A preschool has been rated ‘inadequate’ after a damning inspection found staff often used “disproportionate levels of physical intervention”.
Harebreaks Preschool, based at The Methodist Church in North Watford, was given a lengthy list of required improvements in a report published yesterday (July 28).
A school spokesperson said it is “devastated” and believes the grading is “very unjust”.
Following a June 21 assessment, inspectors said there are “significant weaknesses in leadership and management” which negatively impact children’s welfare.
Among multiple critical findings were those on safeguarding, with inspectors writing: “Inappropriate behaviour management strategies mean children’s safety is compromised.
“The management team and staff frequently use disproportionate levels of physical intervention, when children display unwanted behaviour, to move them to another part of the room.
“Furthermore, they do not recognise this as a safeguarding concern.”
Harebreaks, which provides sessional day care, looks after two to four-year-olds on weekdays and had 18 kids on its roll during the inspection.
Other findings included children being repeatedly told off, with staff making little effort to develop their understanding of why behaviours were inappropriate.
Some kids were left without adult interaction for “long periods”, and although water was accessible during outdoor play and snack time, “they do not have access to fresh drinking water at any other point during the session”.
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The preschool – rated ‘good’ in 2016 – was graded ‘inadequate’ in all key areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management.
However, parents told inspectors they were happy with Harebreaks, they liked weekly newsletters and photos they receive, and their children enjoy attending.
Staff were also found to support children’s physical development and plan activities they enjoy.
A Harebreaks spokesperson said: “As a team we are devastated by our recent Ofsted grading, and while we feel it is very unjust, we have already begun to implement actions recommended.
“We realise the inspector only saw ‘snapshots’ of our practice on the morning of our inspection which means a lot of our practice was not observed or commented on.”
They added: “We responded to the draft report with our comments on specific areas of the report, but don't believe we were listened to as the final report only has a few words changed which do not affect the content of the final report.
“We look forward to being inspected again in the next three to six months.”
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