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‘SEND COUNCIL HIT SQUADS IN TO NURSERIES’
Demand comes after Ofsted finds 16 childcare providers ‘inadequate’
LABOUR'S shadow education spokesman has demanded that “hit squads” be sent in to failing nurseries, after Ofsted inspectors found 16 childcare providers in Islington to be inadequate.
Councillor Richard Watts has accused education chiefs of “neglecting” childcare in Islington and wants a team of Town Hall inspectors to assess the quality of teaching and standard of buildings at centres deemed inadequate in an Ofsted report published on Wednesday.
But education chief Councillor Ursula Woolley has ruled out the idea of a hit squad of Town Hall inspectors, saying: “Council staff have already started working with the providers who were criticised – we were told about them some weeks ago.
“We will certainly be targeting them with the training they need to improve – that’s something the council offers on an ongoing basis – but we won’t be taking up Labour’s suggestion and sending in hit squads to inspect them again. We’ll work on the Ofsted findings.”
At the time of going to print, neither Cllr Woolley nor council officers were able to provide a list of the failing childcare centres.
Cllr Woolley said: “I don’t have a list of all the non-council organisations which have been criticised by the report. I believe the after-school club at the Cape Play and Youth Project was the only council-run facility to be criticised.“
The report revealed how one in four part-time day care centres, 12.5 per cent of out of school day care, 4.4 per cent of childminders and 2.1 per cent of full time day care in Islington is inadequate.
All the centres which have been picked out have been served with improvement notices.
The report has infuriated parents of children at Andover Early Years Centre which was condemned to close at last month’s executive meeting, even though it was rated “good”, putting it above nearly half of the borough’s 48 other full-time day care centres.
Shiri Shalmy, whose son attended Andover, said: “By closing Andover they have deprived the area of an excellent day care centre.
“Islington is worse off for losing Andover, which was rated “good” by Ofsted inspectors and very highly by parents.
“It was a disastrous move which demonstrated that the quality of childcare provision is not the top priority for Islington Council and that there are other motives, possibly political.”
Cllr Watts said: “It’s neglect, it’s very worrying. The statistics show that a quarter of non full day care nurseries have been found to be inadequate compared to none in neighbouring Camden, and about one in 20 in Hackney.
“Although they aren’t necessarily owned or run by Islington Council, they are part of the council’s sphere of influence so they need to take responsibility for sorting them out. Ultimately it’s putting our children at risk.”
He added: “They need to take a range of urgent steps and send a council hit squad in to look at all the failing ones. They are failing for two reasons – the buildings aren’t very good and neither is the quality of teaching and supervision.”
But education chief Cllr Woolley said: “It is very important to me personally, as a parent who uses local childcare, that all the childcare in Islington is up to standard, whether the council runs it or funds it or not.
“Eight providers out of 115 in Islington were criticised, though none required enforcement action, and eight childminders out of 183 were criticised – again, none required enforcement action, unlike some other places in London.
“I know from personal experience that especially in a small sessional playgroup, for example, staffing and personalities can make a big difference to how good they are – but that also means that if a provider has gone through a bad patch they can change for the better quite quickly.”
The report shows that just over half of Islington’s 48 full time day care centres were rated good or outstanding, with 41.7 per cent rated satisfactory.
It also shows that less than half of Islington’s 183 childminders were classed as good or outstanding, while 48.6 per cent were rated good. |
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