Ofsted has taken regulatory action against a Bexley nursery after discovering that it failed to carry out Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks when recruiting staff. The education regulator’s inspectors visited Easy Peasy Nursery and Daycare at 57 Glimpsing Green in Erith on April 21 and found that safeguarding measures were not being met, leading to a Welfare Requirements Notice being issued.
Significant Failings Identified
According to the Ofsted report, multiple areas at the nursery required urgent improvement. Inspectors noted that children were not safely secured in high chairs and were able to access the garden and indoor areas without appropriate adult supervision, describing these as “significant failings”. The report also highlighted that the nursery’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision was “ineffective”.
The management was criticised for not carrying out DBS checks and requesting references when recruiting new staff, which the report said “places children at risk of harm and demonstrates a failure to understand and fulfil statutory safeguarding responsibilities”. As meeting Ofsted’s safeguarding standards is a legal requirement for any educational facility, the regulator issued the notice, requiring the nursery to complete several tasks to bring its safeguarding up to standard.
Leadership and Staffing Concerns
Inspectors wrote: “Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that adequately protects children from harm. They have not ensured that new staff have a secure knowledge of safeguarding procedures, consequently, staff do not demonstrate a clear understanding of their child protection responsibilities.”
They added: “Staff are not consistently vigilant and do not identify potential risks within the setting promptly, which further compromises children’s safety. In addition, leaders have not followed appropriate safer recruitment procedures to ensure staff are suitable to work with children.”
The report also noted a high turnover of staff, which had a “significant negative impact on children’s experiences”. Leaders had not sufficiently explored or addressed the underlying cause of instability. “Leadership capacity is severely stretched. Managers carry an excessive workload due to limited confidence and support from the team. This results in insufficient oversight of daily practice, routines, staff deployment and the quality of teaching,” the report stated. “Although training is recorded and monitored, leaders fail to ensure that training leads to meaningful improvements in practice.”
Actions Taken Since Inspection
Since the inspection, Easy Peasy has provided safeguarding training for all staff, ensured equipment is used safely with appropriate supervision, and stopped children from accessing areas where staff are not present. The nursery has also obtained and checked references for all of its employees.
Easy Peasy Nursery and Daycare has been approached for comment.
