A nursery was ordered to close by Ofsted for two weeks following an inspection which rated it inadequate.

Victoria’s Nursery in Burnley Road, Padiham was inspected on September 20, with the government mandated inspection body forcing them to close for at least a fortnight until improvements had been made.

It has since re-opened after the team worked through the closure to make the improvements.

The inspector deemed the nursery to be inadequate in quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management.

The inspector commented on how the venue put children at “significant risk of harm and severely impacts on their health, safety, well-being and their learning and development.”

The report also spoke of how the children were placed at “extreme risk of harm” from trailing wires, an insecure baby gate, an unravelled hosepipe, mouldy toys and plastic wrappers.

In the report, inspector Donna Birch said: “In the pre-school room, there are trailing wires from plugged-in appliances where children play and a large fridge-freezer that children can easily access. The baby room safety gate is not secure and could fall on a child.

“Despite carrying out a risk assessment in the garden, staff fail to notice or act to remove visible hazards.

“These include items such as an unravelled hosepipe, mouldy toys and resources, and plastic wrappers.

“In addition, staff and visitors' safety is also compromised.

“This is because the office, which is also the route to the staff toilet, is cluttered with equipment and resources.

“There is a dismantled outdoor swing and lengths of cable which pose a trip and fall hazard.”

As well as this, at the time of the inspection, the indoor fire exit was said to be obstructed with children’s bags, car seats and a pushchair while outdoor fire escape exit and staircase were also obstructed as well as the exit gate being locked with no accessible key.

The children were playing on the floor of the ‘Tweenie’ room which was ripped and had food waste.

The pots used to house children’s dummies and cups, were unclean and uncovered and the inspector found a child’s dummy placed next to a dirty sponge.

The uncovered items were exposed to flies in the room.

In the kitchen Ms Birch found the bin to smell unpleasant and be overflowing from the previous day.

The inspection went on to speak of how the leadership and management were inadequate and that there was insufficient staff on the premises to meet the needs of the children.

Ms Birch added that the lack of staffing also meant unwell children could not be helped.

The report reads: “When staff become aware that children maybe infectious and are feeling unwell, the acute lack of staff means they are not able to help and support children at this time.

“Furthermore, staff do not take steps to ensure that these children do not pose a risk of cross infection to others.

“Children are left unattended even though they are extremely upset.”

The staffing issue also meant that there was nobody suitable to take on the role of deputy when the official deputy was unavaliable.

As the nursery takes and collects older children from school there were periods when the setting is left with no manager or deputy on site.

Ms Birch continued: “The provider, who is the designated safeguarding lead, does not have a secure understanding of the procedures to follow should an allegation be made about a member of staff. Staff do not keep accurate records of children’s hours of attendance.

“This means they are unable to account for all children in the event of an emergency.

“The provider does not demonstrate that she has the capacity to maintain safe, clean, and hygienic standards across the setting.”

Ms Birch highlighted on a positive note that children enjoy spending time in the sensory room and that it gave them ‘space to relax and spend some quiet and calming time with the staff’.

Ms Birch added that some of the identified breaches had been raised before.

Some of the other issues raised in the report included:

  • There was insufficient staffing to meet the needs of the children. As a result, the environment is disorganised, chaotic and noisy.
  • A baby was left in a car seat for a prolonged period because staff were busy with other tasks.
  • The toilet seat in the pre-school was loose but they failed to act to stop children accessing it. Staff fail to notice or act when children remove toilet rolls from the bathroom. This means that children are not able to address their own personal hygiene needs.
  • Paper towels were placed on a high windowsill and not in the paper-towel holder so some smaller children could not reach them and, therefore, cannot dry their own hands.
  • Babies' high chairs were not thoroughly cleaned by staff after use. Other items, such as the water dispenser, were not kept in good clean condition.
  • The lack of experienced and qualified staff massively affected the smooth running of the setting and does not support children's emotional well-being.
  • Children were not provided with a curriculum which met their learning needs. Activities were not purposefully planned or implemented well enough.
  • Insufficient focus on children's communication and language development. Staff did not model words or provide children with the correct vocabulary.
  • The provider did not ensure that new staff, particularly apprentices, underwent an effective induction to help them understand the responsibilities of their role.

The nursery was told to close and had to make sufficient improvements by October 8, 2021.

Since the inspection, the team at the nursery have completed various works to improve the setting and hired more staff, with Ofsted deeming them to be able to re-open.

Work to many of the rooms was completed during the closure including a new changing room and the ‘Tweenie’ room and baby room being re-arranged.

They re-opened on October 15.

The nursery has been contacted for comment.