A Woking nursery closed in the wake of a damning inspection which found children’s safety “cannot be assured”. Inspectors from Ofsted visited Little Acorns Pre-School, based at St John’s Church, on March 8 and found a litany of problems. It led to the nursery being handed an “inadequate” rating – the lowest available.
Following the report, published on May 23, the nursery notified Ofsted on March 17 they wished to resign their registration meaning they are no longer a childcare provider. The nursery’s phone number is now switched off and they are listed as permanently closed on Google.
The original inspection described leadership at the nursery as “weak” with safeguarding arrangements described as “not effective”. Examples of the latter included safeguarding leads failing to report concerns to the local authority in a timely manner and recruitment being “not robust” enough.
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“Children’s safety and well-being cannot be assured,” Ofsted’s report said. “Staff who have lead responsibility for child protection have not acted on and reported serious concerns. This puts children at potential risk of harm.
“Managers do not follow their own procedures to protect children’s welfare. They do not ensure that robust processes are in place to check staff suitability. These failures compromise children’s safety.
“Staff support the children to engage in some new experiences but are not always attentive enough to children’s care needs. For example, children investigate the snow outside. They show their delight when exploring the snow. However, not all children have appropriate clothes for this weather. The staff fail to recognise that some children have extremely cold hands and wet clothes.”
Further concerns raised during the report included “weak hygiene practice” and a curriculum for children which “lack clarity”. Despite this, the inspectors were able to find some positives, with children’s behaviour at the nursery being praised.
The report adds: “Children mostly behave appropriately and respond to the rules and boundaries of the preschool. Some of the activities provided keep children engaged and focused. For instance, staff hold children’s attention during a small group activity. Children wait with anticipation for what the adult is going to do next.”
It was not the first time concerns had been raised by Ofsted, with the nursery being served a welfare requirements notice in May 2021, a legal notice requiring management to take action by a certain deadline. One of these included demands to “implement an effective safeguarding process”.
It was also served a notice, similar to a welfare requirements notice, in July 2020 which included improving support for children with special educational needs or disabilities and training for staff. SurreyLive has attempted to contact former staff from the nursery but has not received a response so far.
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