A HARLOW nursery has closed after Ofsted suspended its registration over fears that children were “at risk of harm”.

Griffon Day Nursery based at the Latton Bush Centre off Southern Way can no longer provide childcare where registration is necessary following inspections from the watchdog.

The nursery was visited on October 6 and found not to be meeting key requirements from Ofsted.

The report has detailed a number of actions required before any suspension can be lifted.

The report stated the following:

Report

On 6 October 2023, we carried out an inspection and found the provider was not meeting
some of these requirements. The report and inspection outcome will be published in due
course.

Following the inspection, we served a welfare requirements notice on 12 October 2023. This
is a legal notice that requires the provider to take the actions below within the timescales
set out. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this.

Actions needed by 13 October 2023:

Take action to ensure that all staff working with children are suitable, including obtaining
an enhanced criminal records check

Make certain that there is always at least one person who has a current paediatric first-
aid certificate on the premises and available at all times when children are present

Ensure that there is a named deputy manager, in the manager’s absence, to effectively
lead the nursery.

Actions needed by 27 October 2023:

Ensure all staff understand and implement an effective policy and procedure, in line with
the local safeguarding partners, that includes the action to take for child protection
concerns and allegations against staff

Make sure there is a member of staff who is designated to take lead responsibility for
safeguarding children and ensure they attend a child protection training course that
enables them to act and respond to safeguarding concerns

Ensure all staff are trained to have an up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding and child
protection issues

Make sure all staff receive an effective induction to help them understand their roles and
responsibilities and the nursery’s policies and procedures

Provide staff with effective supervision, support, and training to help develop the quality
of the provision and provide better outcomes for children

Make sure that policies and procedures are maintained and shared with staff and parents

Ensure records are accessible and readily available for inspection

Provide food hygiene training for all staff responsible for preparing and handling food

Ensure all staff understand the nursery’s strategies for managing children’s behaviour

Identify a member of staff as the nursery special educational needs co-ordinator and put
in place effective procedures to support children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities.

On 16 October 2023, we carried out a regulatory visit. The focus of the visit was to check
whether the provider had met the safeguarding and welfare actions raised at their last
inspection. We found that the provider had not met the actions needed by 13 October 2023
in the welfare requirements notice.

We suspended the provider’s registration on 16 October 2023 because we believe children
may be at risk of harm.

Suspension allows time for the provider to take steps to reduce or eliminate the risk of harm to children.

The provider has a right to appeal against a suspension. The provider may not provide childcare for which registration is required while the suspension is in place and may commit an offence if they do so.

We will monitor the provider’s response to ensure the actions are successfully completed.

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YH has attempted to contact Griffon by telephone but the phone “rang out.”

We attended at the nursery but it was shut.

We have also e-mailed them in order to give them an opportunity to put their side of the story.