Little Hippos Nursery And Daycare

Little Hippos Nursery And Daycare 2 Tower Road, Aston, Birmingham, B6 5BN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 20/06/2013 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

 Children progress is limited as the staff do not monitor their learning effectively by identifying starting points or planning for children's individual next steps in learning.  Some staff have insufficient knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements; particularly with regards to safeguarding and learning and development. As a result children do not enjoy high quality learning experiences.  There are insufficient opportunities for children to experience outdoor play and learning activities and they do not benefit from regular fresh air, daylight and exercise.  The nursery does not have effective measures to keep children safe. The provider has not implemented a health and safety policy and procedure to cover identifying, reporting and dealing with accidents, hazards and faulty equipment.  Children's safety is compromised because the outdoor area is not secure. Daily safety checks are not consistently conducted across the nursery and identified hazards

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This provision is inadequate

minimised.  Not all staffs suitability has been checked thoroughly for example gaps in employment and references from the last employer are not always obtained.  The key person system is not well embedded. Care practices and the educational provision are variable and do not support all children's individual needs.  Not all staff are aware of what they should do if they have a safeguarding concern.  The nursery does not use reflective practice or self-evaluation to identify its strengths and weaknesses. This results in limited monitoring of the provision and weak leadership.

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It has the following strengths

 Children are starting to become confident and independent as they manage tasks for themselves and choose what they want to do  Snack time provided by the nursery is healthy and nutritious and children enthusiastically eat their food.

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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 held discussions with the manager, deputy, practitioners, key persons, parents and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a range of records including children's details, children's learning journeys, written policies and the attendance register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to at the time of the inspection.  The inspector observed activities the playrooms and the football area.  The inspector checked evidence of recruitment, suitability and qualifications of staff working with children.

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Information about the setting

Little Hippos Nursery And Daycare is owned by Little Hippos Nursery Aston Limited and registered in February 2012. It operates from three rooms, with access to a kitchen and office areas, on the ground floor of a community centre building. It is located in the Aston area of Birmingham. The nursery serves the local area. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play, with access to a community garden. The nursery is open Monday to Friday throughout the year, and sessions are from 7.30am to 5.30pm. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions. A maximum of 40 children may attend the setting at any one time. The setting also offers care to children aged over five to eight years. This provision is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The manager holds childcare qualifications to level 3.

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enforcement action:

ensure staff deployment meets the needs of the children attending and children are adequately supervised ( Staff Child Ratios)

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enforcement action:

take all reasonable steps to ensure that hazards to children are identified and removed or minimised and that any hazards identified on the record of risk assessment are checked effectively and prompt action taken to deal with them (Safety and Suitability of premises, environment and equipment)

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enforcement action:

assess the risks and hazards which may arise on outings, for example to the football area, and identify the steps to be taken to remove, minimise and manage those risks and hazards (Risk assessment)

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enforcement action:

ensure all children are assigned a key person; improve the use of key persons to tailor every child’s care to meet their individual needs by helping the child become familiar with the setting, offering a settled relationship for the child, and building a relationship with their parents (Key person)

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enforcement action:

train all staff to understand the safeguarding policy and procedures, and ensure that all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues (Child protection)

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enforcement action:

ensure the premises are fit for purpose (Premises)

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must:

 improve the provision of planned, purposeful play to promote children’s progress in all areas of learning by identifying staff training needs and securing opportunities for continued professional development

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must:

 improve the planning of challenging and enjoyable learning experiences for each child in all of the areas of learning and development by taking into account the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child

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must:

 ensure all children are assessed correctly and their progress monitored accurately including assessment on entry and on-going assessment

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must:

 ensure staff deployment meets the needs of the children attending and children are adequately supervised

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must:

 ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis, to support their health and development and to offer more opportunities for outdoor learning and discovery

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must:

 take all reasonable steps to ensure that hazards to children are identified and removed or minimised and that any hazards identified on the record of risk assessment are checked effectively and prompt action taken to deal with them

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must:

 assess the risks and hazards which may arise on outings, for example to the football area, and identify the steps to be taken to remove, minimise and manage those risks and hazards

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must:

 ensure that practitioners and any other person who is likely to have regular contact with children are suitable to do so by ensuring recruitment practices are robust and that anyone who is unsuitable does not have any involvement in the setting

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must:

 ensure all children are assigned a key person; improve the use of key persons to tailor every child’s care to meet their individual needs by helping the child become familiar with the setting, offering a settled relationship for the child, and building a relationship with their parents

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must:

 train all staff to understand the safeguarding policy and procedures, and ensure that all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues

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must:

 foster a culture of continuous improvement, for example by developing systems for self-evaluation to set realistic targets and drive future improvement

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must:

 ensure the premises are fit for purpose

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who attend

The management and the staff of the nursery have a poor understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They fail to implement the learning and development requirements adequately, which affects children's learning and development. In addition, observations and assessments are not used purposefully to show how children are progressing and to identify their next steps. Not all children's starting points and progress have been assessed correctly. This means that not all are making the best progress they can, although some are achieving in line with expectations. Some practitioners observe the children in their key groups and use their observations to plan some activities. However, this is not consistent across all key groups and some staff do not know their children well. Some children's achievements are plotted in learning journeys and supported by some photographic evidence. However this is not consistent for

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who attend

all children. Staff do not always know what children can do in all areas of learning or identify their next steps in learning.

