A popular pre-school has seen its Ofsted grading slip from outstanding to inadequate over allegations staff were taking pictures of children on their personal mobile phones.

Steve and Cindy Fox, owners of Cherubs Pre School in Linton, were horrified to receive the damning report and have been appealing the decision ever since.

They say the practice of sending parents photos of their children by mobile is done to reassure them if their child was upset when they left and say it is only ever done on the pre-school’s phone.

Parents have to give their permission and are so incensed at the grading they have started a petition.

But the inspector said Mrs Fox has “not identified the use of mobile phones as a safeguarding issue”, lacks understanding of the risks this presents to children and does not monitor the use of mobile phones effectively to ensure children’s safety.

But Mr and Mrs Fox are adamant staff lock their personal phones away as soon as they enter the building – the village hall in Linton Hill – and photos of children are taken on a single mobile phone, by Mrs Fox.

Mr Fox, the school’s admin manager, said: “When you take your child to nursery for the first time they don’t want you to leave, you don’t want to leave them, and it can be very distressing.

“But five minutes later they are usually smiling. So we send a photo, of just that parent’s child, doing a puzzle or a painting.

“We send it to the parents' personal mobile phone to reassure them their child is settled.

"The report makes it sound as though this is happening every day."

We send it to the parents’ personal mobile phone to reassure them their child is settled.

“The report makes it sound as though this is happening every day

“It’s only ever if children are upset, which is reasonably rare.”

Mr Fox said the policy has been in place since Cherubs, which has about 40 children aged two to five, opened 12 years ago and the pre-school was graded outstanding by Ofsted in 2009.

Parents sign a form to consent to photos of their children being taken and sent via text message and Mr Fox said not a single one has ever objected.

He continued: “We purposely don’t put pictures of children on our website, we don’t have a Facebook page and we don’t have a webcam with live streaming of children.

“The majority of nurseries have at least one of those. I think those are less secure than sending a photo.”

Since the Ofsted report was released in October, Mrs Fox has stopped texting photos and only sends words of reassurance to mums and dads.

Parents started an online
petition a week ago, urging Ofsted to reconsider the grading, and more than 500 people have signed it.

They also question how other pre-schools and nurseries can post children’s pictures on open Facebook profiles that can be seen by anyone.

The Ofsted report praised Cherubs’ staff for providing a welcoming, well-resourced and stimulating environment and working well with parents to recognise children’s achievements and provide appropriate support where needed.

The inspector added: “Children develop respectful behaviour such as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ without prompting.”

Sign the petition at tinyurl.com/CherubsOfsted