Squirrel's Den Daycare

Squirrel's Den Daycare Barnham Community Hall, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0AX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/06/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 The provider pays insufficient attention to promoting children's safety. Not all staff are trained in child protection. There is weak emphasis on child supervision, teaching children about safety, rules and boundaries. Children's safety is therefore placed at risk.  Staff give insufficient attention to promoting children's physical development.  The provider does not ensure that necessary documentation is complete, as required.  Self-evaluation is not rigorous, with well-targeted action plans.  Staff give insufficient attention to promoting communication and language for those children learning English as an additional language.  Teaching support for children during adult-led group time in ineffective, so children lose interest.

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It has the following strengths

 Some staff interact well with some of the more able children.  Children's personal independence is promoted well at snack time.  The staff build positive relationships with parents.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's play and staff interaction, indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the manager/owner and staff at appropriate times throughout the morning.  The inspector looked at children's records, safeguarding and welfare documents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day and written parental feedback.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Squirrels Den Daycare registered in 2013. It is privately owned. The provision is situated in Barnham Community Centre in Barnham, West Sussex. The provision is registered on the Early Years Register and accepts children from the age of six months old. The provision operates during term time only, from Monday to Friday, and from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. Children are cared for in the main hall which includes the use of the stage area. There are outside play areas and immediate access to the rear patio and playing fields. The provision receives funding for the provision of free early years education for children aged three and four years old. Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There is also support for children learning English as an additional language. There are currently 31 children on roll in the early years age range. There are five staff working with the children including the owner/manager. Four staff have relevant

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must:

 make sure that the individual needs, interests, and stages of development of each child are considered and use this information to plan and monitor challenging and enjoyable experiences, particularly in the area of physical development, so children get sufficient daily exercise and opportunities to develop physical skills

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must:

 improve the programme for communication and language development, particularly for children learning English as an additional language, providing opportunities for them to experience a rich language environment, to develop confidence in expressing themselves, to speak and listen in a range of situations and to increase their vocabularies, using additional aids as necessary to support them.

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must:

 ensure children's safety by supervising them adequately, and teaching them how to keep themselves safe through learning the expectations for appropriate behaviour

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must:

 ensure all staff are trained in child protection and have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues

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must:

 improve arrangements for self-evaluation by providing regular opportunities for mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement

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must:

 ensure the daily record of the names of children being cared for on the premises includes their hours of attendance.

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

 extend monitor of teaching to include times when children are together in a large group, in order to check that useful learning takes place, such as through good planning of such times and the use of good teaching techniques.

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who attend

Children happily settle at the newly registered provision, after choosing their name label on arrival. They choose from the satisfactory play activities on offer to them, alongside staff who are on hand to engage with them and play with them. Overall, staff have a sound knowledge of the seven areas of learning, but the planning of the educational programmes has weaknesses, that affect children's progress.

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who attend

The range of play activities generally capture children's interest and hold their attention for some of the session. As the morning progresses, however, children show less motivation to engage in purposeful play because their learning needs are not being sufficiently met by suitable stimulation. This is particularly true in the areas of physical development, and communication and language for some specific groups of children, such as the boys and those learning English as an additional language. These weaknesses mean that children do not have regular opportunities to climb and develop their physical skills each session, which causes them to run and let off energy indoors. Children enjoy playing with the water outdoors and explore the plastic animals in the water. The adults talk to children, particularly those who have acquired good language skills prior to attending this provision, and ask useful questions to encourage them to think and

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who attend

respond. For example, they ask what dinosaurs eat and encourage children to count the dinosaurs, promoting their mathematical development.

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who attend

All staff are aware of those children for whom English is an additional language and a few staff talk and engage them in play. However, they are not using key words in the children's home languages in their teaching support, to help children settle and to encourage them to talk. Other adults make little attempt to involve and engage the children in play and learning with one another and to learn the words, used during the water play. Children on the fringe of the play are not included. They are not encouraged to make relationships with one another or to learn specific vocabulary that is meaningful to them. The provision has only been in operation for four weeks at the time of inspection. So far staff do not tailor their individual teaching practice and interaction to ensure each child gains support in their play. During one time when children were together in a large group, the 'welcome time', only some children listen to the adult leading the session.

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who attend

Other children have their back to this adult and play with toys brought from home or talk to friends, showing disinterest in listening and joining in with a song. The time is not planned and organised to meet the differing needs of the large group of children.

