Controversial nursery in Northampton slammed as 'inadequate' by Ofsted goes up for sale for £2 million

A controversial nursery in Northampton slammed as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted is up for sale for nearly £2million.

Freehold Children's Day Nursery, in St George’s Avenue, opposite The Racecourse, is up for sale with Blacks Business Brokers estate agents for £1,995,000.

The nursery, which is registered to The Nannery Limited, whose director is Maria Botterill, has been in the spotlight recently after Ofsted rated it ‘inadequate’ due to a number of failings, including feeding children whole grapes, letting them put shaving foam in their mouth and more.

Just weeks after Ofsted’s damning report was published, the nursery has now been put on the market due to the owner having ‘other commitments’, according to a sales advert.

The advert reads: “Our client has ensured the business has an excellent reputation and superb reviews.

“The business is ideally suited to a hands-on owner-operator but due to our client's other commitments, the business is offered for sale.

"This presents an excellent opportunity for a new owner-operator or team to take the business to the next level.”

The business has an annual turnover of just under £1million and an annual net profit of £270k, according to the advert.

Ofsted inspection

The nursery was inspected by Ofsted on December 4 last year where it was rated ‘inadequate’ in all four categories including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management, at its latest inspection.

In a report published on February 20, 2024, Ofsted inspectors said: “Staff do not ensure the setting is a safe place for children to play and as a result, expose them to hazards.

“They do not take the necessary steps to ensure unknown persons cannot enter the building. Staff provide shaving foam, not suitable for children, as sensory play for babies. Children put this in their mouth and become upset by the unpleasant taste.

“Other children wander the environment eating crackers and are given whole grapes, which is not safe practice and creates a risk of choking.”

Other failings

• Staff do not support children's understanding of good hygiene as they fail to ensure children wipe themselves before pulling up their clothing or washing their hands.
• Children receive a significantly poor quality of care and education as staff lack the necessary knowledge and skills to support them. Children are not assigned a key person at the setting, and staff in their rooms do not know children's ages, cultures, or what languages they speak.
• Children of all ages deemed by staff as having special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are grouped together and segregated from their peers in a separate room and garden space.
• Staff do not supervise babies well enough to notice when they put items such as metal hair clips in their mouth.
• Staff do not understand the hygiene risks when children pick up hay outside, which potentially contains chicken faeces. They were allowed to carry this around for the morning as they get ready for lunch.
• Safeguarding is not effective.
• The nursery is not secure from unknown people.

Action taken

Due to the failings, Ofsted issued a welfare requirements notice, which required the provider to take necessary steps to keep children safe and well, ensure an effective key-person system is implemented, ensure information about care is shared with parents, take necessary steps to ensure building is secure from unknown people and ensure staff meet the needs of children with additional needs.The management was asked to ensure all of these requirements were implemented by January 4, 2024.

Ofsted inspectors revisited twice following the December 2023 inspection, including on January 10 and February 6, to check if the requirements from the welfare notice had been implemented.

During the January visit, inspectors said the nursery had taken action to ensure the premises is safe and secure, had taken steps to reduce hazards and to inform parents about their child’s time at the nursery. However, they had not met other requirements set out by the notice, so another was issued. They were told that by February 4 they had to ensure staff meet the needs of those with additional needs and ensure there is an effective key-person system in place.

When inspectors revisited earlier this month, they found that the provider had taken action to make sure all children were provided with a key worker. Inspectors say staff now know the children that they care for “well”.

The report added: “Staff are aware of each child's home language, medical needs and any additional support that they may require. Those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, all have a key worker.”

Due to the improvements, inspectors said they are “satisfied” the provider has met the safeguarding and welfare actions raised, and confirmed the provider is still registered with Ofsted.

Response

An ABC123 spokeswoman said: “The 30 staff and well over 100 parents wholeheartedly disagreed and we forwarded these comments and hours of CCTV footage to Ofsted. We disputed every line written on this report.”

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