Kindercare

Kindercare Ltd Kindercare, Kearsley Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 2RN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/03/2013 04/09/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Staff do not ensure the premises are safe and secure. Visitors are able to access the premises without their identification being verified and are left unsupervised with children. In addition, registers of children's names and hours of attendance are not accurately maintained. This means that children are not adequately safeguarded.  Staff have poor knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop and do not interact with them well. Age and stage appropriate activities and experiences are not always offered to children and they do not have daily access to outdoors. This means that children are not adequately supported to make good individual progress in all aspects of their learning and development.  Staff do not obtain information on what children can do on entry or effectively observe and monitor their progress. In addition, children's next steps are not adequately planned and emerging gaps in their learning are not identified to ensure they make

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This provision is inadequate

good progress. Partnerships with other providers have not been created to ensure children's learning is consistently supported between settings.  Children are not fully supported to understand how to behave appropriately. This is because staff have a poor understanding of the setting's behaviour management policy and do not provide interesting activities that meet children's individual needs.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff provide healthy and nutritious meals to support children to learn about healthy eating.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children in all four base rooms, currently in operation.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager of the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager, a local authority outreach worker, the special educational needs coordinator and three parents.

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Inspection activities

 A range of documents in each base room were inspected, including observations, planning, children's development files and tracking of their progress.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of staff suitability, parents' questionnaires, training certificates, policies, procedures and the setting's development plan.

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Information about the setting

Kindercare Ltd was registered in 2005. The setting is one of eight nurseries run by Kindercare Ltd. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in the former university campus, in Ripon, North Yorkshire and operates from 10 rooms in purpose-built premises. The setting serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 25 members of childcare staff. Of these, 20 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The setting opens Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 164 children on roll, of whom 137 are in the early years age group. The setting provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children, who speak English as an additional language and those with special needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 ensure unauthorised persons are prevented from entering the premises and implement an agreed procedure for checking the identity of visitors, including ensuring visitors are not left unsupervised with children

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must:

 ensure an accurate daily record of the hours of attendance of each child is maintained

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must:

 provide age and stage appropriate experiences for children in all areas of learning and development by: developing staff's knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements; obtaining children's starting points on entry; using robust observation and assessment of children's learning to identify their next steps and by using positive interaction

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must:

 ensure outdoor activities are planned for all children and taken on a daily basis

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must:

 create partnerships with other Early Years Foundation Stage providers to ensure children's learning and development is consistently supported between settings to ensure they make good individual progress

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must:

 ensure the behaviour management policy is implemented consistently by all staff.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 support children's independence by allowing them to use knives at mealtimes and explain why safety is an important factor in handling tools

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 improve systems for evaluation and monitoring to ensure targets for improvement are identified and prioritised.

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who attend

Staff have poor knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop and do not plan sufficient activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development. For example, staff have created a display in the baby room with small pictures of the human body. They have labelled the different organs and bones because they feel it is important that children learn these facts from six months old when they start to eat solid food. In addition, babies under one-year-old watch the weather outdoors through the windows and staff encourage them to paint the weather. This is because staff use a pre- determined two-yearly topic cycle and weather is the current topic. This means that children's individual needs, stage of development and interests are not considered when planning activities.

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who attend

Staff observe children regularly but they do not obtain information from parents on what they can do when they start in the setting. This means that staff are not aware of what children can do and they are not accurately planned for when they start. Staff do not use observations to plan children's individual next steps. This is because they have poor knowledge and understanding of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and have not monitored children's progress in the last 12 months. Consequently, they are not aware of any emerging gaps in children's learning and development and are, therefore, unable to close gaps quickly. Children with English as additional are welcomed into the setting. Staff obtain words in their home language from parents and communicate with them using key words. However, these children are also not planned for effectively or their learning and development monitored to ensure that they make good individual

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who attend

progress. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make steady progress in their learning and development. This is because they are supported by a confident special educational needs coordinator, who liaises with outside agencies and children's parents to create individual learning plans. The coordinator knows children's needs well and uses specific targets to support them to gain new skills.

