Nursery overturns Ofsted rating downgrade

The Old Station Nursery in Innsworth has had its "good" rating reinstated following a seven-month battle to get the inspectorate to reconsider its judgment.

The nursery had its "good" rating, which it had held since opening in September 2010, downgraded to "satisfactory" in May last year following an inspection prompted by a "compliance issue" in September 2012, when a member of staff gave a child medication at the wrong time.

The incident was reported to Ofsted and an inspector visited the nursery to carry out a compliance check.

According to the nursery, the inspector gave positive feedback and a subsequent inspection in May last year rated the setting as good.

Despite this, the nursery was told by Ofsted's inspection contractor Tribal that its rating would be downgraded to satisfactory due to its previous compliance issue.

The nursery initially appealed against the decision to Tribal, which rejected the plea, but a second appeal to Ofsted was successful and the setting’s good rating has been restored.

Sarah Steel, managing director of The Old Station Nursery Group, described the decision as a "huge victory, not just for us but for nursery providers everywhere".

She added: “Obviously we are chuffed to bits but we have had a couple of months of sitting at a lower grade which has had a big impact on our business.

“It’s a battle that the nursery sector goes through time after time, and something many of my colleagues throughout the UK will be familiar with.

“As a sector we must make our voice heard about the increasing unfairness in the Ofsted process and a total lack of transparency.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, has welcomed news of the successful appeal but has concerns about Ofsted’s early years inspection process.

He said: “Sadly this kind of outcome is still rare with only a handful of providers receiving a revised outcome.

“The level of the sector’s concern about the new framework, especially the quality assurance process that inspectors’ reports go through, has increased dramatically over the last year, however evidence shows that few appeals lead to a positive outcome for providers.”