Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day Nursery

Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day Nursery 161 Gillott Road, BIRMINGHAM, B16 0ET

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/04/2013 14/07/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 1 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 registered providers do not ensure that the staff within the setting foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement which encourages the confidential discussion of sensitive issues.  The providers do not ensure that all staff have appropriate training, skills and knowledge to enable them to ensure that children receive quality care and education.  The registered providers do not ensure that the named deputy is fully supported to enable her to capably take charge in the absence of the manager.  There are inconsistencies in the interaction with the children. Not all staff respond to children's emerging needs and interests or interact with them in a warm positive way.  Staff do not always use observations effectively to identify and plan for the next stage in children's learning and development. As a result, children's progress is too variable.

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It has the following strengths

 Children with special educational needs are supported appropriately. Staff work with parents to ensure that individual needs are met.  Children are supported in their transition to school as staff have forged links with the schools that children will move to.

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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 areas of the premises and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's records, planning, assessment and other required documents.  The inspector held ongoing discussions with staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held in-depth discussions with the deputy manager and carried out a joint observation with her.

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Information about the setting

Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day nursery was registered in 2011 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in a converted building in the Edgebaston area of Birmingham and is managed by a private provider. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from four base rooms and there is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 12 members of childcare staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and 3, including one who is qualified to degree level. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round, from 7.45am until 6.15pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 67 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery 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 children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 ensure that the deputy manager is fully supported and capable to take charge in the manager's absence

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must:

 ensure that all staff have appropriate training, skills and knowledge to enable them to provide children with quality care and learning every time they attend

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must:

 monitor staff to ensure that they respond to each child's emerging needs and interests and to ensure that they interact warmly and positively with children to guide their development

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must:

 encourage the confidential discussion of sensitive issues by ensuring that staff are appropriately supervised to enable them to work together to foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement

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must:

 ensure that all staff use observations to accurately identify the next steps of children's learning and development to enable them to plan challenging and enjoyable learning experiences for the children across all of the areas of learning.

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who attend

Children generally have an enjoyable time in this setting. However, their learning experiences differ as the quality of practice is variable between rooms and there are inconsistencies within some rooms as to what staff see as good practice amongst themselves. For example, some boisterous, rough and tumble play which children thoroughly enjoy is deemed as inappropriate by other staff members. Planning is in place but in some rooms it does not always effectively link to observations to move children forward to reach the next steps in their learning and development. In some areas staff do not positively interact with the children and at times appear bored and disinterested as they stand with their hands in their pockets refusing to fill up watering cans for the children because 'it is too cold'. This results in extremely weak practice with activities that do not meet children's individual learning needs. Other rooms provide a very different

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who attend

experience for the children. In both toddler and pre-school they are able to access a range of interesting resources and activities which cover all areas of learning. Staff plan effectively and use observations to ensure that children's learning objectives are met. Parents are beginning to be involved in their child's learning. Staff have recently introduced a child and parents interest board to encourage parents to share interests and achievements from home.

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who attend

Staff in the baby room get to know the children well. They are mindful that young children need reassurance and support and are always close at hand for cuddles and hugs. They are beginning to recognise children's interests and provide some activities to develop these, such as building blocks with bells and balls inside, to make different noises. They support children in their early communication skills as they repeat familiar words and respond to babble with smiles and gestures. Children in the toddler room enjoy taking part in activities, such as drawing around their feet and measuring them. They compare whose foot is the biggest and the smallest and are beginning to recognise the numbers on the tape measure. They look at photographs of themselves when they were babies and try to replicate the picture using paints. They learn about differences as they look in a mirror and talk about the colour of their hair and eyes comparing it to their friends. However, at

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who attend

other times staff's expectations of the children are too high. They expect them to sit for long periods of time waiting for a story. This leads to discord amongst the staff as they overrule the member of staff who tries to start a singing session and undermine his good practice by taking over what he is doing.

