AN INVESTIGATION was launched after a lack of supervision at a Dorset pre-school led to a toddler being locked-in and left alone for nearly two hours.

The child’s mother said her three-year-old daughter was left unsupervised at Sydling Springs Pre-School, based at Sydling St Nicholas village hall, when children and staff went on an outing to nearby woodland. No-one noticed she was missing until the group returned.

The little girl has a pre-existing medical condition, Craniosynostosis, which affects her skull structure and she had to have corrective surgery when she was 14 months old.

The mum of three, from west Dorset, said: “We are really grateful that she wasn’t hurt, but who knows what could have happened.

“If she had fallen or hit her head it could have been catastrophic. I just don’t want it to happen again.”

The mum, who wanted to remain anonymous, reported her concerns to Ofsted on the same day, and said: “There was a very small group of children there. How could they have missed her?”

The incident continues to affect the little girl, her mother said, adding: “I’m absolutely devastated, I had a daughter that was very confident and now she’s lost that.

“I can’t even go outside of my house to the garden without her panicking. She’ll get halfway through doing something and then panic that we are going to leave the house.”

She said the pre-school told parents and Ofsted they contacted her straight away after finding her daughter, but she claimed staff took 40 minutes to call her.

She also criticised the lack of transparency in investigations, adding: “The letter I received from the pre-school committee says they will be investigating the incident and any disciplinary action taken will not be divulged to us because of confidentiality.”

Hannah Tippett, chairman of Sydling Springs Pre-School said the staff involved in the incident remained in their positions.

She said: “On behalf of the committee at Sydling Springs Pre-School I can confirm that an incident occurred at Sydling Springs Pre-School. Ofsted has investigated this incident and has completed a report which is published on its website. Following Ofsted’s recommendations and results of the pre-school committee’s own internal investigation, the pre-school immediately implemented measures to ensure such an incident cannot re-occur. We take this opportunity to thank parents for their incredible ongoing support at this time.”

Ofsted report

AN OFSTED report into the incident last month reads: “We were informed that a child had been left at the setting for one hour and forty minutes whilst the other children were on an outing.

“We carried out an unannounced visit and found that staff did not follow risk assessment policies and procedures, a child was left unsupervised, a key person was not meeting a child’s individual needs and registers were not completed correctly to provide an accurate record of the number of children present.”

Ofsted said it served a welfare requirements notice on the pre-school, adding requirements had now been implemented.

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: “The pre-school leader of Sydling Springs contacted the council’s early years team with a report of a safeguarding issue.

“The council’s early years team supports nurseries and pre-schools in their role to help children learn and progress to their full potential in a safe and nurturing environment.

“So far, we have supported Sydling Springs by helping them address the actions set out in Ofsted’s compliance notice. We have also put in place a number of actions for the pre-school to adopt to ensure this never happens again.”