Two Mama Bear's nurseries in Bradley Stoke will merge into one next month, with parents left scrambling to rearrange transport and work schedules around the move. Parents received an email this week from Mama Bear’s nursery at the Bailey’s Court setting saying the nursery will be merged with Great Park Nursery from Monday 13 February.
In November Mama Bear’s at Bailey’s Court nursery and pre-school was rated as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted citing concerns over recruitment and safeguarding procedures. This was down from a good rating for the nursery, while the pre-school was previously rated as outstanding.
In a statement this week, Mama Bear’s operations director Victoria Ashbolt said: “There has been significant disruption to the labour market following Covid-19. Our industry is no exception and we continue to battle to recruit and retain high quality staff.
“In order to better protect against disruptions caused by staff absence and recruitment challenges we have decided to merge our two Bradley Stoke nurseries into one stronger, more resilient provision,” she said, adding this would mean the nursery would offer a “consistent service with a well-established, experienced staff team from the local area, opening up our baby provision and all other rooms again.”
Read next: Met Office verdict on arctic freeze as storms and heavy showers to hit next month
Ashbolt confirmed that there would be no change in fees or the level of care and education provided and that the experienced staff team from Bailey’s Court would transfer to Great Park Road, which was also rated inadequate by Ofsted in October. This will include the manager and deputy manager
The statement made no reference to Ofsted’s findings regarding recruitment or safeguarding. With Mama Bear being one of the largest childcare organisations in the South West, it was also confirmed there were no further expected closures of Mama Bear settings.
“For most families this will be a better move, but we recognise that some might find this disruptive or the location not quite so convenient. We are supporting them to find alternative childcare,” said Ashbolt, adding that parents had been advised of scheduled drop-in sessions to familiarise themselves with the new nursery setting.
Ofsted inspectors visited the nursery and pre-school at Bailey’s Court in November last year which was rated inadequate with key issues related to keeping safeguarding records. The nursery was told to check that all the staff were suitable to work with children and to improve their safeguarding procedures.
They found that the children appeared happy and well-looked after with many aspects of the nursery rated as good such as quality of education, behaviour and attitudes. Following the Ofsted inspection, Inspector Charlotte Jenkin said: “Safeguarding procedures are not robust enough to keep children safe from harm. Gaps in recruitment procedures mean that the provider does not do enough to ensure that new staff are suitable to care for children.”
She added that: “Leaders have not ensured that allegations against staff are managed effectively.” Mama Bear said the flagged processes had been corrected.
The Ofsted inspection of Great Park Road in October however, found serious concerns for safety with small children not secured into high chairs, children eating unobserved which posed an allergy risk as they were able to reach each other's food, and questions were raised about how well children are learning in the setting.
Read next:
- Some of Bristol’s best doughnuts are hidden behind Temple Meads Station
- ‘Don’t make the public pay more’ urges ferry owner over council’s proposed massive fee hikes in Bristol harbour
- Asda night jobs at risk as supermarket announces shake-up plans
- Happy Valley star Susan Lynch's quiet country life just up the road from Bristol
