Tiny Town Kindergarten

Tiny Town Kindergarten 1 Mount Pleasant, Tadley, Hampshire, RG26 4JH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/08/2013 03/02/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 3 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 providers fail to take sufficient action to ensure staff suitability and effective staffing. Staff qualifications do not meet requirements during some periods in the day and on occasions ratios are not met. Some staff who work with children do not have a Disclosure and Barring Service check. These are breaches of legal requirements which compromise children's safety.  The providers have also failed to obtain permission to administer some medications. They have not identified all risks on the premises; ensured all children's attendance is recorded; implemented robust hygiene procedures or provided nutritious meals for the children. This does not support children's good health or well-being and are also breaches of legal requirements.  Self-evaluation and monitoring have not been focused enough on tackling weaknesses in the quality of staff interactions or in supporting some groups of children in their

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This provision is inadequate

learning. Activities do not provide enough challenge or support children to make good enough progress in their learning.

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It has the following strengths

 Partnerships with parents are suitably promoted as staff share information about children's learning and include parents in target setting for children's next steps.  Staff appear to know the children well and their interactions are kind and caring.

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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 all of the rooms within the nursery.  The inspector held a meeting with the nursery owners.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to members of the staff team about the progress of their key children and their understanding of the nursery's policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's observation, tracking and assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working with children in the nursery and a range of other documentation.  The inspector took into account the views of parents and carers.

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Information about the setting

The Tiny Town Kindergarten opened in 2001. It is a privately owned nursery situated in the village of Tadley near Basingstoke in Hampshire. The provider is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. The setting serves families from the surrounding areas. The nursery supports children who are learning English as an additional language. There are currently 39 children on roll in the early years age group. The setting opens on weekdays all year round from 8am to 6pm. There are 10 members of staff including the owners who work with the children. Of these, six have a recognised early years qualification and two member of staff are unqualified. The setting receives support from the local authority and receives funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years.

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enforcement action:

We will issue Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:- ensure meals that are provided to children are healthy, balanced and nutritious and take into consideration their food preferences maintain a daily record of the names of the children being cared for on the premises, their hours of attendance and the names of each child's key person obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check in respect of every person aged 16 and over who works directly with children.

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must:

 ensure risks to children are minimised by having a clear and well-understood policy, and procedure, for assessing any risks to children's safety, which identifies aspects of the environment that need to be checked on a regular basis, includes when and by whom those aspects will be checked, and how the risk will be removed or minimised

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must:

 ensure there are appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision of staff who have contact with children and families, which includes opportunities for staff to discuss any issues - particularly concerning children's development or well- being; identify solutions to address issues as they arise; and provide coaching to improve their personal effectiveness

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must:

 ensure that all aspects of the premises and outdoor spaces, are fit for purpose with particular regard to the suitability of spaces, furniture, equipment and toys

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must:

 ensure children are fully protected by taking necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection

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must:

 implement a policy and procedures for administering medicines which includes obtaining written permission to administer medicine, both prescription and non- prescription to ensure children's health is effectively maintained

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must:

 implement a procedure to ensure that staff know that they are expected to disclose any convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands and warnings whether received before or during their employment, to ensure they continue to be suitable to work with children

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must:

 ensure that all staff receive induction training to help them understand their roles and responsibilities including emergency evacuation procedures, safeguarding, child protection, the equality policy, and health and safety issues

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must:

 ensure the ratio and qualification requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage apply to the total number of staff available to work directly with children, especially in the morning part of the day

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must:

 promote and value diversity and difference for children, including those with English as an additional language by implementing a policy and procedures, to promote equality of opportunity; ensure that this includes arrangements for reviewing, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of inclusive practices

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must:

 review deployment of staff to meet the needs of all children and to ensure that children are adequately supervised

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must:

 improve staff knowledge of the learning and development requirements, particularly in the pre-school and toddler room in order to consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child, and use this information to identify their next steps and plan challenging and enjoyable experiences for each child in all of the areas of learning and development.

