A MOTHER has claimed her four-year-old son is being unfairly punished after he was banned from the last week of nursery.

Cheryl Dibbin, from Riddlesden, contacted Ofsted last month after an incident at Wilsden Nursery where her son Nico claims he was grabbed by the wrist when he threw a cup. The complaint triggered an inspection, and a few days after the inspectors visited the school, she received a letter saying Nico’s place was being withdrawn.

It claimed that his family had been discussing the issue in public, and this amounted to a “breach of confidentiality”.

Nico will now miss his last days at the private nursery, including a teddy bear’s picnic and leaving party.

The letter said: “We have been advised by several parents in Wilsden that the complaint you recently raised with us and reported to Ofsted is being discussed by you and grandma openly in public.

"This is a breach of confidentiality as it involves a staff member. We have, therefore, sought advice from Ofsted regarding this matter.

“Following their advice we feel it necessary to withdraw Nico’s place from nursery with immediate effect. It is regrettable that we have had to take this course of action but we have a duty to protect our staff.”

An Ofsted spokesman said: “We do not normally comment on complaints to Ofsted, but we would never tell a nursery to remove a child. That decision would be for the nursery.”

Mrs Dibbin said her mother, Doreen Hinchcliffe, who takes Nico to school, had spoken of the incident in the village, but that calling gossip a breach of confidentiality was going too far. She said: “The whole thing is just bizarre. If the issue they had was with me and my mum then they should have just talked to us, I think this is a drastic measure.”

A spokesman for the nursery said: “The reason the child is no longer in the pre-school is because the family were making defamatory statements about the staff which were unsubstantiated.”

They said that although Ofsted had not advised them to withdraw Nico’s place, they were told they were “well within their rights” to.