A NURSERY owner has sprung to its defence after being branded ‘inadequate’ by education watchdog Ofsted.

Cheeky Monkeys Childcare, based at Abbots Vale Community Centre on Abbots Vale in Barrow, was deemed as inadequate in personal development and leadership and management, and as requiring improvement in the quality of education and behaviour and attitudes.

This gave them the overall rating of inadequate after they were inspected on April 20.

It was previously rated overall as good.

The Ofsted report said the nursery must 'take prompt and effective action to identify and minimise any potential risks to babies, particularly with regard to the use of toys and resources that pose a risk of choking.'

Nursery owner Kerry Griffin said staff had checked the outdoor area but when they had returned outside with the babies it was discovered that a child had posted a Lego brick from an upstairs window.

“The children didn’t have hold of these items,” said Kerry. “The staff removed the items from the area however because she saw it in the baby room play area which is directly under the preschool window and where parents come to drop off at she said it had to impact on our inspection.

“If we hadn’t noticed it and removed it, it could have caused harm to a child. But it didn’t, the children didn’t have hold of it.”

The Ofsted report also said the nursery must 'ensure that staff are deployed effectively to meet the care and learning needs of babies at all times, specifically during key routines, such as lunchtime,' and 'ensure that all staff working with babies understand the curriculum intent and implement this effectively, to enable babies to make consistently good progress in their learning and development.'

Kerry explained that on the day of inspection two members of staff had phoned in sick meaning that cover had to be rearranged to allow the babies to remain in nursery.

Kerry said: “We had the choice to either phone the parents and say, ‘well we know we’re in a living crisis, but you can’t go to work today. You need to come and pick your children up’, or we put staff that didn’t know the children and didn’t know the curriculum in the room.

“For the sake of the parents we put other staff in there - she didn’t take that into consideration.”

Every member of staff is now being trained to work with babies in the event of needing to provide cover.

READ MORE: 'I can't fault it' - support for nursery rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted

Positives from the report included:

  • staff support children's communication and language skills well
  • partnerships with parents are strong
  • leaders ensure that staff receive regular appraisals