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who attend

Children are not well supported in their learning. Although staff are generally attentive, they lack secure skills to fully engage and question children in their play. Valuable opportunities to build on and extend children's prior learning are missed by staff who fail to focus on what the children already know or support them further through appropriate modelling. For example, during a creative activity, children are asked by staff to place pins in the wooden shapes and to hammer them in. Staff over-direct the activity by suggesting where children should place the shapes and on occasions do it for them. Staff fail to encourage them to identify the shapes or colours, or use this small group activity to build on children's language, in particular their speaking skills. This means that children are taking part in activities that do not support them to make good progress given their starting points. In addition, little support is given by staff to encourage children to

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who attend

implement what they have learnt in a practical way, in future activities. Consequently, some activities merely occupy them and do challenge them sufficiently in their learning. This applies specifically to the older age ranges in the nursery, because those in the younger age range are given adequate support that mostly meets their needs. For example, children in the baby room enjoy a range of activities that support them to gain new skills such as sitting, crawling and walking. Young children engage in a suitable range of adult-directed activities that include sensory play, such as playing in shaving foam, along with self-chosen play such as puzzles and musical toys. Planning to support the differing needs of children is weak and overall fails to adequately cover all areas of learning or link to specific learning needs. Staff make observations of children in their play which they use to inform children's next steps, known as 'targets'.

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who attend

However the targets staff set and then share with parents are not always appropriate to what the children need to do next in their learning. Targets are also not used to good effect to further challenge and extend children's learning. When planning activities staff do not routinely link what they expect children to learn with their identified next steps and so only offer a general range of activities throughout the day. In addition, there is not always sufficient differentiation in learning activities to address each child's age and stage of development, so older and younger children who are mixed in one playroom are not well supported. Planning also does not provide children with access to an outdoor learning environment that helps them develop in all areas of their learning or support those groups of children who learn better outside. Children learning English as an additional language do not make the same levels of progress that their peers do, because staff lack sufficient

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who attend

understanding of how to provide continued development of the children's first language alongside the learning of English, in order to encourage language development. As a result, children do not acquire the skills and attitudes necessary to prepare them for their next stage in learning and school.

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who attend

Suitable systems are in place to engage parents in their child's learning. Parents are provided with information about how their child is doing as they view records of activities their children have undertaken. They are also invited to be included in setting targets for their child's future learning. However, because some staff fail to make accurate observations of where children are in their learning or suitably address areas where they have fallen behind by highlighting areas that need further support, this partnership is not effective in meet children's specific learning needs or providing parents with secure information on their child's learning.

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

Children's well-being is affected by poor staff deployment at times during the day. There is a failure to implement suitable health and hygiene procedures, inadequate safety measures and a poor menu. Staff have generally been assigned a key group of children and know them well. Babies are familiar with the staff caring for them and staff demonstrate a sound awareness of babies' home routines, including sleep and feeding times. However on occasions in the day, staff deployment and the organisation of the routine in this room is not adequate to meet children needs. For example, one member of staff is left with four babies on her own, while children and staff play outside. This means that if she needs to leave the room to change a nappy, check on sleeping children in the cot room or soothe an upset child, she is unable to give the other children in her care the attention they need or supervise them adequately to keep them safe.

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

There are limited opportunities for children to develop an understanding of healthy eating because the meals and snacks offered to the children are not balanced, healthy or appropriate to their age or dietary needs. The owners have been asked to address this on two previous occasions but meal options overall are still very poor. Meals consist of highly processed food products that have very low nutritional value. On the day of the inspection, all children, including babies, were offered a very small selection of dried fruit as a morning snack and for lunch were given a very limited quantity of mini-sweet corn, yellow pepper and a small piece of naan bread with some fruit and yogurt to follow. This does not meet the growing needs of young children or provide them with balanced options in the day to prevent them from becoming hungry. This is a breach of a legal requirement and on this occasion Ofsted intends to issue a welfare requirements notice to ensure the

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

improvement of the nutritional value of meals. In addition, staff do not follow robust hygiene procedures when preparing or serving food, to prevent cross contamination after nappy changing. This is also a breach of a legal requirement and could compromise children's good health.

