Urgent - Taking a child out of nursery due to neglect immediately

minimoneysaver

They would have to take you to small claims court to get the money from you. I wonder if they really want to go to court? I would remove your child. Call OFSTED, make sure you give details of the staff member who told you the information, but beware, she'll probably back track on what she said, unless of course she is settled in a new job. Maybe a call to social services would help to, especially when you consider how much social services are in the news at the moment.

MrsTinks

1 - you have a verbal statement from a former (potentially disgruntled) member of staff... unless you can get her to put something in writing this is nothing more than a disgruntled member of staff trying to cause trouble...
2 - you have a verbal assurance from a manager that staff has been diciplined - she may have said this just to get you off her back...
3 - your child had a bump on the head - it wasn't serious and even a medical check verified that it wasn't serious.

I think if you are concerned over the care provided at the nursery then yes absolutely move the child as soon as possible. But I doubt you will be able to get very far over a negligence claim to be honest... File a complaint - for no other reason than if there is problems then they should be investigated and any shortcomings should be dealt with obviously! and if there isn't a problem then they shouldn't have any problems after all
As for fee's - I would calmly explain that you are removing your child from their care due to the reasons above as you do not feel they are taking adequat care of your child. due to the circumstances you will not be paying them the 4 weeks worth of fee's and you will confirm these reason in writing to them. If they wish to pursue the fee's then you will be happy to discuss their claim in court.

bonty44

I genuinely sympathise with the OP but would like to add that I have used nurseries for both my children and have been delighted with the care they have received (even if, on occasion, I would have done things differently or better myself!!)

Ofsted is most definitely your first port of call. And don't send him back. DS1 had a fall the second week of his time at nursery and sustained a head injury (basically at six months he thought he could walk as well as the bigger children in his room and caught his head on a radiator). I kept him off nursery until I was absolutely satisfied that it was a genuine accident and that nothing could have been done to prevent it.

bonty44

I dont' think Social Services will get involved, I have to say; I think they'll just refer you to Ofsted.

twinklyrach

Sparky09 wrote: »

I have to say this all sounds a bit blown out of proportion. A negligence claim for a child falling over! Put yourself in the nursery staffs postition. Maybe there wasn't much they could tell you because...there was nothing to say! Children fall over! As for this ex staff member whose obviously got a grudge by revealing all...could she not just have an axe to grind? Not that anything she said was particularly shocking. As for the scenario with the child going asleep, babies are not exactly the best judges of when to switch off, even if they can barely keep their eyes open, and sometimes need a bit of persuasion?

At the end of the day, its a nursery, if you want perfect one on one time and eating conditions, you should hire a nanny! These staff are most likely on minimum wage and have a ratio of 5 kids to an adult, so fulfilling your list of do's and dont's probably always their number one priority. By all means move him, but don't pursue negligence claims!

I'm sorry, but no. As a student I worked part-time in a creche and all children under 1 were supervised on a 1 adult: 2 babies ratio. If one of them fell and hit their head a) you knew about it and b) there were a number of forms to fill out. It is completely true that sometimes they do just fall over but a paper trail will reflect that - it's not designed to get the carer into trouble but to protect the carer from circumstances just like this. It happened to me - baby was trying to walk, clonked his head, so we filled the forms in immediately and explained exactly what had happened to the parent when he came back to pick the baby up.

This was an OFSTED creche, I hasten to add - OP, I really would take your son out of there immediately. The head bumping is one thing, but the anecdotal evidence from the ex-employee? Hell no.

HopeAndDriftWood

I've worked at three nurseries, and one creche. Creches are completely different.

OFSTED regulations are three under 12 months to one staff member, although decent nurseries will have an extra member of staff. The bump on the head is a big concern, and you should definitely take him out immediately and inform EVERYONE; social services, ofsted and your local council. I don't think you'll get far with legal action, though, as the nursery will have liability insurance and be prepared for incidents like these.

That said, don't worry about paying fees. If anybody questions you, say you are waiting on a response from OFSTED, and that will shut them up.

The ex employee may well just be baring a grudge, so take what she said with a pinch of salt. If you do take him back for any reason, or go to another nursery, get to know your child's key person. Tell her that you appreciate that they are busy, but you would prefer him not to have these things. At the end of the day, it makes their lives easier, and they can eat the ice cream he can't have. As long as you form a friendship with his key person, I can't see it being a problem in the future.

As for putting him to sleep, complain directly to the nursery about that, mentioning that the ex employee told you. They will reassure you that it didn't happen, and the manager will tell the room leader to keep an eye on sleep practises, so it will be a lot safer for everyone's child.

It sounds like a horrific nursery. He's probably better off out of there, but remember that not all nurseries are like that, and I know that at all of the ones I worked at, we loved the kids to pieces and looked after them well.