Nursery hits out over police checks delay

A NURSERY has hit out at delays in police checks which have temporarily forced it to lay off two people following a critical inspection report.

The education watchdog Ofsted found that some staff had unsupervised access to children at Alphabet Children’s Day Nursery, Henshaw Street, without evidence of police clearance.

As a result it has been forced to temporarily send home two workers — one of whom is pregnant — until they are cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

Director Katherine Horner hit out at the CRB, which vets applications for people who want to work with children and vulnerable people.

She applied for new checks on staff, previously cleared by the CRB, and has been waiting since May/June for two to be completed.

Mrs Horner has laid off two people temporarily because they cannot be alone with children — meaning she would have to pay two people to do one job.

She added: “I am absolutely devastated the CRB people can’t move fast enough. It is the police that are holding up things apparently.

“It is a shame that my staff are having to sit at home, two highly qualified and competent members of staff. We are very anxious to have them back.”

Other Ofsted concerns included administering medicine without prior written consent from parents, hand-washing and record keeping.

The standards of quality and care were considered inadequate, with satisfactory nursery education, and the the nursery was given an official notice to improve.

However, praise included the welcoming environment, healthy and freshly prepared meals, a varied range of activities, the holiday club and fostering children’s self esteem and sense of belonging.

The private nursery was taken over by new owners in October. Two years before that a manager was sacked for sellotaping a three-year-old boy’s legs to a chair to make him sit still.

Mrs Horner said:“Now that we know what Ofsted expected we will make changes.”