Stepping Stones Day Nursery

Little Acorns Nursery 135 Wood Lane, Rothwell, Leeds, LS26 0ph

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/04/2013 11/05/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 3 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

 Children are not adequately kept safe in the setting because daily risk assessments of rooms are not thorough and electrical risks to them are not effectively minimised. In addition, there is not always a paediatric first aid trained member of staff on duty to care for children, who have accidents.  Staff do not use consistent methods to teach children what is and is not acceptable behaviour. In addition, there is no named person responsible for behaviour management to support and advise staff on behaviour issues.  Staffing is not arranged to ensure that there is always a manager or deputy on-site. Consequently, there is not always a member of management to take charge and be responsible for the setting.  Staff do not effectively monitor the gaps in children's learning and development or effectively plan older children's next steps. Consequently, children are not supported sufficiently to make good individual progress.

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It has the following strengths

 Partnerships with parents are well established. As a result, parents feel very included in their child's learning and development and feel welcome in the setting.  Children have a range of opportunities to engage in creative activities. Consequently, they are developing their individual creativity and early writing skills.

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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 compulsory part 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 three base rooms and outside.  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, the Early Years Manager and five parents.  The inspector spoke to the staff and children throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 A range of documents were inspected, including observations, planning, tracking of children's progress and daily diaries.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of staff suitability, training certificates, policies, procedures and the setting's self-evaluation documents.

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Information about the setting

Little Acorns Nursery was registered in 2009. It is one of many private settings owned and managed by the Little Acorns Group Ltd. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It is situated in the Rothwell area of Leeds and operates from a converted property with playrooms on two levels. There is no lift facility. 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 setting employs 12 members of childcare staff. Of these, 11 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and one member of staff has an appropriate level 2 qualification. The deputy manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The setting opens Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 45 children on roll, of whom all are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children.

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must:

 ensure there is an effective system for identifying, reporting and dealing with hazards and faulty equipment

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must:

 ensure at least one person, who has a current paediatric first aid certificate is on the premises at all times when children are present

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must:

 ensure there is a named practitioner responsible for behaviour management, who has the necessary skills to advise other staff on behaviour issues

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must:

 ensure there is a named deputy to take charge in the manager's absence

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must:

 support children to learn and develop by accurately monitoring their progress, identifying gaps in their learning and planning older children's next steps using all seven areas of learning to ensure they make good individual progress.

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who attend

A large number of new staff have recently been appointed in the setting. This means that they have not yet had time to fully understand their roles and responsibilities or get to know the children well. Due to their recent appointment, they do not know children well enough to meet their individual needs at all times. For example, they are not aware of children's interests or stages of development and some of their individual development files and next steps are not up to date. This means that children are not currently effectively individually planned for. Staff, who have been employed at the setting for a while, regularly observe children and plan activities to engage them and motivate them to learn. However, the tracking of children's progress is not thorough enough to support them to reach their potential and emerging gaps are not effectively monitored or closed. In addition, next steps for children's learning are planned, but staff do not plan for older

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who attend

children's next steps sufficiently. For example, they do not focus on the specific areas of learning to support children to make individual progress in these areas and therefore, gaps are starting to emerge.

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who attend

The setting employs an Early Years Professional, who interacts well with children. She engages children in story telling and encourages them to openly communicate using a variety of open-ended questions. Other children engage in painting boxes a variety of colours to make animal cages for the vet's area. They use brightly coloured paint and talk together as they creatively design their cages. This means that they are developing their individual creativity. Younger children explore chalks, making marks on coloured paper and this supports their early literacy skills. These skills support children in becoming prepared for their transition to other educational settings. Children are also learning about the community they live in. This is because staff take them to regular events in the local area. For example, they attend the pram service at the church every first Thursday in the month and children attend the elderly people's home to sing to the residents.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are well established. Parents feel included and welcome in the setting and know that they can take home children's development files when they wish. They receive regular newsletters to update them on what is happening in the setting and share a two-way flow of information. For instance, staff complete daily diaries for children to detail their routines, discuss verbally each child's day and information for parents is displayed in communal areas. This means that parents are kept involved in their child's time at the setting.

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

Children's behaviour is not consistently managed and there is no named person responsible for behaviour management. This means that staff are not fully supported in understanding strategies to deal with negative and disruptive behaviour. In addition, children receive mixed messages regarding what is and is not acceptable behaviour. For example, children, who throw jugs of water over a child are rewarded by being taken to an activity they enjoy. This is because some staff believe it is better to take children to do something they know they enjoy. Other staff think that children should be made to apologise and understand what they have done is unacceptable. This means that children do not receive a consistent message about the rules and boundaries in the setting and how to behave appropriately.

