Stockport nursery temporarily closed after being deemed unsafe for children

A Stockport nursery has been found to have failed in every aspect of child care following an Ofsted report.

The findings for Buttons Nursery included reports of children being left to cry without being comforted, screaming and attacking each other as well as staff having a poor understanding of child development.

Many parents are angry about the treatment of their children, and reported a change in their child's behaviour after attending the nursery for some time.

Emma Raine, from Cheadle Heath, first became concerned about her son Joseph when staff failed to adhere to basic health and safety measures.

She said: “My mother in law picked him up one Thursday and the staff didn't ask who she was.

When she got him home he hadn't been changed for several hours.

"Joseph tells people when he needs the toilet so they obviously just left him to soil himself,” Emma said.

Ofsted reported that adult to child ratios 'breached legal requirements,' and that staff had administered medication to children without parental consent. The report found that children would ‘shout, climb furniture and ignore adults’.

Not all staff had been properly trained, and the nursery was reported as having no basic level of organisation and no learning journal in place to equip children for starting school. The nursery had also reportedly taken on more children than it had places for, with 48 children on the books and only 36 places available.

Emma added: “Joseph would always come home in other children's clothes. One day I took him in a brand new outfit which they then changed and gave his new outfit to another child to take home. It was really cold weather and they'd dressed him in a sweatshirt, no t-shirt/vest/jumper like he went in.

“We wrote to the owner in a non-threatening manner asking for a refund. My child wasn't safe so I had to fork out £320 for a new nursery.

"The owner had no idea who was paying what or when. She ignored both letters we sent and continues to fob parents off about their refunds.”

Another parent, Samantha Berry, from Denton, noticed a decline in her daughter Charlotte's behaviour after attending the nursery for 14 months.

Samantha told Northern Quota: “Charlotte first started at Buttons at the age of three months.

"Her behaviour by the age of 19 months was awful. She has been known to hit and kick me, swear, spit and has bouts of screaming for no reason. As soon as Ofsted shut the nursery down I pulled Charlotte out and her behaviour is now improving.”

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “We have suspended the nursery due to concerns about children’s safety and well-being. Inspectors have served a welfare notice to the nursery and will monitor their compliance.”

Owner Nicola Crabtree told the Manchester Evening News: “We are reopen and we will respond to the challenging times we’ve had and make further improvements.”