Kids were dragged across a room in unfastened high chairs at a South London nursery downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’, Ofsted has claimed.

An inspector from the education watchdog found staff didn’t know how to handle children safely when they visited Forest Hill Nursery on Devonshire Road in March. 

Workers led kids by their wrists and forearms which put children at risk of getting hurt, a report published by Ofsted following the inspection on Monday (April 22) said.

The inspector concluded that kids’ safety was compromised by ‘poor practice’ and ‘insufficient oversight’ at the nursery, which looks after around 30 children aged from one to three. 

The report said: “Young children are left in high chairs for extended periods of time without the safety straps being used.

"Children then become bored and attempt to reach out around them, which is unsafe. Staff fail to recognise the risk of dragging the high chairs across the room with children still sitting in them without safety straps fastened. 

“Leaders are not always good role models for staff. They are unaware of safe ways to handle children as they lead children by holding their forearms or wrists, which places children at risk of injury.” 

Bosses at the nursery were criticised for leaving inexperienced agency workers to deal with difficult kids.

The report said staff shortages meant children were sometimes grouped together for long periods of time, which resulted in the room becoming overcrowded and chaotic. 

Planned activities were described as ‘lacking focus’ and ‘unmeaningful’. Children were left to their own devices for ‘unacceptable’ lengths of time and became bored and disengaged the report added. 

Despite this, the inspector noted that kids developed some skills and enjoyed building train tracks and towers out of toys provided.

“Staff introduce simple mathematical concepts into children’s play such as counting, shapes and size,” the report added. 

Quality of education, behaviour, personal development and management were all judged to be ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. A

t the nursery’s previous inspection in May 2022, these areas were all rated ‘good’.

When the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted Forest Hill Nursery on Monday (April 22), Denise, who said she was the manager, declined to comment on the report.

She added: “I’m too busy. I just have too many children at the moment. I have to get back to them.”