Twizzle Tops former managers say report is 'devastating'

 On Tuesday afternoon, the Ofsted report for Twizzle Tops Day Nursery in Cavendish Street was published.

Inspectors visited the nursery on July 2, and found the environment to be, at times, “chaotic and disorderly”.

Now, former managers Jordann Bursill and Charlie Ward have spoken out after the nursery they left went from being rated ‘Good’ to ‘Inadequate’ in all areas.

The nursery said it would not be commenting further with regards to any queries after closing its doors.

Twizzle Tops nursery in Cavendish Street was visited by Ofsted inspectors on July 2. Image: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

The report found many aspects of care provided to be lacking.

Whilst there, inspectors witnessed “some staff working with older children physically intervene to move children, for example, by lifting them or pulling their arms” without having given them enough time to respond to verbal instructions.

They found SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) provision to be “weak” and the nursery had not carried out DBS checks for adults in regular contact with children.

Since the publication, parents have reacted in shock at this revelation.

“When I found out staff members were not DBS checked, I was furious, absolutely outraged,” said Victoria Casey.

Fellow parent Lorna Chambers agreed. “When I read that, I thought, Oh my god,” she said. This was particularly worrying, as she said that staff changed so frequently that her daughter developed attachment issues as a result.

Inspectors also said: “Children frequently become upset and quieter children receive very little attention from the staff.”

This, coupled with the details about children being lifted by their arms, is what “cut me the most”, said Miss Casey. “I had no idea if they’ve done that to my son,” she said. “He’s a quiet boy.”

• Read more: Mother of twins who attended Twizzle Tops speaks out

The report continued: “Weaknesses in leadership and management undermine children's safety and learning.

“Staffing issues, including frequent changes of managers, have led to a decline in the quality of provision since the last inspection.”

This last point does not come as a surprise to Ms Bursill. She joined the nursery as a manager in January 2023, following its first Ofsted rating of ‘Requires improvement’ in December 2022.

Having joined the team, Ms Bursill said she met with Suffolk County Council and came up with a plan of action to get the nursery “back on track”. Miss Ward joined her as deputy manager in April that year.

Jordann Bursill was manager at Twizzle Tops from January 2023 to February this year prior to the inspection. Image: Jordan Bursill (Image: Jordan Bursill) Jordann Bursill left, pictured with her former deputy manager, Charlie Ward. Image: Jordann Bursill (Image: Jordan Bursill)

Both women said that they worked hard to raise the standards of the nursery, developing positive relationships with the local authority and the new SENCo (special educational needs coordinator).

“Staff morale was up, the children were really happy, they were being educated,” said Miss Ward, whose own daughter attended the nursery during that time.

Ofsted rated the nursery as Good in all areas in September last year.

However, Ms Bursill said the working environment changed in February 2024, when she returned to work following a week’s leave.

During that time, she was told that an incident had occurred whereby a staff member had not given the correct first aid to a child.

Despite not having been present, Ms Bursill alleges that she was told that she could face disciplinary action for this incident. She then took another two weeks’ leave.

“Things went massively downhill,” she said. “In that time, my deputy manager left, my SENCo left, my third in charge left, and two room leaders left.”

The reason for this, she said, was that her colleagues were unhappy with the way the incident was handled, for which she was being “blamed”.

Ms Ward, too, had decided to leave in April.

“The atmosphere had changed,” she said. Having conducted exit interviews with colleagues, she agreed that many of them were unhappy with how she and Ms Bursill had been treated.

She also said it was difficult to get funding to run the nursery in the way that they wanted.

Having read the report, she said was “devastated”, and shocked that Twizzle Tops allowed adults without DBS checks to have access to children.

“To see that happen now is disgusting,” she said. “I’m really shocked that Ofsted didn’t just shut the nursery down there and then, having witnessed the stuff in the report – especially the manhandling of children.

“That is the worst part in the whole report, I feel. We always drilled it into staff about the importance of safeguarding, why it’s important, how to report it, how to whistle-blow. To have that happening is just appalling.”

Ms Bursill agreed, saying she was “heart-broken” to read of children being lifted by their arms.

“We’re trying to teach children to tell us when they’re sad, tell us why they’re cross and angry and that it’s OK to feel those feelings,” she said.

“If your staff members can’t use their voices as grownups, then what are we teaching children – that it’s OK to use physical intervention, just because you can? It’s really, really sad.”

Both Miss Bursill and Miss Ward say they are fully supportive of parents.

“I am absolutely devastated for the children,” said Miss Ward. “I’m totally on the parents’ side. My heart goes out to them. I hope they can get their children into different settings – because there are many, many settings that are so much better.”

Ms Bursill echoed her support.

“I will back every single one of those parents,” she said, adding that she also wants to be a voice for her former colleagues who left Twizzle Tops.

“They tried really hard to make sure those children got the absolutely best start in their life, because every child, every single person, deserves that,” she said.

“That opportunity was taken away.”