West End babies and children at risk at Play Away nursery, report says

A pre-school and nursery put babies and children at risk due to unsafe sleeping and mealtime arrangements, a report has said.

Play Away in West End, Hampshire, has been rated inadequate by Ofsted inspectors.

The reports said education and behaviour at the site were good but children's safety was not assured.

The nursery said it took the report extremely seriously and had an action plan to make improvements.

Inspectors, who visited on 4 November, said: "Sleeping arrangements for babies do not follow national guidance or company policy. This puts babies at risk.

"There are dietary management systems in place. However, these are not always followed or understood by staff.

"Meals are not checked to ensure they are in line with the dietary needs of individual children."

However, the inspectors said education was good and children had a "positive attitude to learning".

Play Away, which is owned by Family First Nurseries, said it was "highly focused on continuous improvement with a strong desire to better our overall rating as quickly as possible".

A spokesperson added: "Child sleeping arrangements are followed in accordance with our company policy, which is in line with government guidelines, and practitioners ensure babies sleep safely and, where compliant, to do so in line with parents' wishes.

"We also take dietary requirements very seriously with dietary management systems in place.

"It is with regret that on the day of the Ofsted visit, our nursery team did not write immediately on their handover documents; however practitioners always use effective verbal communication to ensure safe serving of dietary requirements and it is our view that this itself did not put children at risk."

Play Away operates two other sites in Southampton and Totton which are rated good by Ofsted.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].