Bulwell nursery told to protect kids more from sun
A NURSERY got into a bit of hot water when a mother claimed staff allowed her toddler to suffer sunburn.
The director of Cherubs Day Nursery, in Bulwell, says 18-month-old Charlie-Morgan Imrie was kept in the shade.
But Rebecca Kneen, 20, says despite providing a hat and sun cream for her daughter, she was left outside, unprotected, on a "red hot" day.
Miss Kneen, a self-employed nail technician from Naworth Close, Highbury Vale, claims Charlie-Morgan suffered sunburn to her crown. "I was disgusted," she said.
"That's my baby. She was in the middle of the playground and there was no cover over her whatsoever. It was red hot, she should not have been left outside.
"She was not even strapped in the push chair and had sun burn on the top of her head. I put sun cream on her just before she went but she would have needed more."
Miss Kneen complained to the nursery and to the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), which investigated on May 29 and visited the nursery.
Susan Mills, director of the nursery in St Albans Road, claims Miss Kneen told staff her daughter had recently had sun cream applied and did not need more.
Mrs Mills said: "Charlie-Morgan sat in the shade. There was no way on earth she was sunburned with us.
"The day Ofsted came, it was cloudy. The inspector said 'everything looks fine to me'. Then a group of children came to go outside. The inspector came outside and said, 'yes it's cloudy, but they probably would have to have sun cream on'.
"We were happy. All it meant was that we just tweaked a policy in progress."
The nursery now says it will give children sun cream at all times while they are outside between April and September. Miss Kneen was asked to pay £70 to the nursery after she withdrew her daughter.
Ofsted said: "An action was set to improve the nursery's health procedures regarding protecting children from the sun. The inspector did a follow-up inspection on June 13 and found the nursery had satisfactorily revised their policy."
chris.birkle@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk
Comments
by jo..........., arnold , nottingham
Friday, September 05 2008, 6:53PM
“This nursery clearly did not have a satisfactory procedure in place at the time of the complaint if a follow up was needed and policies had to be "tweaked".
The nursery should also be aware that children need suncream even when placed in a shaded area! to say there is no way on earth she was sunburned with them is ludicrous when they did not apply suncream to this child. It is also a well known fact that skin can also burn when it is cloudy .
I for one would not take my children to a nursery that clearly makes a mistake and then denies it instead of apologising when the evidence is clear.”