Shock Darlaston nursery closure amid fears over safety

Catherine's Cross day nursery has shut, with Ofsted saying it had suspended its registration to 'protect children'.

Ofsted confirmed today it is carrying out an investigation but would not disclose any details.

Walsall Council today said it was offering support to families that had been in contact with the centre. A recent Ofsted report revealed a visit was carried out by inspectors at the Pinfold Street nursery on September 6.

This was after a previous inspection in July found the provision offered to be 'inadequate'. In response to the July inspection, a welfare requirements notice was issued requiring the nursery to ensure a health and safety policy was implemented rigorously at all times.

It made particular reference to ensuring all staff using private vehicles to transport children must provide evidence of valid insurance cover, and to take steps to make sure children were kept safe at all times, for example making sure children wore hats when playing outside in the sun. The report said the nursery had demonstrated some action had been taken to meet requirements at the monitoring visit in September, but overall progress was 'inadequate'.

Ofsted said it would continue to monitor the nursery, which was also issued with a notice of actions to improve. Ofsted spokesman Andrew Bell said today: "We are aware of concerns about Catherine's Cross Nursery and have suspended its registration to protect children while we undertake an investigation."

The latest inspection report said: "This visit has raised serious concerns about the standard of care, learning and development.

"The next visit will be a further monitoring visit at which we expect to see improvement or we will consider taking steps to cancel your registration or move to prosecution. Having considered all the evidence, the inspector is of the opinion that at this time the setting is making inadequate improvement overall."

At the time of the Ofsted inspection in July, there were 19 children on the roll and eight staff at the nursery, which has been running for more than 15 years.

Councillor Rachel Andrew, Walsall Council's portfolio holder for children's services, said: "We are working closely with the families who have been in contact with the centre to ensure they are receiving the support they need."