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who attend

Children generally enjoy the activities and play experiences available to them. However, at times, activities are mainly adult directed with little input from the children. Some staff know how to promote children's language through the use of open-ended questioning but they do not all remember to do this at all times. This sometimes limits opportunities for children to express their own thoughts and ideas as some questions only require one word answers. Staff working with babies speak clearly and introduce new words to help the youngest children develop their vocabularies. Staff competently read books to children and successfully engage their interest. Children are able to make suitable, independent choices from the toys and equipment on offer, which supports their decision-making skills. However, not all children are suitability engaged in activities. Staff do not notice that some wander aimlessly around the room and, on occasions, they wander outside where no

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who attend

activities or staff are present. Some staff’s time is not used to best effect. This poor deployment and inadequate supervision by staff results in missed learning opportunities and puts children at risk. Children spend time exploring activities which are suitably structured and tailored to their interests, for example exploring the sand or exploring the texture and taste of melted chocolate. However, this is inconsistent and not all children are involved in sound, purposeful play. Although some staff work and communicate satisfactorily with the children, this is not consistent or sufficient to meet the needs of all the children attending. As a result, not all children make good progress in their communication and language development. For instance, not all staff communicate sufficiently with the children to build and extend their vocabulary or help them to form correct sentences by modelling good speech. Consequently, some are not learning the skills they need to be ready for school.

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who attend

Overall, the staff communicate satisfactorily with parents, which helps them meet children's needs. However, when children start at the nursery, the information exchanged between the parent and staff is not always used to form a starting point for children's learning. As a result, the staff are unable to plan initial activities to help children settle because they are unaware of their development level.

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

Children's safety is compromised. They do not learn about managing risk because the nursery environment is not consistently organised to keep them safe and is not fit for purpose. Staff are not deployed effectively, which compromises children's safety. Babies are well protected from cross-infection; hygiene practices are good because of effective systems such as all persons entering the babies’ room have to remove their shoes. In the tweenies’ room, hygiene practices are less good. During an activity where children were encouraged to feel the texture and taste of melted chocolate, a member of staff stirred one child's chocolate with a gloved finger and then used the same finger in another child's chocolate. Hygiene was compromised, putting children at risk of cross-infection.

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

Children generally behave well and are developing appropriate social skills. They are friendly and play cooperatively together. Some children are confident to express their views to ask questions. Some children develop positive relationships with their key person and gain confidence in the caring and friendly atmosphere staff create; however, this does not happen in all key groups. There are some opportunities for children to be independent in managing tasks for themselves, such as helping themselves to drinking water. There are a range of resources available, and because they are stored at a low level, they are easy to access. Staff allow children the freedom to choose what they want to do. However, some children do not take this opportunity because staff do not encourage them to select their own activities. The pre-school is not well organised by staff. It does not help older children prepare for school because some children play noisily, which causes

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

disruption and does not allow children to concentrate. Some children play sociably together, develop games and generally behave well.

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

Some children enjoy healthy experiences at the nursery. Snack time is at set times during the day, children receive a nutritious, healthy snack, which helps them understand about the importance of healthy eating. Staff do little to teach children about healthy options and what the benefits are in eating them. Pre-school children were observed to access the large football area once during the inspection and enjoyed playing with hoops, balls and bean bags. No activities were provided outdoors and no member of staff were deployed to the area to encourage children to enjoy the outdoors. The babies and tweenies did not go outside at all. This gives them no opportunity to enjoy fresh air and explore the outdoors.

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provision

The management team and staff have a poor understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and there are numerous breaches of legal requirements. This means that they are ineffective in fulfilling their duties. They compromise children's safety and fail to provide an effective educational programme to help all children make progress.

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provision

The provider does not ensure that the premises are safe, which puts children at risk. In the outdoor area, the slide is cracked and is not sectioned off to prevent children using it. There is also another, very large slide which is not for the nursery's use. This is in the same area but staff do not prevent access to it, and on occasion, children use the outdoor area unsupervised. The corners of the sink in the pre-school room are at child height and children are not protected from the sharp corners. The outside area is not regularly used, and staff do not interact with children outdoors. No activities were provided outdoors other than during one planned occasion when the pre-school children were taken to the football area with a selection of hoops and balls. The tweenies and babies did not experience the outdoors during the inspection.

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provision

Two loose wires were observed behind the book case, with discarded books on top of them; one had exposed wires and the other was a continuous cable. The manager had not taken satisfactory steps to ensure that they were safe and had not identified the potential risk. Practice is weak and compromises children’s safety. Therefore, staff are unable to successfully promote children’s welfare, learning and development.

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provision

Self-evaluation is not sufficiently rigorous and the identification of areas for improvement at the nursery is weak. This leads to poor continuous improvement and impacts significantly on the educational programmes and children's learning and development. In addition, some requirements of the Childcare Register are not met.

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provision

Some of the staff have not undertaken safeguarding training and although the nursery have a safeguarding policy in place, this is not followed by all staff. Some staff have a poor understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of a concern about a child. Although most staff are able to describe what signs would raise their concerns about a child, their lack of knowledge of procedures puts children at risk. Staff records are maintained confidentially and are not discussed with others. However, recruitment practice is not good enough because the vetting of persons who have regular contact with children is not robust. Risk assessments are in place but they are not effectively carried out and fail to protect children in the nursery. A risk assessment for the use of the football area stated there were no risks, but the perimeter was not secure and there were other hazards such as stinging nettles. In addition, the hazards from the exposed wires behind the book case

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provision

had not been identified, reported and risks to children minimised. This compromises children's safety.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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t)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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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 EY440564 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 910662

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 0 Total number of places 0 Number of children on roll 0 Name of provider Little Hippos Nursery Aston Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01213334729

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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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