Received two correspondence's today from two very different but good businesses suffering unfairly at the hands of others.

The first was from my son's Nursery owner. She is closing her excellent nursery at the end of the year because of the unbearable and tiring pressure from Ofsted on paperwork and overbearing inspection requirements – she is likely to fail her next Ofsted inspection simply because it is uneconomic to repair a small and insignificant leak in the schoolhouse roof. Her educational and pastoral credentials are unquestionably excellent.

The second was from a small printing company in Largs who do my business cards. A recent order had gone missing in the CWU strike mess and I had let them know that the replacement order they shipped had arrived. His response: "The strike has really hit us hard but it seems we're over the worst."

It really shouldn't be like this for good small businesses. It makes me so angry sometimes.

Stop whining and get on with it. It's tough for us all. That nursery sounds a bit of a shonky set-up though. The little torytoddler deserves better. 😆

The nursery has no excuse – leaky roof? fix it. Regulation -needed for people looking after others children. sounds to me like a case of undercapitalised unprofitable business blaming others for their own failings

I fail to see how any nursery which is run properly can be even remotely struggling atm. I have paid nursery fees for the last 6yrs and i have seen the cost spiral on what seems like a quarterly basis. If it isnt the actual hourly rate then its the food bill going up. They havent let one single cost remain unchanged due to rising costs.

And they are still busy and still building all the time to acommodate more children and still passing offsteads etc.

Sounds like yours just doesnt know how to run a business properly. Nowt to do with the recession. Especially considering a lot of nurseries income is government money which is guarenteed.

That sounds like an infomercial Stoner, what you selling? 😉

As a parent of a child at that nursery, if I thought that his pastoral care or education was at risk do you really think Id be defending her?

No.

I know what a good nursery she runs. I am talking from a position of knowledge, you TJ are making uninformed accusations and inventing a world to fit your post. The building is a Victorian school house: the leak cannot be repaired without replacing the entire roof. The leak is small insignificant, easily managed and doesnt effect the care of the children.

The nursery has no excuse

Jeremy I vaguely agree, but I was educated between the ages of 5 – 21 in buildings with periodically leaky roofs. My secondary school in particular was shonky as hell. (It has now been largely rebuilt.) It did me no harm whatsoever. Stupid, callous and burnt-out teachers did much more harm.

Stoner (bless him) can afford to send his son somewhere else, but is happy to ignore the occasional drip-into-a-bucket because the quality of the care being provided is good. The owner probably can't get credit and probably can't raise prices much at the moment [EDIT: I don't know, poster above better informed in these matters!].

For whose benefit is it that she be closed down by Ofsted? It doesn't appear to be for hers, or for her clients', or for their children's. 🙂

Well when you set yourself up as a builder, maybe you can sort it out for her…for cash like… 😉

she is likely to fail her next Ofsted inspection simply because it is uneconomic to repair a small and insignificant leak in the schoolhouse roof

That's not an Inspection Category that will result in a "fail", because Ofsted don't inspect the structure of the building, they are solely concerned with the educational and pastoral care of the children, They may remark that there is a roof problem, but if it is an inconsequential as she suggests, then it won't matter.

Overbearing? Good/Satisfactory schools and Nurseries are what are referred to as "Light Touch" in most LA's and are inspected every 4-5 years, hardly onerous, and paperwork, well, OK there's quite a bit, but what did she expect really? It's the health and welfare of children we're talking about.

EDIT, If it helps, You can look up her previous Ofsted inspection on line, as they are public documents, If they looked at the roof on her last inspection, and she suggested it would be fixed then, and it wasn't, well then she's got some issues…

Running a nursery with a leaky roof is simply not acceptable and "managing a leak" is not either.

The regulation is there to protect children. She is not having her nursery closed by ofstead – it is closing because she cannot afford the upkeep of the building which means the business model is poor. Simple as.

Overbearing

her words nick:
"A prime factor leading to this decision is the fact that at the age of 65 I find the pressures of increasing involvement from Ofsted, together with their demand for more and more paperwork, too stressful."

I know your experience in older age group schools is unquestionable nick, but I assume that for preschool institutions there are additional requirements.

TJ – are children harmed by rainwater? I think we should be told…. mine haven't taken their umbrellas to school today…

the nursery model is poor only because of the size she keeps it at.
The fixed costs that a highly restricted regime incur make it non-viable to have an intimate, smaller group nursery – which is on of the reasons I think they do their job so well.

Running a nursery with a leaky roof is simply not acceptable and "managing a leak" is not either.

This is pure dogma isn't it? Why is letting a leak drip into a bucket when it rains "simply not acceptable", and when did it become so? 🙂

This is pure dogma isn't it?

this is Tandem "socialist dogma" Jeremy we're talking about here BD 😉

Its not pure dogma – do you even know what dogma is?

Its a basic requirement that the buildings are sound – leaky buildings can be the cause of illness and can exacerbate illness.

Fungal spores from the rot. Asthma, all sorts of things like that.

If it was a state owned building you would be screaming about it.

Our School has a Nursery attached, the vaguely inappropriately named "Wizzers", The requirements are strict, and new the Ofsted inspection regime means that schools and nurseries get less notice of inspections, and thusly there is little scope for schools to go into "Inspection Mode", but in essence a good/satisfactory School/Nursery has nothing to fear from an inspection as they should be operating like that anyway…

To be fair

It sounds more like she is looking for an excuse to get out.

