The mum was warned not to watch the CCTV footage of her daughter’s fall because it was too “distressing”
Amethyst, two, was injured after a fall during a nursery trip(Image: Kimberley)
A toddler fractured her skull after falling from a height at nursery. Mum Kimberley received a call from Little Explorers PZ LTD nursery on Tuesday, June 23, saying her daughter, two, suffered a “bump and a graze” after a “fall at the park.”
When the mum picked her toddler Amethyst up, she found she’d actually fallen two metres off a bandstand and onto a concrete wall, in what she described as “an unwitnessed fall” during a trip out from nursery. Kimberley told CornwallLive: “I had a missed call and I didn’t recognise the number so didn’t answer it and I had a message from the nursery saying [she] had a fall and they had been trying to contact me. They told me she had a bump and a graze.”
Kimberley left work immediately and arrived at the nursery, on Queen Street in Penzance, Cornwall around 35 minutes later. She said: “I got there expecting just a bump and a graze, but after a head injury, I was taking her to the hospital anyway.
“The lights were out and she was sleeping. I turned the light on, her face was all swollen, she had a split lip and a black eye already. I kind of went into shock and there are some things I don’t know, I can’t remember.
She added: “I was in panic mode and packing her stuff up and getting ready to take her to the hospital. The manager told me they would take me to the hospital and I remember thinking that I had to come past the hospital to get to my daughter and they should have already taken her.”
Scared, Kimberley remembers her daughter struggling to stay awake. She said: “We got seen straight away and sent for a CT scan immediately, so we got blue-lighted to Treliske [Royal Cornwall Hospital]. She has a fractured skull and eye socket and had a concussion on admission.”
The injuries caused to Amethyst’s face(Image: Kimberley)
Kimberley said it wasn’t the fact that it happened because accidents do occur, but she said she was devastated by how it was dealt with after. She has vowed there is no chance she will take her daughter back to her nursery.
She said: “I had to ask them on the phone ‘did you say she was sleeping?’ I said she just had a head injury, wake her up and keep her awake until I’m there.”
The mum-of-three said the incident, which was a two-metre fall over the railings and off the bandstand at Morrab Gardens, in Penzance, was captured on CCTV footage. She was taken back to the nursery in her pram and put down for a nap.
The bandstand and railings at Morrab Gardens(Image: CornwallLive)
Kimberley said she and her partner have been warned not to watch the footage by the police as it is distressing. Kimberley is currently off work as Amethyst is without a nursery. She said she is also concerned about the future of the childcare provider given the lack of medical attention sought following her daughter’s fall and how she feels the severity of what happened was downplayed on the phone to her.
“I wasn’t even asked to fill in an accident form or anything,” she said. “I’m still not entirely sure what even happened.” Following the incident, Little Explorers PZ LTD has been suspended from providing childcare by Ofsted due to a potential risk of harm to other children.
In a letter sent to parents using the childcare provider, which opened in September of last year, according to social media posts, Ofsted stated: “We have suspended the registration because we reasonably believe that the continued provision of childcare may expose children to a risk of harm.
“The purpose of the suspension is to allow time for enquiries to be made and/or for steps to be taken to eliminate or reduce any risk of harm.
“Little Explorers PZ Ltd must not act as a registered childcare provider while suspended. It is an offence for a person registered on the Early Years Register or the compulsory part of the Childcare Register to provide childcare which requires registration, while suspended.”
The official government department said it is unable to provide any details about the suspension other than those included in the letter.
“Suspension is a temporary measure,” the letter continued. “We will review the situation regularly and will lift the suspension as soon as we are satisfied that children are not at risk.
“We will write to you if we lift the suspension and Little Explorers PZ Ltd can resume providing registered childcare. We will also write to you if we are unable to complete our enquiries and/or take steps to eliminate or reduce any risk of harm within this initial suspension period and we impose a further period of suspension.”
A hospital discharge summary for Amethyst listed her numerous injuries including a black eye, bruising, swelling, dried blood and a skull fracture on the left frontal bone extending into her eye socket.
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “We have conducted a safeguarding enquiry in relation to a report about a childcare provider in Penzance.
“Officers worked closely with our statutory partners. At this time, no criminal offences have been identified but should further information be reported, it will be reviewed and progressed accordingly.”
Little Explorers PZ LTD been contacted for comment but did not respond.