Nursery in Padiham that was rated 'inadequate' shuts down for good

Ofsted confirmed today that Victoria's Nursery in Padiham had closed its doors.

A spokesman for the government body said: “The provider decided to close the nursery with immediate effect during a re-inspection we undertook in November.

"The provider is no longer registered with Ofsted.”

The nursery was ordered to close for two weeks last month by Ofsted following an inspection which rated it 'inadequate.'

At the time, the owner, Kerry Driver, vowed she would get the nursery back up to a 'good' rating standard which was issued to the nursery by Ofsted in 2019.

The nursery in Burnley Road was inspected on September 20th, and inspectors took enforcement action by issuing a welfare requirements' notice, forcing it to close. A deadline of October 8th was set for the improvements required to be made.

It later re-opened after the team worked through the closure to make the improvements.

Inspectors said that 'weak leadership and an unacceptable standard of care' had resulted in the setting failing to provide children with a good level of education.

In the report inspector Donna Birch said: " There are many identified breaches to requirements.

"Some of these have been raised with the provider before. These failings place children at significant risk of harm and severely impacts on their health, safety, well-being and their learning and development."

The report stated that expectations for what children can achieve was not high enough as there was not sufficient staff present to keep children safe and to ensure their care and learning needs were met. The key person system was described as 'weak' and not supportive of the emotional well being of all children.

Inspectors said that children new to the setting were 'very upset and unsettled' and staff did not know enough about them to help settle them in and make them feel comfortable and reassured. They said that children who have attended the setting for longer 'wander around, lack concentration, and are not engaged in meaningful learning opportunities.' which had a negative impact on their behaviour.

The leadership and management of the nursery was rated as inadequate and the report said that the owner, who was also the manager, did not 'have sufficient understanding of how to meet the learning and development or the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage.'

The report said that as a result of there being insufficient staff on the premises to meet the needs of the children the environment is 'disorganised, chaotic and noisy, ' significant weaknesses which do not support children's learning or their emotional well-being.

The report pointed out that during the inspection a baby was left in a car seat for a prolonged period because staff were busy with other tasks.

The report also criticised the provider and staff for not taking all necessary steps to minimise risks to children, both indoors and outside, which placed them at 'extreme risk of harm.'

Inspectors found trailing wires from plugged in appliances in the pre-school room where children play and a large fridge-freezer that children can easily access and the baby room safety gate was not secure.

And despite carrying out a risk assessment in the garden, staff failed to notice or act to remove visible hazards, such as an unravelled hosepipe, mouldy toys and resources, and plastic wrappers.