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who attend

Staff are beginning to make observations of individual children and are in the process of assessing their needs, to implement future planning. This is because it is early days since the provision opened and the time has been used to settle children and for everyone to try to get to know one another. Children explore with paint, using brushes and are encouraged to talk about and mix colours, which they do with a keen interest. The staff are fully aware of the need to involve parents in the children's learning. Consequently, parents are welcomed into the provision to settle their children. They are asked to complete an 'All about me' form when their children first start which provides the adults with an initial assessment of children's interests and family situation. However, the systems are not fully embedded yet as much of this information from parents, has not been returned, due to children's recent start. Children aged under two enjoy one-to-one

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who attend

stimulation from their key person, who plays and interacts with them, developing their social and communication skills.

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

Most children show confidence in their surroundings and move around freely making choices in their indoor and outdoor play. Staff are aware of those children who require additional emotional support and offer reasonably attentive care. Extra help is given to those children who require it, such as assisting with their toileting needs. Most children are developing relatively secure bonds with some of the staff, through play and interaction. Overall, there is a satisfactory range of age appropriate resources which cover most areas of learning. Under two-year-olds have a separate area, gated off from the older children, by a colourful barrier on the raised area of the community hall, so they can play with resources appropriate to their stages of development.

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

There are occasional opportunities for physical development for older children, such as when children play with blocks; they line them up, walk along and balance on them. However, there are few chances for children to use wheeled toys and the large grass play area immediately beyond the fenced outdoor area, to develop their large movement skills. Children often linger on the metal fencing, around the patio area, and look across to the public play park, indicating a keenness to use the play equipment. Nevertheless, the educational programme for their physical development does not include climbing activities and indoors there is no provision for physical play. As the morning progresses, the children's behaviour deteriorates and they throw play resources over the outdoor fence. In addition, a small group of boys run around continuously, up and down the stage steps, and occasionally fall down, so are at risk of harming themselves. The staff do not

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

intervene. They do not supervise children correctly and teach them how to keep themselves safe. Staff do not make use of the time when children are together to talk about how to keep safe at pre-school or to discuss safety rules and boundaries for behaviour. This is poor practice by the adults of the newly opened pre-school.

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

Children are provided with healthy snacks and their personal independence is promoted well at snack time. They happily sit with their new friends and choose from water or milk to drink. They use a plastic knife competently to put spread on their crackers. Children are developing a few skills which will smooth their move to school later in the year, such as the independent use of the toilet. However, because of the weaknesses in the educational programmes and the short time the setting has been in operation, children are not gaining the skills they need for the next stage of their learning.

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provision

Overall, arrangements for safeguarding children in this provision are weak. This inspection was brought forward following an incident in which a child crawled under temporary fencing around the outdoor space to reach an adjacent communal public play area. This was due to insufficient close supervision from staff. Poor risk assessment did not identify that children could hide behind a play house out of the sight of staff and get under the fence without being seen. The provider correctly notified Ofsted of this incident and quickly reviewed processes that had allowed it to happen. More secure, robust metal fencing was immediately purchased and installed, which children cannot crawl underneath. The item of equipment was moved to ensure staff can now see the entire fence length at all times. This inspection has found, however, that while child supervision outdoors meets requirements, indoors it does not. Additionally, the staff approach to teaching children

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provision

about how to keep themselves safe is ineffective because of the poor skills of staff. These weaknesses mean children are not safeguarded properly and do not behave safely or appropriately, so may come to harm.

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provision

Although staff undertake induction when starting, they have not undertaken child protection training, which is a legal requirement. Adult to child ratios are met. Most required documentation is in place and complete with the exception of the attendance register. This does not record children's hours of attendance accurately. A robust recruitment and vetting procedure is undertaken when new staff are recruited to ensure checks are undertaken in regard to their suitability to work with children.

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provision

The manager has an insecure overview of the educational programmes delivered because she has not been adequately monitoring and improving practice from when the provision first opened. Although some evaluations have been carried out and an informal action plan identified, the manager and staff are not swift enough in addressing the key weaknesses of the provision. This delay means that a number of Early Years Foundation Stage requirements are not being met. In addition, self-evaluation does not rigorously analyse and self-challenge all aspects of the day care provision. Most staff are trained in early years, and those that are not have some awareness of the learning and development requirements. The management has recently sent out parent questionnaires to gain their feedback. Some have been returned with ideas, such as improving children's coat hanging arrangements. The staff team, which sets up the play environment each day, is not

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provision

sufficiently active in overcoming the drawbacks of operating an early years provision in a community room.

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provision

Parents speak positively of the friendly, approachable staff and of the flexible settling in procedures. Relationships with them are being built positively through daily communication using the key person system, There is a system to record children's learning and development achievements and to share these with parents in the future, when the setting has been open for longer. Some partnerships with external agencies and other providers are in place. There are suitable links with the school, and with those who support children with special educational needs, but agencies to support children and families for whom English is an additional language are not used.

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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 EY461445 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 920150 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 46 Number of children on roll 31 Name of provider Kim Elizabeth Edwards Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07592728922

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Setting details

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

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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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