KESGRAVE: A nursery has been ordered to improve its safety practices after a mother complained her young daughter was left in a car without supervision. 

Rebecca Smith with mum Christine and dad Chris

Christine Smith was shocked to hear her daughter’s claims that she had been left to amuse herself while nursery staff collected her brother and sister from playgroup.

The family say the claims have been verified by staff at the playgroup, much to their horror.

“We consider it a very serious and dangerous thing to do, we feel that sadly anything could have happened to her,” said Mrs Smith, of Grange Farm, Kesgrave.

The 41-year-old secretary wrote to Ofsted with her complaints about Tots Private Day Nursery, in Main Road, Kesgrave.

“Rebecca told us that she had been given some books to look at and that she was scared. My ears pricked up when I heard that,” she
said.

“I phoned staff at the playgroup and they confirmed that was the case and said it had happened on a couple of occasions.”

Mrs Smith explained that staff were supposed to collect Rebecca from the pre-school at Heath Primary School at 11.30am before picking twins Adam and Rachael up from Humpty Dumpty Playgroup at Kesgrave Community Centre.

All three children then spent the afternoons at Tots, while Mrs Smith and her husband, Chris were at work.

But the couple pulled the plug on the arrangement immediately after the alleged incident.

“It only takes a few seconds for something to happen. We immediately thought of the Madeline McCann case.

“They were parking in the car park and I understand that on a couple of occasions they had to go to the other side of the building, so if that was when Rebecca was left they wouldn’t have been able to see her.

“We are frightened, anything could have happened, she could have felt ill or someone could have taken her.”

She added: “We haven’t been able to establish if the car was locked or not and we don’t know how long she was left.”

Mrs Smith wrote to Ofsted with her concerns and they carried out an unannounced visit to see if the nursery was meeting its legal requirements.

In a statement published on its website, it states: “We found that a child had been left unsupervised in a vehicle whilst another child was collected from another setting and a risk assessment had not been completed for this outing.”

They have issued Tots with a notice to improve which asks them to ensure children are appropriately supervised and ensure that risk assessments are carried out for each type of trip or outing.

Britta Blake, proprietor of Tots Private Day Nursery, was unavailable for comment.

n Have you feared for your child’s safety? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send an e-mail to eveningstarletters@evening

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