Inspectors arrived at my nursery only days before Christmas to carry out an unannounced inspection. I felt that they disrupted the running of the nursery and bullied the staff, reducing two of them to tears. I made a formal complaint to Ofsted because I felt the inspection was spurious. The inspectors had not requested sight of relevant documentation, or asked questions of the senior staff, preferring to bombard the student with questions about the management and running of the nursery, which she was not qualified to answer.
Ofsted printed a report criticising us. The staff were demoralised and I started to doubt my own perception of what is expected of a nursery. I decided to look around and compare nurseries.
Several that I saw were extremely dirty and it appeared to be the norm for children to be running around aimlessly. At one nursery that was particularly bad, a door was propped open on to a rear public thoroughfare.
There were eight small babies in a tiny room with two staff. Another room had about 30 children with only two staff. The children were eating junk food full of salt, food colourings and hydrogenated fat. The place was dirty with black mildew growing halfway up the walls. There was little equipment and no sign of any planning or education.
I later checked the nursery's Ofsted report and was astonished to find it was either 'good' or 'satisfactory' in all areas. After looking at other nurseries I felt that my nursery was better than average, with a happy, friendly atmosphere and happy, contented children. How could Oftsed say that it required 'special measures'?
Do Oftsed reports tell us anything truthful about the nurseries? It would be interesting to hear comments from other providers who have experienced unfounded bad reports.
* Olive Rack, Tresco House Day Nursery, Kettering, Northamptonshire
