Nursery appeals over Ofsted rating


A NURSERY in Snodland has been deemed inadequate by Ofsted. Clocktower Childcare, owned by Clock-


tower Childcare Limited and based in the grounds of Snodland County Primary School, Roberts Road, received a grade 4 rating in its first inspection since it set up in 2011.


Inspectors said support for children with special educational needs and disabilities was poor and observed a failure to record accidents; lack of focus onmaths education; leaders and managers not monitoring pro- vision well enough. Plus points were that staff interacted “kindly and positively” with children and prompted children to solve problems. Ofsted received a complaint in May ac-


Parking plan TESCO wants to increase the number of disabled parking spaces outside its Dotcom cen- tre in Mills Road, Aylesford. The retailer has asked Ton- bridge and Malling Council for planning permission to change the layout of its car park at its internet-based home shopping warehouse at Quarry Wood In- dustrial Estate. The site currently provides


148 staff and visitor car spaces which would be reduced to 138, allowing the three disabled bays to be increased to 10. The Dotcom centre houses


Tesco’s regional on-line shop- ping operation.


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cusing management of neglecting children’s safety after one child bit another. Inspectors visited unannounced and found the provider met the requirements regarding managing children’s behaviour, staff had been giving extra guidance on managing children known to bite, and appropriate records had been maintained regarding in- cidents of biting. Records also showed a complaint by a parent about biting had been fully investigated. Ofsted also told the provider to pay more attention to potential hazards, particularly around the outdoor climbing centre. Supervisor Sally Wingham said: “We


were disappointed with our judgement and have appealed the decision. The issues raised were paperwork-related and im-


provement strategieswere put into place by the following day. We have been over- whelmed by the support from all of our par- ents and continue to be oversubscribed for September, which we believe is testimony of our good reputation within the commu- nity. “We were very pleased with the fantastic comments from Ofsted regarding our rela- tionships with the children, such as ‘staff encourage good behaviour, praise children frequently, interact kindly and positively with the children and help them to form a bond and feel secure’.” Clocktower Childcare caters for two to eight-year-olds from 7.30am to 6pm and of- fers breakfast and after school clubs for school-aged children.


Can you help name war heroes? DID your ancestor fromWest Malling serve in the armed forces during World War I? Could they have posed for a picture by a renowned local photographer? If so, youmight be able to help TheMalling Society in its prepa- rations for a text and photographic exhibition next year tomark the 100th anniversary of the start of the conflict. The society has inits archivesalarge number of pictures of ser- vicemen, likethe onepictured, whichwere takenbyFreda Barton who was a professional photographer in West Malling from around 1905 to 1940. Sadly,many of them are not named, and the society is appeal-


ing for help in identifying them and discovering their stories. The photographswill be on display at the Clout Memorial Insti-


tute inWest MallingHigh Street, from 10am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15. If you can help with the photographs or other information, con- tact RonMartin at r.martin978@btinternet.com.


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