Koalas Swindon Opportunity Group

Koalas Swindon Opportunity Group C/O Saltway, Pearl Road, Middleleaze, Swindon, SN5 5TD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/06/2013 10/02/2011

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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 outside area is not secure, as a result the children can leave the premises unsupervised.  Staff are not effectively deployed to securely meet the needs and maintain the safety of all children present.  The provider does not involve parents in aspects of the risk assessment to help promote children's safety.  Key staff do not communicate with the team effectively to share information about children's changing needs.  Induction training is not consistent to enable all persons working with the children to have a secure understanding of their roles and responsibilities, especially in relation to safeguarding children.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff help children to make progress within their learning and development, through use of a suitable range of toys and resources.  Partnerships with other professionals are well supported and encouraged by the group.

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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 and quality of teaching in the playroom and outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with staff working in the group and recorded observations of their interactions with children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at policies, procedures, progress records and planning documents and discussed these with staff.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

Koalas Opportunity Group was first established in 1987. It operates from Saltway in the Middleaze district of Swindon. The group offer support, guidance and care for children with disabilities. There are currently 38 children on roll and of these, eleven receive funding for nursery education. The setting is open for four morning or afternoon sessions a week for 49 weeks of the year. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The provision employs six members of staff including the manager and one voluntary assistant. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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must:

 ensure that the premises are secure and that children are unable to leave the group unsupervised

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must:

 ensure staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children and ensure their safety

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must:

 identify all aspects of the environment that need to be checked on a regular basis to ensure children's safety

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must:

 ensure parents are informed how risks are managed to keep children safe

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must:

 improve the key person system to ensure every child's care is tailored to meet their individual needs, by sharing important information with all staff members

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must:

 ensure that all staff and volunteers receive induction training, which includes safeguarding and child protection, to help them understand their roles and responsibilities

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who attend

Children's individual needs are not supported effectively. Staff do not ensure that children are safe while they are outside, to enable them to learn in a secure environment. The staff obtain specific information from parents regarding children's starting points and capabilities. This enables them to offer suitable support at the beginning of a care agreement. However, some staff fail to share important information about their key child's changing development, with other staff and management. For example, staff identify that children develop an interest in locks and have an increased interest in climbing. However, this information is not routinely shared to enable all staff to adapt their routines to deal with this safely. Consequently, this puts children at risk.

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who attend

Overall, staff working with the children are supportive and kind, and this has a positive impact on the children's self confidence and self esteem. Some children have their needs met very well and receive the support they need to make progress in their learning. In the main, staff working with the children have a knowledgeable understanding of how children progress and learn and this is well captured in the children learning journals.

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who attend

Children have access to activities that interest and occupy them consistently. For example, they play with a range of sensory materials, such as sand and dried pasta. Their creativeness is well promoted as they explore and mix cornflour and water with their hands. Staff supervise and become involved in children's play. Staff develop children's interest in mathematics as they sing number songs together and use numbers in puzzles. Children have opportunities to develop their hand to eye co-ordination as they press buttons on the singing bear and explore technology and computers. The group have a wide range of books available for the children; this includes books with Braille, puppets and textured books, to help children with sight loss. They are fully included as they feel the indented pictures of frogs and tadpoles, as the member of staff reads about the creature's life cycle. This promotes early reading, which prepares children for their

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who attend

Staff talk to the children throughout the day, so they feel valued and supported. Staff also communicate in other ways, using positive gestures, sign language and picture prompts ensuring all children are fully included. For example, as children look at the large ball and attempt to verbalise their needs, staff sensitively take them over to the ball and enable them to explore and lay on it, to promote their moving and handling skills. Staff keep parents well informed of children's learning and progress, and parents value this input.

