Kiddi Galore

Kiddi Galore Inspection report for early years provision

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EY358753 Unique Reference Number 02 July 2008 Inspection date Penny Wood Inspector

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18 Burford Road, Salisbury, SP2 8AN Setting Address

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E-mail

Kiddi Galore Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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E-mail

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Kiddi Galore was newly registered in 2007. It is situated in a detached house on the outskirts of Salisbury. The nursery consists of a baby room, toddler room and messy room on the ground floor. Upstairs there are three play rooms, an office and toilets. There is a fully enclosed garden for outdoor play.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery is open from 08:00 to 18:30 each weekday for 51 weeks of the year. Children attend for a variety of full time and part time sessions. The nursery is registered to care for a total of 36 children under the age of five years old at any one time. There are currently 64 children aged between six months and four years old on roll, of whom 10 are in receipt of funding for nursery education. The nursery cares for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are 12 staff who work directly with children, the majority of which possess a relevant childcare qualification. The nursery also employs an administrator and a cook.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children are beginning to develop their understanding of appropriate hygiene routines. They willingly wash their hands before eating and after visiting the toilet, however, not all children understand why it is important to do so. Staff generally follow good hygiene routines, such as wearing gloves and aprons to change nappies and ensuring children have access to their own bedding and clean toys. However, not all staff wash their hands prior to preparing snacks.

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Helping children to be healthy

An appropriate sickness policy is adopted within the setting. Children benefit from the treatment they receive from staff that are trained in first aid. A good system notifies parents of when their child has had an accident and allows staff to bring the incident to parent’s attention. However, records of children’s accidents are not stored securely and as a result do not maintain confidentiality.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from regular opportunities to be outside in the fresh air, enjoying the garden which offers ample shade during the summer months. Children are physically active and experience good opportunities to develop their co-ordination skills. They enjoy access to a good range of equipment, such as climbing frames, tricycles, hoops and balls, with some children enjoying the freedom to simply run around or to climb a tree in the middle of the garden.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy a good range of healthy snacks and home cooked meals. Most children sit at tables to eat their snacks and main meals. However, children who sit on the floor for snack time are occasionally tempted to eat spilt foods, such as raisins, off the floor. All children are gaining in independence at snack and mealtimes. Children feed themselves, with support available from staff where required. The nursery adopts a good system during mealtimes to ensure that children with specific dietary needs are only provided with foods that are suitable for their individual dietary needs. Children enjoy regular drinks ensuring they do not become thirsty during the day.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children enter an environment which is bright, colourful and welcoming for children. They enjoy appropriate levels of space to play and participate in activities. Within the garden, the introduction of fenced play areas ensures that all children are able to safely play in the garden at the same time. A suitable range of resources is available to the children, which are regularly cleaned and checked to ensure they are safe for children to play with.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Most of the time children benefit from appropriate levels of supervision, although when children require the toilet when playing outside, this can at times leave members of staff caring for higher numbers of children. Appropriate child protection procedures are in place to promote children’s welfare and safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The completion of regular risk assessments throughout the nursery and outside area encourages staff to become aware of issues and to take action to reduce risks. On occasion, children and staff practise the emergency evacuation procedure in order to develop their awareness of the action to take. However, the nursery only has one muster point within the garden and should there be a fire towards the rear of the house, this would be an inappropriate place to gather.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Most children enter the setting with confidence and ease, with support available for those children who take longer to settle. Throughout the setting, staff consistently use praise and encouragement which boosts children’s confidence and self-esteem.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have access to a suitable range of resources, which are age appropriate and most are stored at low level to allow them to make choices in their play. Staff rotate and share toys between the different groups to ensure children experience variety and remain interested in their play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children participate in a good range of planned activities. Babies enjoy exploring with paint, toddlers enjoy playing with dough and investigating treasure baskets filled with a variety of objects. Older children enjoy a good range of activities, some of which are based on the Montessori approach to learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff complete regular observations and maintain development records for all children within the setting. They monitor children’s progress and provide experiences which are suitable for their age and which promote their development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children are making good progress within their learning journeys. They enjoy a good range of opportunities, with an even balance of adult led and child initiated activities. Planning covers all areas of learning, with each aspect of the early learning goals covered throughout the year. Planning and activity sheets are used as working documents and are readily available for reference to ensure all staff are aware of the focus of activities planned for each day.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff regularly update children’s records with information gained through observations during play and activities. Records are used as a focus when planning future activities, with activities aimed at individual children to ensure they make good progress in their learning. However, on joining the group, staff do not gain information from parents regarding children’s abilities on which they are able to plan the starting point for children’s nursery education according to their individual abilities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Generally children are keen to participate in activities and to explore opportunities of their own choosing. For example, they confidently access prepared activities from the storage shelves, carefully carrying the resources over to the table and quickly becoming involved with their chosen activity.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff adopt good questioning techniques in order to encourage children to use their cognitive skills. For example, when children mention that the stepping stones are slippery, staff ask the children why that is. Throughout the day, children are developing their language skills and constantly talk to each other and staff, such as talking about the flying machines they build from Lego. Children enjoy participating in role play. In the garden, they particularly enjoy taking their dolls for walks in buggies, stopping to check the dolls are comfortable and talking to each other about whether they need to stop to feed them.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff seize upon children’s interests in order to further extend their learning. For example, following observations made on a spider using a magnifying glass in the classroom, children

