Ofsted closed nursery over fears staff "lacked skills" to protect children from harm, report says

The education watchdog said concerns were raised about staff at the Griffin School in Castle Road on May 21.

Inspectors turned up unannounced on May 29 and found that "the safeguarding policy and procedure had not been implemented appropriately".

They also found there were not enough staff working with the children, which meant that children were "not supervised appropriately" and "their individual needs were not met".

The report said: "On 23 June 2015 we suspended the provider’s registration because we believed children may be at risk of harm, as appropriate safeguarding procedures were not followed."

Ofsted ordered the school to make sure the person in charge of safeguarding children was able to identify, understand and respond to signs of possible abuse and neglect.

And it told the management to train all staff to understand the safeguarding policy and procedures.

The nursery must also keep a record of concerns about children and "ensure there is an open and honest relationship with parents so they know why and when information about children will be shared with other agencies".

Ofsted also told the nursery to "ensure children were adequately supervised and deploy staff appropriately to meet the needs of all children".

It suspended the nursery's registration to allow it to "take steps to reduce or eliminate the risk of harm to children".

On Tuesday it lifted the suspension because it found staff had taken appropriate action.

The report said safeguarding policies and procedures were now up to date and staff had been given extra training.

And it said The Griffin School was "taking steps" to ensure parents are told why information about their children might be shared with other agencies.

It has also introduced a new system for recording staff and children which ensures the correct adult:child ratios are met at all times.

The nursery remains registered with Ofsted.