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

Children's safety is not promoted because staff and management have failed to ensure that the outside provision is fit for purpose. For example, the fencing and gates used to keep the children inside the garden, and safe are not suitable. Children can operate the locks on the gates to leave the group unsupervised. In addition, children who climb confidently can use the low picket fencing and wooden beam as a step to leave the play area. This means that children can leave the provision unnoticed, which poses a significant risk to their well-being and safety overall, especially as staff are not always vigilant or on hand to prevent this. The opportunity group operates a key person system and children form warm, close relationships with staff and often seek reassurance from them. However, failings in the lines of communication between the key person, staff and management means that some children needs are not met. For example, the management team have not been

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

sufficiently notified of developing risk factors that need to be taken into consideration for some children, to keep them safe. This means that staff and children have a false sense of security as current procedures to do not meet their specific needs and do not keep them safe. Despite this, it is clear that children are happy in the setting and most children enter the group confidently and settle quickly with an appropriate staff member.

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

Children attending the group benefit from nutritious and well-balanced snacks. Staff develop the children's understanding of social skills as the children sit together to share fruit at snack time. Staff encourage children to communicate their requests through their sign language and the use of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) boards. This promotes the children's social skills. Staff support children's independence as they enable them, where possible, to self-select their foods and drinks. This supports the children's ability to acquire the skills to be ready for their next stage of learning. Children are encouraged to learn about the importance of hand washing through daily routines. The staff manage children's behaviour well and use praise and encouragement, to promote children's self-esteem. Children enjoy exploring the outside area and children who are unable to walk enjoy being taken out in their specialised equipment, to explore

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

the garden area. Other children enjoy the woodland area, exploring the sensory garden and playing on the adapted equipment, such as swings and trampoline. This supports their physical skills suitably.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are inadequate. The inspection was brought forward following a notification by the provider to Ofsted about a child leaving the group unsupervised for a period of time. A child left the garden unnoticed and was stopped near a busy road by a member of the public. During the incident, staff followed their lost child policy and called the police and parents. They then ensured that the regulator was informed.

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provision

The inspection found that security is still not adequate to prevent this from happening again. Management have fitted bolts to the gate, although these are easily within a child's reach. In addition, children are able to climb over the fence and staff are not always vigilant when supervising children outside. This poses a significant risk to children's well- being and safety and is a breach of requirements.

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provision

Overall, the management team have suitable recruitment, vetting and appraisal systems in place. Most staff have suitable induction when they are employed. However, this does not consistently include volunteers, to ensure they are aware of safeguarding and child protection procedures. Consequently, this fails to protect and maintain the safety and well- being of the children. Permanent staff understand their roles and are secure in their knowledge of the procedures to follow to in the event of a child protection concern. Risk assessments are in place but they are not sufficient because they are not followed by all staff. This as a result means that they are not effective. The group have amended the risk assessments since the incident. However, parents are not effectively involved and informed to allay their concerns and enable them to feel confident that their children are safe.

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provision

All staff working with the children hold a recognised early year qualification. This enables them to have a secure understanding in child development. In addition, most staff have Makaton training and first aid, which enable them to communicate with children who understand sign language, and administer first aid, should the need arise.

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provision

Self-evaluation is not sufficiently rigorous and so the identification of key improvements at the group are weak. This leads to poor continuous improvement and impacts significantly on children's ability to play and learn in a safe environment. In addition, the requirements of the Childcare Register are not met.

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provision

The group overall, have a secure relationship with parents. They generally work well with the parents and involve them in their child's learning and development. Parents are suitability informed of the group's policies and the procedures, and all required consents are in place, including daily routines and care plans. Parents speak very highly of staff and explain that they are supportive in aiding them in accessing specialist equipment, completing documentation and attending multi-agency meetings. The group are committed to working in partnership with others and support professionals well in routine visits at the group.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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

 ensure that a child is unable to leave the premises (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that a child is unable to leave the premises unsupervised (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 EY344140 Local authority Swindon Inspection number 922483 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 38 Number of children on roll 20 Name of provider Koalas Opportunity Group Committee Date of previous inspection 10/02/2011 Telephone number 01793 465361

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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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