy an accident can happen - though in the case of the child falling from those horrid steps, I didn't understand why they would using such unsafe steps ever.

With regard to Ofsted and the way they inspect, i think as childminders we are given a far more thorough inspection than any other setting. Most of us get half a day or longer, but that is how they spend at nurseries.

When I first started minding, before we had ofsted, we had one arranged and one unarranged inspection every year. much better way to do things.

[Schnakes]

Those steps were ridiculous - I cant imagine why Ofsted let them use them as they were, or why the nursery manager/owner thought that they were acceptable for use. Ive got two steps concrete steps leading up to the grassy bit of my garden - and even THEY give me worry - let alone a height of 15ft!! (Im pretty sure they said 15ft in the report?)

I found the program to be very biased too, though. For example - the little girl who hung herself - it didnt explain how or why such a terrible thing happened. It also only gave two examples of poor practice to give the message "do you know what goes on in YOUR childs nursery", which I thought was a real shame - worrying people over two incidents, when thousands of children attend childcare settings every day happily and safely.

I would say though, that Im not a big fan of the usual style of nurseries for very young children - and I think the incidents highlighted in the program convinced me that chain nurseries are not the way forward - if you are sending your child to a money making machine, I dont really see how you can expect them to have the same emotional nourishment as you would in a small, family run business (like ours! ).

Sx