Nursery World - From behind the hidden camera

By Lizz Brown, reporter on 'Nurseries undercover: the real story' I worked undercover in private day nurseries as a volunteer nursery nurse over a four-month period this year. I was thrown in at the deep end everywhere, despite informing managers of my lack of experience.

I worked undercover in private day nurseries as a volunteer nursery nurse over a four-month period this year. I was thrown in at the deep end everywhere, despite informing managers of my lack of experience.

On my first day I went into a nursery in the Manchester area and was supervised by a student. Another time in a Teddington nursery, I took toddlers to the toilet and changed nappies. I had back-up from two qualified and experienced nursery nurses, but the nurseries didn't know that.

None of the nurseries ran background checks before I started and I was left alone with children at them all. The Teddington nursery, where I worked for two weeks, knew nothing about me except my mobile number.

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