Care4urkidz 24/7 Childcare Services

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/06/2013 10/01/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Children are effectively safeguarded because robust systems are in place to ensure child-adult ratios are maintained at all times, which ensures children are suitably supervised.  Positive relationships are developed with parents. Staff spend time exchanging information with parents on a daily basis, which ensures they are fully informed about children's care needs and parents' wishes.  Children's next steps in learning are identified very well through daily observations and assessments.

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It is not yet good because

 The deployment of staff is not always fully effective in ensuring children fully benefit from outdoor play and an effective key person system, in order to fully support their well-being and learning. Partnerships with other providers is not fully effective.  Monitoring of staff practice is not consistently effective. Therefore, staff do not receive sufficient coaching and training, so that they have the skills and knowledge to effectively support children to manage their feelings and behaviour.  Not enough emphasis is placed on working with parents to support children to express themselves in their home language or develop a respect of diversity.

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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 activities in the two rooms within the setting and held discussions with the manager and staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector conducted two joint observations of children's activities and experiences with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector interacted with children and spoke to three parents during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's daily diary sheets, assessment records and planning documentation and checked evidence of the suitability and qualifications of the staff, accident records and child and staff attendance records.

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Information about the setting

The owner was registered in 2001 as a childminder and re-registered as Care4urkidz 24/7 Childcare Services in March 2009 to provide childcare on domestic premises. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The setting operates from three rooms on the ground floor of the provider's home, which is situated in Dudley. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. The provider has two dogs. The family has their own separate outdoor and living areas.

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Information about the setting

The setting employs five members of childcare staff. All hold appropriate early years qualifications. The setting is open seven days a week, all year round. Sessions are from 6am to 11pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The provision also provides overnight care. There are currently 23 children on roll who are within the early years age range. The setting provides funded early education for three- and four-year-olds. It supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 improve the deployment of staff to ensure; children benefit from a good balance of indoor and outdoor play; and enjoy a settled relationship with their key person, so that their emotional and learning needs are fully met and parents are fully involved in their child's initial assessment

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must:

 ensure staff are supported through coaching and training to have the skills and knowledge to effectively support children to manage their feelings and behaviour

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must:

 work in partnership with other early years providers that children may attend to enable a regular two-way flow of information to support continuity and cohesion of learning.

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

 develop partnership working with parents to support children to hear and speak languages other than English, especially home languages, by sharing words, phrases, rhymes, books and stories; and support children to develop a respectful attitude towards diversity, for example, share stories that reflect the diversity of children's experiences.

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who attend

Staff observe and assess children's progress on a daily basis and share this information with parents and other staff. This is a very effective way to ensure children's next steps in learning are identified. It also helps to involve parents and all staff in children's learning. However, there is no evidence to show parental input into initial assessments to ascertain starting points in learning. Discs are produced by the nursery for parents showing images of their child in play. This supports parents inclusion in their child's learning to continue at home. In most instances, staff use information very well to plan stimulating and challenging learning opportunities for children. For example, observations about a very young child's lack of confidence, during an activity with bubbles, is used very well to plan further opportunities for the child to experience this type of play. In this instance, the child's development is very well supported and results in the child being more confident to

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who attend

explore and try new things. However, this quality of this practice is not consistent. For example, observations of an older child's ability and interest in number and numerals are not used as well to guide staff's practice. For example, although a game of hopscotch is played, which involves number and an adult-led number activity is planned for later in the day, staff do not capture the many spontaneous opportunities to develop this learning throughout the day. For example, numbers labels are not purposefully displayed in the environment, in order to capture the child's interest. During storytelling the child is not encouraged to count the number of apples that fall from the tree and at lunch time the child is not encouraged to undertake purposeful number tasks, such as counting how many plates and cups are needed for the amount of children present. Therefore, in this instance, children are not fully supported to make as much progress in their learning, in

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who attend

In general, there is a good balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Children are able to initiate their own play and follow their own interest during all activities. Staff provide short spells of focused activity, such as storytelling using props that encourage children to take an active part in telling the story. This supports children's communication skills and it is particularly effective in supporting children for whom English is an additional language to learn and reach a good standard in English language. However, children do not benefit from having a consistent key person, to ensure all experiences are sharply focused to capture all opportunities to extend their learning. For example, when a pre- school child demonstrates their familiarity and eagerness in taking part in telling the story about an itchy bear the staff member, who is acting as the child's key person on that day,

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who attend

does not capture the opportunity to extend the child's learning. She does not encourage the child to talk about what other strategies the bear could use to scratch himself or to think of possible reasons why the bear was itching. As a result, the child is not fully challenged to think critically.

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who attend

Children have suitable opportunities to learn about nature. They learn about the lifecycle of butterflies and take part in craft activities to represent their thoughts and ideas. Children also take part in planting seeds, although these are not kept in the playroom to enable children to closely watch their growth. Children look closely and talk about mini- beast they find in the garden. This learning is supported by a display of photographs that helps children to recall their experiences and sustain their thinking. Written statement of children' comments about these experiences are displayed, which helps children to develop their understanding that print carries meaning. However, staff deployment is not effective enough to ensure children have good opportunities to learn outdoors. This does not ensure that children have rich opportunities to learn about nature and work on a larger scale than indoors.

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

The setting provides a welcoming environment for children, displays of children's work and photographs of children at play help children to develop a sense of belonging. Staff greet children as they arrive and engage in conversation and play with them, which help children to settle well. Resources and activities are set out in an attractive manner, which engages children to become active in play as soon as they arrive, which also helps them to settle. Children are familiar with and respond well to all staff in the setting, although they do not benefit from a consistent key person or 'buddy' system. This provides some benefit for older children, for example, it helps them to develop relationships with a wider range of adults. However, for some younger children this system causes them some distress when they are not allocated to their preferred key person. This is demonstrated by them becoming distressed at times throughout the day and less able to use adults as a secure

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

base from which to explore independently. This does not ensure children's personal, social and emotional development is fully supported.