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 enjoy exploring under logs in the garden to find and observe further bugs. Staff facilitate children’s learning by helping them with the logs and by providing the children with boxes for them to place their findings in. Children enjoy counting the number of centipedes and wood lice they find and when drawing their own pictures of spiders, they are able to confidently count the number of legs. Children experience good opportunities to develop their pencil control. They practise writing their names, with staff providing clear instructions on how to form letters and using visual prompts of letter cards for children to copy.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are developing good use of their imaginations. They creatively construct with resources such as Lego. They enjoy traditional painting on an easel, in addition to using decorating brushes to paint with water on paving slabs within the garden. On a fortnightly basis children participate in music and movement sessions provided by an external organisation.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. The provision of named coat pegs encourages children to develop a sense of belonging to the group. Children take an active role within the setting. For example, at the end of play sessions they are encouraged to help tidy up and at meal times the older children help staff to hand out drinks to the other children. Suitable strategies ensure all children are welcomed within the group, with support available to facilitate the inclusion of children with specific requirements. Staff liaise with parents and external agencies to ensure children’s individual needs are met.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are developing an appropriate understanding of diversity. For example, they enjoy celebrating a range of festivals and playing with resources which depict positive images of race and culture. However, the lack of resources which depict positive images of disability limits opportunities for children to develop their awareness of disability naturally through play.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Generally children behave well. Staff adopt age appropriate strategies to manage children’s behaviour. They encourage children to abide by certain rules and respond calmly to issues as they arise. Older children frequently make polite requests, such as saying ‘excuse me’ when asking a child to move out of their way. However, at certain times of the day, particularly when sitting at the table waiting for their lunch to arrive, children are insufficiently occupied which impacts on their generally good behaviour.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff willingly share information with parents at the end of the day both verbally and within a condensed written summary to ensure parents are kept informed of their child’s day. Parents have access to an appropriate range of information on a notice board and within monthly newsletters. On joining the group they receive a prospectus which contains brief information about the setting’s provision.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Within the provision of nursery education, partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents support their children within their nursery education. For example, children enjoy bringing in items from home which starts with the letter of the week. Staff provide parents with information regarding current topics and a ‘While I’m At Home’ form which encourages parents to participate in and extend children’s learning at home. Planning is clearly displayed and open evenings take place to enable staff to share children’s progress and development records with the parents. Children’s records are available to parents at all times on request.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Organisation

The organisation is inadequate. The setting does not meet the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. The majority of staff are appropriately qualified to work with children. However, management do not adopt robust recruitment procedures to ensure that suitable checks are carried out on all staff upon their employment. Furthermore, there is an insufficient induction procedure to ensure staff are fully aware of their role and responsibilities and the action to take to prevent them from being alone with children prior to suitability checks being completed. As a result, children are at risk of contact with adults who are not suitable to work with children.

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Organisation

On a daily basis, staff organise their time well, providing children with a good range of opportunities. Appropriate levels of staff ensure that the required ratios are met, with suitable systems in place to cover staff shortages due to sickness and holidays.

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Organisation

All policies and procedures are in place and contain the required information. Documentation required within regulations is in place. However, the setting does not maintain a daily register of all those present within the building at any one time. As a result, there is no accurate record of those present which can be relied upon in an emergency, particularly when carrying out a roll call following an emergency evacuation. Most records are available for inspection and appropriately stored. However, not all records, such as the accident records, maintain appropriate levels of confidentiality.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the provision of nursery education is good. Staff are suitably qualified and value the benefits of completing further training in order to provide good experiences and opportunities for children within the Foundation Stage. Staff work as a team within the planning and delivery of nursery education. The member of staff responsible for managing the Foundation Stage evaluates the provision, both the planning and delivery of activities to ensure it is effective and that children are making appropriate progress within their learning and development.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Not applicable: this is the first inspection since registration.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration there have been three complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take action in order to meet the National Standards. The complaints related to National Standard 1: Suitable Person, National Standard 3: Care, learning and play, National Standard 4: Physical environment, National Standard 6: Safety, National Standard 7: Health and National Standard 14: Documentation.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The first complaint raised concerns regarding an accident involving a child. Ofsted wrote to the provider asking for a response to these concerns. From the information received Ofsted was satisfied that the provider had taken adequate steps to ensure that the National Standards were being met and remained qualified for registration at the time the investigation was closed.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The second complaint raised concerns regarding the suitability of an ex-member of staff and the failure to notify Ofsted of concerns which had been made. Ofsted wrote to the provider to request information regarding the concern and a copy of the child protection procedure. As a result of the information received two actions were set under National Standard National

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Complaints since the last inspection

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Standard 13: Child Protection and National Standard 14. A response to the actions was received and Ofsted was satisfied that by taking these steps the provider met the National Standards and remained qualified for registration at the time the investigation was closed.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The third complaint related to children’s individual needs not being met, the condition of one of the playrooms, the accessibility of electrical sockets and the security of the premises. A child care inspector visited the provision. As a result of observations, a review of documentation and discussions with staff, three actions were set under National Standard 2, National Standard 6 and National Standard 14. A response to the actions was received and Ofsted was satisfied that by taking these steps the provider met the National Standards and remained qualified for registration at the time the investigations were closed.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Entries relating to the above concerns may be found within the provider’s system for recording complaints. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care, the registered person must take the following actions: • ensure appropriate checks are completed on all staff, suitable arrangements are in place to protect children from persons who are not vetted and staff receive an appropriate induction procedure • put in place an effective system to ensure staff accurately record their own and children's attendance. These actions are set out in a notice of action to improve and must be completed by the date specified in the notice.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • develop a process for gaining information from parents regarding children’s abilities and use this information to plan activities to encourage children’s learning according to their individual abilities

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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