New Town nursery slams '˜wholly untrue' allegations by Facebook user

An Edinburgh nursery accused of misconduct by a stranger on Facebook has vowed to cooperate with the authorities in a bid to clear its name.

Melville Street Nursery. Picture: Neil Hanna

Staff at Melville Street Nursery were accused of throwing cups of water at infants and leaving them exposed to the sunlight without protection during a day trip to Craigie’s Farm in South Queensferry.

In a Facebook post, that was published on Thursday, but has since been removed, Julie Hamilton accused nursery staff of treating children with “no respect or compassion” during the day trip to Craigie’s Farm.

She then accused staff of throwing full baby cups of water at children and said they were left out in the 28C sunshine without sun hats and still wearing jackets.

The online post was widely circulated throughout the Capital with the nursery coming under fire from social media users.

When contacted by the Evening News a nursery staff member said: “It is with the legal team and an investigation has been launched.

“We have contacted the Care Inspectorate and our lawyers. We have complete support from all agencies and from all of our parents.”

The nursery discovered the post had gone viral after it was written on their Facebook page reviews section. Nursery bosses were already aware of the complaint after staff reported they had been approached by a member of the public during the farm outing.

A spokesman for Early Days Nurseries, which owns Melville Street Nursery as well as five others in the city, said: “We are satisfied that events did not happen as described and have investigated the matter fully with staff and cooperated with law enforcement and the Care Inspectorate.”

Parents have rallied around staff at the nursery. One, who asked not to be named, said: “As a parent there I can’t sing the praises of the nursery highly enough. The comment doesn’t fit with my experience at the nursery over the course of two years. The staff are very passionate and care about the children and their development.”

Mum Ashley McGregor whose 18-month-old was part of the trip to Craigie’s Farm, had no concerns about her daughter’s welfare. She said: “I trust the staff and if I felt like she wasn’t being taken care of or her needs weren’t being met, she wouldn’t be there.

“Parents are updated daily with pictures and you can see children with sun hats on and not wearing jackets. She’s fine all the time there and I can’t praise them enough.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police have received a report of concern for the care of a number of young children, following a social media post.

“Inquiries to establish the full circumstances of this matter are ongoing.”