Nursery under investigation after children given hair clippers

Two-year-old Helena was taking part in a role play hairdressing session at her Battersea nursery when her hair was clipped by another child last week. She was uninjured.

The manager of Destiny Kids Nursery in London has now been suspended on full pay and a further member of staff called in for a disciplinary hearing.

Helena’s mum, Julie Muir, told Nursery World, ‘I was absolutely disgusted that my two year old’s head had been shaven at nursery, and that no one called me to let me know. I was really angry.’

In a Facebook post which has been shared 6,400 times, she said, ‘Look what happened to my baby at nursery !! …Apparently they risk assessed this as safe to play with under 4s!...Words fail us as you can imagine.’

Ms Muir has now removed her daughter from the setting and is seeking legal advice.

The incident, which happened at around 4.30pm as parents were arriving to pick up their children, took place during a role-play session which involved cutting hair on mannequin heads. An electric Remington razor was used as part of the activity.

Nursery owner Benedicta Kwakuyi, who reported the incident to Ofsted, said that one member of staff had left the activity to change a nappy and the other was distracted by speaking to a parent when the incident occurred.

In a statement, she said, ‘unfortunately staff felt that men’s hair clippers could be used.’ She added, ‘Very sadly for Helena O’Connor she had part of her hair clipped. On returning from the nappy changing area the other member of staff saw the hair and carefully checked the child for any sign of injury which thankfully there was not. The clippers were removed immediately and it was found they had a residual charge in them.’

She added that she 'believes staff were very misguided in believing clippers were safe for children to use as an activity.'

A risk assessment was carried out before the start of the activity in the morning, she added.  ‘I am changing all my policies to ensure that every time a new activity is planned a full written risk assessment is done’ she said, adding she is going to make ‘urgent’ arrangements for staff to attend further training on risk assessment and employ a consultant to improve practice.

Jonathan Ahiekpor, Ms Kwakuyi’s brother and investor in the nursery, spoke to Nursery World as Ms Kwakuyi is currently in hospital. He said the management asked the staff to bring in items to help organize an activity. However the razor’s safety instructions, according to posts on Facebook, state that it should be kept out of reach of children under eight years.

Mr Ahiekpor added the object ‘was not considered fully functional.’

The nursery received a ‘good’ in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2014. Ms Kwakuyi said staff had been encouraged to use real materials because the report said the nursery was not yet outstanding as ‘there are fewer real, natural materials to support children to develop an understanding of the world’ and 'children are not always able to follow their interests during planned activities.'

Ofsted confirmed they have ‘received a complaint and will be investigating the matter further.’