Red tape row over nursery child's injury

A youngster needed to attend hospital after suffering the injury when she fell at Granby House in Wickersley.

Staff wrote to inform Ofsted of the incident last month, but the inspection body said that Rotherham Borough Council’s child protection agencies also should have been told.

But nursery director Jo Gray complained that the judgement was unfair because Ofsted did not provide details of what injuries are classed as “serious.”

Mrs Gray, who also runs two other Rotherham nurseries and one in Worksop, said: “A child fell while walking inside the nursery, cut the inside of her lip and needed hospital treatment.

“An Ofsted inspector visited the nursery to look into the accident and could find no fault with our procedures, risk assessments and handling of the accident.

“She concluded that the accident could not have been avoided and did not recommend any changes to our practice.”

The Ofsted inspector said that the trip should have been recorded by child protection, because of a requirement with serious incidents at Early Years Foundation Stage.

Mrs Gray said: “We have since contacted the Rotherham Safeguarding Unit and were advised that it is not general practice to contact them regarding such an accident.

“We have also contacted our lead teacher and local early years department, who both feel that the guidance in the EYFS is not clear about the need to inform the child protection agency, as it is subjective.

Mrs Gray said that this was the first problem any of the Granby Nurseries had encountered in more than 15 years of operation.

“Since we opened our first nursery in 1994 we have only ever received ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ following Ofsted inspections,” she added, “but we have complained to Ofsted about this judgement.

“We feel that if Ofsted insist this accident is ‘serious’ enough to inform child protection, regardless of the circumstances of the accident, then they should have a definitive list of what they class as serious, to ensure all providers are clear on this matter.

An Ofsted spokesman said: “We carried out an unannounced visit to the premises and found the provider did not notify local child protection agencies of a serious injury to a child.

“Following our investigation, we issued a notice to improve that asked the provider to notify local child protection agencies of any serious accident or injury to, or the death of any child whilst in your care and act on any advice given.

“The provider has successfully completed the action and remains registered with Ofsted.”

The spokesman said that Ofsted did not comment on individual complaints.