Cant do the paperwork? well thats part of what you sign up to when you get into education
Uneconomic number of children? Poor business decision
Cant fix a leaky roof? Dont think you would fail an inspection on this

The paperwork required by Ofsted is no different to any other nursery is having to do, and is fairly minimal really.

A minor leak would not lead to a failed Ofsted inspection. A failure to safeguard the wellbeing of children can, but a minor leak wouldn't class as such.

We got a grade 1 at our last couple of inspections despite having a couple of leaking roofs, and despite a copper pipe from a piece of student artwork falling off and almost landing on an inspector's head.

inappropriately named "Wizzers"

I Lold 🙂

just checked last inspection and all criteria met as good. no significant notes for changes although I find the one about "develop systems for supporting children who speak English as an additional language" I find amusing. This is Malvern, not Hackney.

Cant do the paperwork? well thats part of what you sign up to when you get into education

Do you think a 65 year old experienced nursery head "signed" up to that when she "got into education"?

Surely fixing the roof to keep the nursery would be economical, not fixing and facing closure doesn't seem very economical to me.

I lol'd at Wizzers too! Obviously at the dodgy end of Malvern then.

the combined capital costs of fixing the roof and he increased annual cost of replacing herself with a manager, and continuing to meet the carer ratios specified by ofsted, can no longer be supported by the small class sizes she has. If she could, she would. She will have done her numbers – she's genuinely upset that the nursery will close. Do you think people like closing down their businesses?

Here is a suggestion for stoner. Why not recommend she ups her prices by about 50% so that she can afford to repair her roof. That way you get to keep her in business and she doesnt have to learn how to save and budget for general maintenance like other nurseries. Simples 🙂

I would gladly pay that.

There are a number of other parents involved though 🙂

In the end Stoner Jr will go to another nursery not that much further away – still within cycling distance. Im sure the new place will be every bit as excellent, but I still find it frustrating to see good businesses close.

BTW a new roof isnt general maintenance.

This is Malvern, not Hackney.

errmm… that might just be the point that they're making.

Hold on wait, you said it was closing because ofsted had to fix her roof a but now you say it's because she can't manage her own buisiness.

Sounds like a business oppurtunity to me Stoner.

Theres probably more to it than she says,if it was a good buisness it would be for sale as a going concern.

Ofstead is there to protect the kids, and sometimes fails to do so, its also a job creation scheme for people who dont like kids.

Sounds like a business opportunity to me Stoner.

Like I'd want to have 30 kids running around me all day! Why do you think I send Stoner Jr there? 😉

Theres probably more to it than she says,if it was a good buisness it would be for sale as a going concern

Indeed. The problem is the schoolhouse is attached to her home so not so easy to sell as a going concern if you want to continue living in your house. I imagine shell just end up selling the annex for a conversion to a house.

I think I may be confused now. Have we established that Ofsted do not in fact agree with the Jeremy that leaky roofs cost lives? 🙂

I think I may be confused now. Have we established that Ofsted do not in fact agree with the Jeremy that leaky roofs cost lives?

I can go down and ask the staff who work in our slightly leaky open access computer area how many deaths there have been this year, if you like?

I can go down and ask the staff who work in our slightly leaky open access computer area how many deaths there have been this year, if you like?

If your having to go down because they're not answering the phone then it's maybe them all.

If your having to go down because they're not answering the phone then it's maybe them all.

Ooh, maybe I should check quickly then?

Getting back to the original point, Its not much fun running a small business of any description at the moment. Its bordering on masochism in fact.

We're suffering immensely. Mainly due to companies going bust owing us lots of money. Even better when its basically a scam involving people 'rolling' their company through friendly administrators.

It has a domino effect. Credit to cover anything is all but impossible to get as the banks hoard cash to cover for their ****-ups.

And its not even remotely amusing watching porridge-face Brown on the news, saying 'we're doing everything we can to help small business', while the following day you get slapped with a massive surcharge by the inland revenue for paying a tax bill 3 days late

Ho hum

binners – HMRC only charge surcharges via SA when over 28 days and 6 months late so must have been 31 days late minimum 🙂 Why not seek a time to pay arrangement giving you extra time due to the recession. 200000+ have already seemingly…

Stoner – buy the nursery. Really. If you have the energy to run this sort of business, it can be very profitable. EDIT – you have to be qualified/CRB checked, etc.to "run" a nursery day to day, but not to own one.

My cousin's husband sacked off a job as an engineer (automtoive engine designer) and bought a nursery business near Brighton. He now has another.

In spite of the saturation of some of the chains, the m,arket is still highly fragmented, and ripe to make some money.

And you'd get access to an old building with a leaky roof… 😉

Dave. We actually paid our tax on time. But due to an adminisrative cock-up (in the public sector? – who'd have thunk it eh?) they tried to screw us. Have you ever tried getting any sense out of the inland revenue? Or get them to admit a glaring mistake?

"A prime factor leading to this decision is the fact that at the age of 65 I find the pressures of increasing involvement from Ofsted, together with their demand for more and more paperwork, too stressful."

She's retiring then.

You've distorted the story a bit there, sorry.

As above chakaping

Have to say I'mm 100% with TJ here. Shonky business model blamed on Ofsted.