A children's nursery in Manchester has been described as 'chaotic' and 'unorganised' by inspectors who have raised safety and hygiene concerns. Early Explorers Day Nursery in Ardwick, which appealed against the outcome of the Ofsted inspection in October, has been rated 'inadequate' in all areas.
The education watchdog identified 'significant breaches' of the day nursery's requirements which compromise children's learning, development and safety. In particular, children in the toddler room and those with special education needs or disabilities are not being supported effectively, according to a report.
It said: "Children in the toddler room are distracted in a chaotic, unorganised environment. Although staff work hard to try and support all children, they are unsuccessful.
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"Staff have some ideas of the things they want children to learn. However, the curriculum is not well implemented or adapted to meet children's individual learning needs.
"This means that staff are not engaging children effectively in purposeful learning."
Staff at the nursery in Hyde Road were also criticised for not acting swiftly to minimise potential hazards, including some in play areas which were identified on a daily basis over a month but were not addressed, according to the report. For example, loose radiator cabinets, loose artificial flooring, slippery decking and exposed electrical sockets were identified by inspectors, the report said.
Children were not encouraged to blow their nose and left to play with 'dirty faces', according to inspectors who also found that sleep mats were ripped and that the visitor bathroom was not cleaned regularly, the report added. The special needs curriculum was found to be 'narrow' and 'disengaging', with children wandering around alone without support from staff, according to the report.
A spokesperson for Early Explorers Day Nursery said: "We sent an appeal to Ofsted against the outcome to explain our views on the inspector's findings, to which the inspector responded telling us he will not be changing his judgement. We don’t feel this is a true reflection on our nursery and we have had parents say to us that they don’t agree it is a true reflection either.
"We want to reassure everybody that safety, hygiene and the wellbeing of the children is paramount to us. We believe we offer all children the best possible start in life.
"All staff and parents are confident that our children make good progress when they attend Early Explorers Day Nursery. We have put an action plan together and have been working on this since the day of inspection and we are making any necessary changes that we need to.
"We are very disheartened by this report and are doing everything that we can to prepare for re inspection."
The nursery, which was rated Good following its last inspection in December 2016 having previously required improvement is now 'Inadequate' in all areas.
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