The nursery chain runs more than 200 settings across England, including eight in Cambridgeshire
Ofsted has has told a nursery chain that runs 247 settings across England, including some in Cambridgeshire, that it is not meeting safeguarding and welfare requirements.
Ofsted served Bright Horizons with a Welfare Requirements Notice (WRN) on Monday, June 22 after checks between October 2025 and June 2026 found “significant weaknesses in organisational safeguarding leadership, governance, oversight and practice”.
The checks happened because of “concerns following a serious safeguarding incident” last September. Ofsted then carried out inspections, site visits and direct engagement with senior leaders at 172 of Bright Horizons nurseries, and identified breaches of requirements in 69 settings. The findings of each were published in individual nursery reports, as is standard practice.
According to the Bright Horizons website, the chain has eight locations across Cambridgeshire including in Cambridge, Ely and Fulbourn:
- Eddington Nursery, Cambridge
- Wolfson Court Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
- Bright Horizons Cambridge Milton Road Day Nursery and Pre-school, Cambridge
- Cambridge Science Park Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
- Long Road Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
- Bunnybrookes Day Nursery and Preschool, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
- Fulbourn Day Nursery and Preschool, Fulbourn
- Ely Day Nursery and Preschool, Ely
According to Ofsted, the WRN “is intended to prompt urgent improvement at the highest level of the organisation to ensure higher standards for children across the group”. As the action is against the Bright Horizon group, the outcome has been published on the Ofsted report page of all 247 Bright Horizon nurseries. However, this does not reflect concerns identified at individual nurseries.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said: “The outcome summary we’ve published today sets out clearly what the Bright Horizons group must do, and by when. We will be monitoring their progress closely. My message to parents is to read your nursery’s latest inspection report or update on the Ofsted website.
“The majority of Bright Horizons nurseries are meeting requirements. We have already published reports and updates on all of the nurseries that we visited – today’s action is about identifying improvements that need to happen at a management level within the Bright Horizons group.
“The Department for Education has announced additional funding to support our work in early years – including thousands more no-notice inspections. This is great news and will strengthen our work to check that children are getting the safe, high-quality care they deserve.”
Bright Horizens, one of the UK’s largest nursery chains, has until August 1 to improve. A spokesperson for the chain said whilst it is “disappointed” with the notice against it, ” particularly as the Chief Inspector recognises that the majority of our nurseries are meeting requirements” it is “taking the matter extremely seriously”.
By August 1, Ofsted requires Bright Horizons to ensure:
- All senior leaders are fully familiar with, and are able to effectively apply safeguarding policies, procedures and arrangements within their oversight role.
- Safeguarding policies, procedures and arrangements are consistently and effectively implemented across all settings.
- Senior leaders maintain accurate and timely oversight of safeguarding concerns and risks across the organisation, so that appropriate and timely action is taken to protect children.
- Safeguarding concerns are consistently identified, recorded, escalated and responded to appropriately across all settings, including consideration of emerging patterns and cumulative risk, in line with statutory safeguarding guidance.
- Procedures to manage allegations against staff are consistently followed across the settings.
- Review and strengthen current arrangements for monitoring safeguarding training, supervision and support to ensure these are effective in securing consistent staff understanding and application of safeguarding responsibilities across all settings, including recognition of child protection concerns, escalation routes and whistleblowing procedures.
- Any weaknesses in staff knowledge or practise of safeguarding responsibilities are addressed, and that robust and effective systems are in place to monitor and evaluate the impact of training and supervision on safeguarding practice.
In a statement, Bright Horizons said: “ The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is always our first priority. Whilst we are disappointed that Ofsted have chosen to issue a Welfare Requirements Notice against us, particularly as Sir Martyn Oliver recognises that the majority of our nurseries are meeting requirements, we are taking the matter extremely seriously.
“On those occasions when our practice falls short of the standards we and our families rightly expect, we recognise that this is not acceptable. We are taking swift and robust action at the highest level and are working in partnership with Ofsted to fully address the concerns identified, which we are confident we will be able to do successfully.
“We continue to focus on consistently embedding our strong safeguarding culture across all our nurseries.”
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