Dereham Little Footsteps Childcare welfare notice issued

The education watchdog issued the notice against Little Footsteps Childcare in Dereham on September 9 after several reports of safeguarding concerns, which date back to July. 

One involved a child being left unsupervised for a short time while on an outing. 

Although the school notified Ofsted of the incident, which it is legally required to do so, Ofsted said the notification is "likely to affect the suitability of any person who cares for or is in regular contact with children on the premises".

Then, on September 4, Ofsted carried out a regulatory visit where it found the nursery was not meeting some of its requirements, which led to a welfare requirements notice being issued.

Donna Nevill, the nursery manager, said she "fully accepts the feedback" from Ofsted, and the safety and wellbeing of the school's children continues to be its "highest priority". 

She also said the nursery has now implemented an action plan to tackle the issues.

"After us notifying Ofsted following a recent chain of events, they are closely working with us.

"We fully accept the feedback and support and are committed to addressing all the areas identified." 

"An action plan is now in place, which we are actively working on with the support and guidance of Ofsted.

"Our entire team is dedicated to implementing these changes swiftly and effectively and we are confident in our ability to enhance the quality of care we provide.

"We value the trust that parents and guardians place in us, and we will maintain open communication throughout this process," she said.

The nursery was given an overall rating of good following an inspection in June last year. 

This was four months after it had been dubbed inadequate, which the nursery argued was due to a safeguarding issue that was not fairly assessed.

An Ofsted report said the nursery has a total of 88 places.

The nursery will be required to fulfil a number of actions issued by Ofsted. (Image: Archant © 2013)

Taking action 

A welfare requirements notice sets out specific actions the education provider must take within a set timeframe and failure to do so means the provider commits an offence. 

Little Footsteps Nursery has been informed by Ofsted it must fulfil these steps before October 2.

They include ensuring staffing arrangements keep the children safe and "always adequately supervised". 

Little Footsteps must also improve its procedures for risk management for children to play safely. 

The report said: "The provider needs to ensure that staff fully understand and implement risk assessments so that children are able to play safely. 

"It must also ensure staff understand their roles and responsibilities and improve the quality of supervision of staff through coaching, training, support and address issues as they arise."