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

In most situations staff respond warmly to children showing care and consideration. For example, staff sit next to children and talk softly to them as they are falling to sleep. They greet children with warm smiles as they wake up and talk to them in soft tones and hugs, which help them to feel safe and secure. Staff foster positive relationships between children. For example, they talk to children about children not present and they encourage children to take turns with resources, which help children to play co-operatively and to consider others. Babies respond well to praise and encouragement from staff. For example, staff encourage children to become successful in feeding themselves, saying 'Well done'. However, staff do not always respond in a sensitive enough manner when very young children's actions hurt other children. For example, too much emphasis is given to encouraging children to say 'Sorry', which is not appropriate for very young

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

children as they have not developed an understanding of what this means. Not enough emphasis is given to helping children to recognise their action hurts others, for example, by comforting the hurt child, or comforting them when they become distressed by the situation. This does not ensure children are fully supported to learn to manage their own behaviour and feelings.

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

Staff work effectively with parents to ensure children's care needs are identified and supported. They spend time with parents at arrival and departure times exchanging information about children's individual needs and parents' wishes, which are respected and shared with other staff present. This helps to ensure a smooth transition between their care at home and in the setting, it also ensures all staff are familiar with children's individual care needs. However, staff do not place enough emphasis on working in partnership with parents in supporting children to hear and speak languages other than English. As a result, children who are learning English as an additional language do not have many opportunities to express themselves in their home language and the opportunity to support children to develop respectful attitudes towards diversity is not fully captured.

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

In general, children have daily access to fresh air and exercise in the large garden. This area provides a variety of outdoor equipment for children to use including a growing area where children have planted carrots. This enables children to develop their physical skills and develop their understanding about growth and healthy eating. Children also take part in discussions at snack time that also support their understanding of where food comes from. For example, staff encourage children to think where their apples and milk have come from. However, high enough emphasis is not given to ensuring all children benefit from playing outdoors. For example, on the day of the inspection older children did not go outdoors until late afternoon and younger children had not been outdoors on the previous day. This does not ensure that children who learn most effectively through activity and movement are fully challenged to progress.

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

Children are suitably supported as they move towards independence in their self-care skills. Children are particularly well supported to become independent in feeding themselves and washing their hands, which also supports the development of their physical skills. At times older children pour their own drink and clear their plate away after dinner. However, children's growing independence is not fully supported. For example, older children are not supported to serve themselves to their dinner or to take a more active part in clearing way after meals. Children are suitably supported to learn to keep themselves safe, for example, they are reminded by staff of the reasons why they should sit correctly on chairs. They are kept safe at all times because staffing arrangements are effective to ensure their close supervision.

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provision

This inspection took place because Ofsted received information that staff are not suitably supported in their role of caring for children and that this is having a direct impact on the quality of care children receive. At the inspection it was found that at times staff do receive effective coaching and support to improve their personal effectiveness, as a result of management monitoring the quality of care children receive. This has recently resulted in reducing a high incidence of minor accidents in children aged under two years. This demonstrates that at times, self-evaluation results in well-targeted action plans that support children's safety.

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provision

However, this level of effectiveness is not consistent. For example, management have also recently identified staff require further support in relation to managing children's behaviour. Some steps have been taken to address this, for example, some resources have been duplicated to reduce potential conflict between children. However, management has not fully taken into account the difficulties staff experience in ensuring all children benefit from outdoor play on a daily basis. This is an important aspect of managing children's behaviour because it ensures children have suitable opportunities to become boisterous in appropriate ways. Monitoring of staff practice in this area has also not been as successful. For example, management has not identified that on occasion, staff are not fully effective in supporting children to manage their feelings and behaviour. Therefore, in this instance, staff do not receive the support they need to improve their

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provision

knowledge, understanding and practice, in order to be consistently effective in supporting children.

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provision

Robust systems are in place to ensure child-adult ratios are maintained at all times, which ensures children are suitably supervised. The manager deploys staff on a weekly and daily basis to ensure staff ratios are fully met and to provide cover for the 12 hour day that the nursery is open. In general, the small staff group know all children well and are able to suitably meet their care and learning needs. However, the deployment of staff on this daily basis is no longer fully effective. It impacts on staff's ability to provide some younger children with the secure and consistent care and in some instances, results in parents not being fully supported to contribute to the initial assessment of their child's development. It is also not fully effective in ensuring staff are sharply focused on children's next steps, which means pre-school children do not always receive high quality challenges to fully

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provision

extend their learning. There is a culture of assessing and minimising risks during all activities. Daily risk assessments are undertaken. This means all areas are checked for hazards before children use them, which ensure children, play in a safe environment. All staff complete checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service to confirm that they are suitable to be in contact with young children. All staff are fully aware of their role and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding issues, which helps to safeguard children. This includes the responsibility to respond in a timely and appropriate way to any inappropriate behaviour displayed by other members of staff, or any other person working with the children.

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provision

Staff build positive relationships with parents. Parents comment that they like the setting and staff who they feel provide a lot of activities for their children. Parents like the very flexible childcare provided and the friendly relationships their children develop with the staff. Staff provide daily information to parents about their child's care and learning and information about the setting is available on a web site.

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provision

At the last inspection it was identified that there is scope to improve the partnership working with other settings children attend. The manager has made some attempts to develop links with other settings children attend. However, there has not been any significant progress in this area, in order to fully support continuity and cohesion for children who attend more than one setting.

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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 EY389725 Local authority Dudley Inspection number 922484 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childcare - Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 23 Number of children on roll 24

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Telephone number

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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