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who attend

Children in pre-school enjoy playing in the indoor garden. They fill plant pots using the soil before staff encourage them to measure and count how many small pots it takes to fill the bigger ones. Staff develop children's expressive language as they ask them to describe the soil which they say is 'soft and squidgy' and ask what will happen if they add too much water to it which prompts children to answer 'it will go slimy'. Staff teach children about shapes. They ask them to name shapes on cards, count how many sides they have and then take it in turns to copy the shape by drawing in the air. Other children work together to sort animals and place them into pairs. Their problem solving skills and their abilities to work with others helps to prepare them in readiness for school.

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

A key person system is in place and parents are made aware of who their child's key person is. The key person gains information from parents before children start regarding routines and parental preferences. This information is used to help children to settle. Most staff support the children and help them to form secure emotional attachments. Children demonstrate their feelings of security as they happily interact with the staff and seek them out for a cuddle when they become tired. However, there are discrepancies within some staff groups as to whether this is appropriate behaviour, with some staff physically removing children from having contact with individual members of staff even though the children show obvious enjoyment of being in their company. There are appropriate transitions in place, both to move children throughout the nursery and to school. Children moving between rooms take part in settling-in periods in their new room before moving,

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

which enables them to become familiar with their new surroundings and staff. All learning and development documents move with the child to help staff in the new room become familiar with their stage of development and specific likes and routines. The nursery has developed links with schools that children will be moving to. Some teachers visit the nursery to meet the children and to see them in a familiar environment. Staff have asked parents whose children are moving to schools a distance away to try to obtain photographs of the school premises for them to share at nursery. This ensures that the transition between nursery and school is a positive experience for the children.

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

The premises are well resourced. However, not all staff encourage and support children to use resources appropriately to enable them to learn and develop. For example, they do not interact positively when asked by children to fill watering cans, and stand watching children as they try to climb onto bikes, ignoring their requests for help until they finally give up and go to find something else to do. Ongoing risk assessments ensure that any potential hazards are identified and minimised. However, not all staff use equipment appropriately and are unable to recognise when they are not using the correct equipment for the child involved. For example, they bounce babies vigorously in bouncing cradles that do not fully support their heads.

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

Children behave well and most staff support positive behaviour and develop self-esteem. Children form mostly good relationships with both adults and their peers. They work happily alongside each other as they learn to share and take turns. Children learn to adopt healthy lifestyles as they access outdoors in all weathers and use equipment to develop their large muscle skills. They climb the pirate ship and jump off with the support of staff, and older children in pre-school skilfully throw balls into baskets suspended from a hoop. Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Staff have introduced sign language and finger spelling to help children to communicate. They recognise that learning needs to be broken down into small steps and work closely with parents and outside agencies to introduce activities and support to help children to move forward in line with their starting points and capabilities.

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provision

Children are adequately safeguarded as staff have an appropriate understanding of child protection procedures and are aware of their roles and responsibilities in protecting the children in their care. However, although they are pro-active in referring concerns, they have not identified that the reasons behind the concerns relate to inconsistencies of staff's understanding of what constitutes appropriate practice. Following concerns received by Ofsted relating to this, an early inspection was carried out. The inspection found that not all staff are secure in their knowledge of how to handle and respond to sensitive issues and, as a result, some legal requirements are either not met or are partially met.

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provision

The registered providers do not support the staff within the setting. There have been major staff changes in the recent past which have resulted in the deputy manager struggling to deal with issues within staff teams as well as the day to day running of the nursery while the manager is not present. Although she is trying hard to maintain the standards and ensure that staff are monitored and supervised, this is not possible without some support and guidance. As a result, standards in the nursery have significantly fallen and staff bombard the deputy with issues instead of trying to deal with them in their staff teams.

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provision

Partnership with parents is acceptable. Staff share information with them daily and are beginning to involve them in their child's learning. During this changing time, monitoring, supervision and appraisals have not been carried out. As a result, any areas for improvement and staff training have not been identified and some staff practice is poor. The recent self-evaluation form is not an accurate reflection of the current practice within the nursery. However, although the deputy is able to recognise that changes need to be implemented in order to raise the standards, she is unsure how to achieve this without support and guidance.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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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 EY418276 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 915839

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 58 Number of children on roll 67 Name of provider SAI Children Centre Ltd Date of previous inspection 14/07/2011 Telephone number 01212464922

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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

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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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