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who attend

There is a variance in the quality of teaching and interaction by staff in the setting. Some staff merely supervise children and sit in silence watching them play. This means that children's learning is not extended and they are not challenged in the activities, which they choose to take part in. Some staff make children take part in activities, which they do not wish to participate in. For example, they are made to dance in a specific area of the room and when they are unwilling to take part they are shouted at. This demonstrates that staff do not positively interact with children at times or support them to make choices about what they would like to do. However, older children are supported by a member of staff to complete a jigsaw puzzle and they discuss going to the beach on holiday. Children are asked open-ended questions and this promotes their communication skills. In addition, older children are supported to learn about healthy eating as staff encourage them to

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who attend

make their own sandwiches for tea and provide them with a healthy lunch.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are generally sound and they feel that staff include them in what their child has been doing during the day. However, staff do not spend time gathering information from parents regarding what children can do before they start in the setting to enable them to plan individually for them. Parents are able to access their child's development file whenever they want to. Also, information regarding schools is displayed for parents to access to support children to transition to school smoothly.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are not adequately cared for in the setting because staff do not consistently apply behaviour management strategies. For example, some children are made to sit in the corner of the room when they display negative behaviour while other children receive one- to-one attention and are rewarded with taking part in a creative activity. Staff are unaware of the setting's behaviour management policy and in addition, they do not support children to understand how to keep themselves safe. For instance, children climb on furniture and are not told why it is inappropriate. In addition, staff do not allow children to use knives at mealtimes because 'they don't know how to use them' and 'they put them in their mouths.' This demonstrates that staff do not support children to learn how to use tools safely and means that they are not developing sufficient skills for the future.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are settled in the setting and all children have a key person. This means that they make a positive attachment to staff. There is a gradual settling-in process and staff learn about children's care routines to ensure their care practices are met. Parents feel that their children have settled well and staff discuss their routines with them when they collect their child. This means that parents feel included in their child's day.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are learning about healthy eating because they are provided with healthy and nutritious meals and snacks. Information is displayed in the corridor to provide parents with advice about healthy meals for children. However, children are not sufficiently learning about how to follow a healthy lifestyle because they do not access the outdoors daily. This restricts their ability to exercise and develop their large muscles skills. For example, babies have not been outside in the last three months and older children are unable to explore the falling snow, which they watch from the window. This means that they do not access fresh air regularly to promote good health.

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provision

The inspection was brought forward by Ofsted due to a multitude of concerns raised. Concerns include children's individual needs not being met because they do not receive positive interaction from staff. In addition, age and stage appropriate activities are not planned to support children's learning. During the inspection, observations showed that staff do not consistently interact well with children. For example, some staff do not verbally interact with children for more than an hour and simply supervise them. Also, many activities do not meet children's needs because staff have a poor understanding of how they learn and develop and use topics that do not take into consideration what they can do, their interests or the next steps in their learning.

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provision

Children are not adequately kept safe in the setting because the premises are not secure. For example, visitors are able to access the building unchallenged and access the children's rooms. Furthermore, identification of visitors is not checked and they are left unsupervised with children. Staff keep a register of children in each room. However, this is not accurately maintained. This means that children are not sufficiently safeguarded in the event of an emergency. Staff have received safeguarding training and are aware of their role and responsibility if they have a concern regarding a child's welfare and they are suitably checked to ensure that they are safe to work with children.

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provision

The manager regularly appraises staff and supports them to access a range of training courses. However, staff are not effectively monitored to deliver quality activities and learning opportunities and the manager does not sufficiently monitor the quality of teaching. Although, the manager has devised a development plan and asks parents for their opinions on the setting through questionnaires, leadership and management is weak because priorities for improvement are not clearly identified. Staff are not aware of what needs changing to improve the setting and this limits the capacity to improve.

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provision

Staff show a positive attitude to forming relationships with outside agencies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They invite visitors into the setting and discuss children's needs. However, partnerships with other Early Years Foundation Stage providers have not been created. This means that staff are not aware of what children are learning in other settings and they are not consistently supported to consolidate their learning between settings.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises (Suitability and Safety of Premises and Equipment)  maintain an accurate daily record of the names of children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance (Records to be kept)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (How the childcare provision is organised)  take action as specified in the compulsory part of the report (Suitability and Safety of Premises and Equipment, Records to be kept, How the childcare provision is organised).

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY300452 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 910066

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 124 Number of children on roll 164 Name of provider Kindercare (Harrogate) Limited Date of previous inspection 04/09/2009 Telephone number 01765 698869

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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