A PRE-SCHOOL in Dawlish has closed following concerns for the safety of children.
Little Swans was shut down just before Christmas after complaints were made to regulator Ofsted that the pre-school was ‘not meeting the requirements relating to safeguarding policies and procedures’.
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Parents have been left desperate to find alternative places for their children as nursery provision in and around Dawlish is already under extreme pressure.
Ofsted inspectors have been investigating complaints and concerns about the pre-school since July last year. The Little Swans website says it is ‘temporarily closed’. The final closure follows concerns made directly to Ofsted on December 18.
Ofsted said: ‘We received concerns the provider was not meeting requirements relating to safeguarding policies and procedures.’ Ofsted said it made a ‘regulatory telephone call’ that day and discovered some requirements were not being met and suspended Little Swans Ofsted registration immediately because ‘we believe children may be at risk of harm’.
This meant Little Swans could not provide childcare while the suspension was in place and an offence would be committed if staff did so. On December 20, 2024, Ofsted says Little Swans notified them of their wish to ‘resign their registration’.
Ofsted subsequently confirmed Little Swans was no longer a registered childcare provider.Concerned parents say the closure of the First Avenue nursery is a major blow.
Some parents expressed their sadness at the closure saying their children had ‘loved it’. Complaints were initially made to Ofsted in July last year. These complaints led to investigations by Ofsted which said the pre-school was not ‘meeting requirements’.
This related to procedures when parents collected children to help ensure children were not able to leave the premises unsupervised.Ofsted said action needed to be taken ‘without delay’.
Further checks were carried out over the next few months to ensure ‘staff with lead responsibility for safeguarding have a good understanding of the appropriate safeguarding protocols for reporting concerns about children’s welfare and allegations made against staff’.
A visit was made in October 2024 to check whether safeguarding and welfare actions raised during the regulatory telephone call had been met.
The Ofsted report said: ‘We identified that there continued to be weakness with safeguarding procedures and the actions raised previously had not been met.
’Legal notices were issued then requiring the pre-school to take the actions. Further checks were made relating to safeguarding and for children who would benefit from additional support. A visit on 18 October found the pre-school was not meeting some other requirements but had taken action to put this right including whistleblowing procedures. Risk assessments had been reviewed to ensure children were supervised appropriately. Another welfare notice was issued by Ofsted in November 2024. Its registration was suspended on November 5 2024 because Ofsted ‘believe children may be at risk of harm’.
Despite further checks from Ofsted, the pre-school was closed again just before Christmas.
Little Swans has been contacted for a comment.