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

The environment enables children to freely choose resources to play with and there is ample room for them to move around. However, the pre-school room is not maintained to ensure that children are always kept safe. For example, there are two broken plug sockets in the room with electrical components showing on one socket. This means that staff have not effectively risk assessed the room and minimised the risk to children. Once this concern was raised to the Early Years Manager at the time of inspection, the room was reorganised to ensure that children could not access the sockets. However, the setting does not always have a paediatric first aid qualified member of staff on duty. This means that in the event of an accident staff do not have up-to-date information to ensure children's welfare needs are effectively met.

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

Children have created appropriate bonds and attachments to their key person. They are settled, happy and wave to their parents from the window as their parents leave them for the day. This shows that children feel content to be left in the setting. Parents' comment that the large turnover in staff has not affected children's relationships with staff and they are happy to attend the setting. When children start at the setting, staff spend time with parents, getting to know the child and their routines. This means that staff are able to support children to settle well.

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

Children receive a range of healthy and nutritious meals and snacks and are, therefore, learning about how to follow a healthy diet. They routinely wash their hands before eating and sit in small social groups where they talk with their friends. In addition, children have various opportunities to engage in physical exercise. For example, they access a well- resourced outdoor area where they play on bicycles, scooters and practise rolling hoops. These opportunities support children to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

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provision

The inspection was brought forward by Ofsted due to a complaint regarding a multitude of concerns. In relation to concerns raised about behaviour not being consistently managed. It was observed, throughout the inspection, that children's behaviour is not consistently managed and there is no named behaviour management practitioner. This means that there is currently no trained practitioner with the skills to support staff to understand consistent strategies to deal with inappropriate behaviour. This also means that children are not effectively learning what is and is not acceptable behaviour. This is a breach of the Early Years Register and the Childcare Register. In other respects, staff are all qualified in the setting and ratios were maintained at all times throughout the inspection. Registers were checked, maintained and staff were well deployed to care for the children. Although, there is a named deputy employed at the setting, there is not always a manager or deputy

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provision

on-site when children are present. However, this has minimal impact on children because there are senior members of staff who are able to care for children in their absence. In addition, resources were plentiful both indoors and outside and children are able to freely choose what they would like to play with.

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provision

Many new members of staff have recently been recruited. They have all been subject to a rigorous recruitment procedure and have been checked to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. All staff have an induction and weekly meetings to ensure that they are settling-in well and beginning to understand their role and responsibilities. However, a number of staff have only been employed at the setting for a few days and have not yet had time to familiarise themselves with all policies, procedures and are yet to meet quite a few of the children's parents. The manager has a positive approach to supporting staff to feel valued and works closely with them to identify their training needs. She is aware of the immediate need for the setting to have a paediatric first aid member of staff on duty and has sourced training to ensure that staff gain the appropriate qualification.

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provision

Staff have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the signs and symptoms of abuse and who to contact should they have any concerns about a child's welfare. They have received safeguarding training and are aware of who the named person for safeguarding in the setting is. Staff also have good knowledge of the setting's whistle blowing policy and what to do if they were concerned about a member of staff's behaviour. This means that they can safeguard children from child protection issues. However, staff are not effective at risk assessing the premises to ensure that children are kept safe at all times and all potential risks are minimised. This means that children are not effectively safeguarded or their health protected. This is a further breach of the Early Years Register and the Childcare Register.

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provision

The manager has started to monitor the educational programmes and the planning in the setting. She has identified that there are inconsistencies in children's individual planning and their development files. However, she has not identified that gaps in children's learning and development are not effectively monitored or closed. This shows a weakness in the monitoring of children's individual progress. The manager does have a positive attitude to change and has many plans to improve the setting. She has devised training sessions and documentation to support all staff to develop confidence, knowledge and understanding of what the setting expects. Workshops for parents are also organised to ensure that they are included in children's learning and development. This means that they can support children's learning at home. In addition, the manager has forged positive partnerships with other professionals and attends meetings to share ideas. This means

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provision

that there is a support network in place to ensure the setting is able to improve.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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

 undertake a risk assessment of the premises and equipment immediately, where the need for an assessment arises (Suitability and Safety of Premises and Equipment)  ensure that at least one person who is caring for children has an appropriate first aid qualification (Welfare of the children being cared for)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (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 EY403285 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 911646

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 43 Number of children on roll 45 Name of provider Little Acorns Group Limited Date of previous inspection 11/05/2010 Telephone number 01132 822038

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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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