A Luton day care centre has failed its second consecutive Ofsted review after inspectors found children were left exposed to ‘serious hazards’ in the site’s outdoor area.
Mini Stars Childcare, based at the UK Centre for Carnival Arts in St Mary’s Road, was blasted by inspectors who discovered that an accessible hosepipe “seriously compromised” children’s safety.
In a report published on Friday, inspector Kelly Eyre branded the centre’s safeguarding and welfare set-up ‘inadequate’.
She wrote: “The setting has failed to meet a requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage...their risk assessment process does not identify all possible risks to children and is not implemented daily.
“This means that children’s safety is seriously compromised when they use the outdoor area as they are able to access hazardous items.”
The report is the second consecutive ‘inadequate’ rating Ofsted has given the daycare, which was reprimanded for ‘inappropriate handling of children’ following a visit in November 2013.
During the inspection it was found that staff did not follow behaviour management procedures, leading to them “holding children by the wrist to make them pick up things that they have thrown, rather than asking them to do so.”
Concerns over the safety and wellbeing of pupils were also flagged, with management said to “not act swiftly enough when child protection concerns arise.”
During a follow-up monitoring visit in January inspectors discovered progress in this area, which has continued throughout the year.
The report read: “The manager and owners have implemented effective changes in behaviour management, staff recruitment and vetting, the safeguarding procedures, the use of bank staff and the supervision of practitioners.”
Despite this children’s wellbeing remains at risk due to outdoor hazards.
A Mini Stars spokesperson was unavailable for comment.