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Chronicle Live
National
Sonia Sharma

Jarrow nursery rated inadequate by Ofsted as 'children's safety is compromised'

A nursery's Ofsted rating has drastically dropped from outstanding to inadequate after inspectors raised safety concerns at the site.

Stanley's at Bede, at Bede Children's Centre, off Inverness Road, in Jarrow, was given an overall rating of outstanding in 2016.

However, after the latest inspection, the overall effectiveness was judged to be inadequate.

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While the quality of education and behaviour and attitudes at the nursery were rated as good, Ofsted inspectors highlighted a number of safety issues.

The report said: "Children's safety is compromised. This is because the management team has not taken effective action to tackle all weaknesses that they have previously identified in practice.

"Staff working with children do not always ensure that they can see what is happening and what other children are doing."

It further said: "Staff do not always supervise children well enough to make sure they are consistently safe.

"During the inspection, there were times when staff did not supervise children adequately, though appropriate ratios were being maintained.

"For example, children who were running indoors were not noticed. This poses a risk of accidents.

"The management team has previously identified this as a weakness. However, they have not provided sufficient support or training to staff to ensure that improvements are consistently embedded."

However the nursery, which cares for around 30 children aged between two and four, was praised in a number of areas.

The report says children are "very happy in the nursery" and develop good relationships with staff.

It adds: "The nursery staff go out of their way to support children and their families. Parents speak highly of the support they receive.

"Staff have high expectations for what children can achieve. They have identified that children's communication and language are a priority as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff generally support children's communication skills well. Children enjoy their learning."

It goes on to say: "Staff work well with parents. They talk to parents about what their children have been doing and offer suggestions for how parents can help at home.

"They provide advice and support on a range of issues, including toilet training and managing children's behaviour. Staff work with other professionals, such as outreach workers, to provide additional support to families when necessary."

A spokesman for South Tyneside Council, which oversees the nursery, said: "We were extremely disappointed to receive an overall inadequate inspection grade for Stanley’s at Bede.

"We are extremely disappointed with the findings of the report. Whilst we must accept these in relation to some aspects of safeguarding, we wish to be clear that no immediate safeguarding concerns were found at the setting.

"We want to reassure parents and carers that although there is an overall inadequate grading, the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes were judged as good, and the inspectors found much positive practice within the nursery.

"This includes finding that children are happy when they attend, they develop good relationships with staff and there was recognition that nursery staff go out of their way to support children and their families, working well with parents and carers, who speak highly of the provision.

"The report recognises that staff have high expectations for what children can achieve, with all children making very good progress. We are very proud of this acknowledgement.

"We have already started to progress learning points from the inspection process and have taken swift action to put in place an improvement plan which we look forward to Ofsted re-inspecting in six months."

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