Nurseries stressed by snap inspections

No-notice inspections for nurseries, playgroups and out-of-school clubs were introduced in April 2005, following revelations of bad practice in a TV documentary, 'Nurseries Undercover'. They were intended to give inspectors a more accurate picture of the quality of daycare services.

But for some providers, they are causing more stress than knowing which month they would be inspected.

Marcella Cunningham, manager of Clifton Tots Day Nursery in Bristol, told Nursery World that the 'not knowing' was putting her and her staff under a lot of pressure.

She said, 'You can't have a life. I end up working at weekends and I came in last Sunday to move my office to another room because I worried that if they turned up on Monday I wouldn't know where the records were. Staff are feeling the pressure and in turn, I think it's likely to impact on the children.'

Another registered owner of an after-school club, who wishes to remain anonymous, described his experience as 'a nightmare' (see Letters, p31).

When the inspector called, the supervisor was at her brother's hospital bedside and the acting supervisor had called in sick. Despite pointing out that this was not an 'average day', the owner said that the inspector did not display 'any sympathy'.

He said, 'At one point I thought she was going to serve us with an enforcement or withdraw our registration. Eighteen months prior to this inspection we were graded 'good'; in this report we have been graded 'inadequate'. I think it is grossly wrong that we cannot go back and contest this report. We have written to every parent and asked for feedback on each of the issues highlighted and it has been overwhelmingly positive.

'This was a distressing, unhappy time. Now we have anything up to the next 12 months to worry about the next visit.'

But registered childminders Steve and Barbara Whitewood said that they 'do not fear Ofsted inspections'. 'We see them as partners who wish to see (our work), and give us an opportunity to demonstrate how good we are.'

Liz Richardson, childcare and education director at Asquith Court, said, 'The recent experiences we've had of Ofsted inspections has been varied and there is still some inconsistency between inspectors. We feel that Ofsted has raised the bar in terms of its expectations of the minimum standards required, which it said it would, so generally inspections seem slightly harder.'

Michael Freeston, director of training and quality assurance at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said that out of the five of its 28 wholly-owned subsidiaries that had been inspected under the new regime, all had found the process 'extremely positive'.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said, 'We have had a large number of enquiries about how the new inspection scheme works, but on the whole the feedback we have received is positive.

The area where we do get a lot of feedback is about the hostile attitude of some inspectors when dealing with complaints.'

A spokesperson for Ofsted said the new system of inspection aims to see providers 'as they are, not as they want to be seen', adding, 'We consulted with the sector and 94 per cent of those who responded agreed with our proposal to carry out childcare inspections with little or no notice.

However, Ofsted inspectors can already visit any school or nursery without notice.

'The new framework aims to reduce the burden on providers. We ask managers to appoint a member of staff to act as deputy if they are on holiday or away from the setting. If providers are closed when we visit then we will come back another day.'

Graeme Cooke, 4Children's senior parliamentary and policy officer, said that he supports the principle of reducing the notice of inspection for providers of childcare and funded early education. But he added, 'If it turns out that instead of reducing the burden for providers, it adds to it, Ofsted will need to readdress the framework.'

ends