Dudley nursery where one-year-old boy's death sparked police investigation will not reopen until at least March
A Dudley nursery where a one-year-old boy died will not reopen until March at the earliest, Ofsted has said.
The education watchdog has extended Fairytales Day Nursery's suspension for six weeks after the death of the boy on December 9 last year.
West Midlands Police is treating the incident as "suspicious" and six women have been arrested and bailed in connection with his death.
Ofsted closed the nursery in Bourne Street over concerns other children were potentially 'at risk of harm'.
It said it will 'make a decision' about the nursery's future after assessing 'risk of harm to children'.
In an email to parents and carers, early years regulatory inspector, Johanna Holt, said: "We recently informed you that we had suspended the registration of Fairytales Day Nursery.
"We explained that we suspended this provider's registration to allow time to investigate our belief that a child may be exposed to a risk of harm, and for any necessary steps to be taken to eliminate or reduce the risk of harm. Please be assured that the safety of children is of the utmost importance to us.
"We cannot provide any information to parents about the ongoing investigation. However, we continue to work closely with police who are the lead investigating agency, in order that we assess the ongoing suitability of the provider and any risk of harm to children.
"As the investigation is still continuing, we have decided to extend the suspension for a further period of six weeks - from January 27 to March 9, 2023.
"When we have completed our enquires, we will make a decision about the continuing registration of Fairytales and inform you of the outcome, along with publishing the details of any action we take on our website."
Police, ambulance crews and the Midlands Air Ambulance were scrambled to Bourne Street after being called on December 9 to reports of a child suffering a cardiac arrest, but were sadly unable to save him.
Four women were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and two were arrested on suspicion of corporate manslaughter.