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

Areas of the nursery are suitably maintained, although some resources such as the rugs in the main playroom appear dirty and do not stay in place, which could be a slip hazard. Children generally play with an adequate range of toys but some of the resources are not easily accessible, which limits children's choice and independence. For example, good quality books in the pre-school room are on a high shelf out of reach and some high chairs do not have trays fitted which means that babies are unable to independently access their food and have to rely on staff. Children generally respect the behaviour rules in the nursery and behave in a way that is appropriate for their age by sharing toys, taking turns and listening to staff.

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

Children's good health is further compromised because staff have not followed their policy on the administration of medication and have administered non-prescription medication without written permission to a child in their care. Although on this occasion, there was an urgent need to provide the child with the medication, overall the owners understanding of the safe storage, the need for prior written permission for medication and their responsibility to keep a suitable record is poor. This does not support those children in the nursery who have a long term medical need and require daily doses of medication or support staff to act appropriately should another child require non-prescription medication in the future.

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

Children have opportunities to develop their physical skills as they engage in some physical play in outdoor play space, when staff take them outside to play. This area is resourced to provide children with opportunities to jump, climb and pedal. Younger children explore water play, while older children experiment by posting plastic balls down drain pipes. However the garden area is not used well enough to support children's learning. Some children are left waiting for a turn on a bike for some time because staff do not sufficiently monitor if children have equal access to the equipment and activities provided. In addition poor planning and staff interactions, limits children's learning potential in this area because they have not addressed all the safety aspects of the areas used in outdoor play by preparing it for the day. For example, rubbish, brambles or safety in the communal car park; the unsuitable location of resources under the fire escape or

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

how staff support children's understanding of safety when using the trampoline or climbing on tree stumps.

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provision

The providers do not meet their safeguarding responsibilities, as they do not have robust policies or procedures in place to safeguard children. This is in particular regard to their failure to obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check for each member of staff that works directly with the children. As a result their suitability cannot be assured. In addition, risk assessments are not adequate to promote the safety and well-being of the children in the nursery. Staff have not assessed the indoor or outdoor spaces to ensure they are safe for children to use. As a result, the staff have failed to identify and minimise a number of safety issues, such as an internal door propped against a wall in the craft room that has been removed due to the on-going re-decoration of the nursery or the safety of the garden in respects to the children using a public car park that has not been made safe. Ongoing safety is also not closely monitored, so young children sit in high

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provision

chairs with no safety straps or trays to keep them secure in their seats and staff are often left alone in the room with children. Furthermore, staffing does not meet requirements in the early part of the day and on the day of the inspection suitably qualified were not available to support the children. These are all breaches in welfare requirements. The owners and staff have an adequate understanding of their child protection responsibilities and the reporting procedures to follow if they have a concern.

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provision

Self-evaluation and monitoring procedures overall are weak. The nursery does not have a secure or on-going monitoring procedure to monitor and evaluate the quality of care and the educational provision. As a result, they have not been effective in identifying key areas for immediate improvement to promote children's well-being or safety. This includes inequalities in activities for some children and lack of support for others and not enough is being done by staff to help 'narrow the gap' and ensure that all children are making sufficient progress given their starting points. Previous inspection recommendations have not been responded to and other aspects of practice in the nursery have now slipped. These include the maintenance of an accurate daily record of children's attendance, the quality of the food and planning for outdoor play which were set previously and safeguarding, suitability of staff and the maintenance of documentation at this inspection.

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provision

These are breaches in legal requirements and do not promote the on-going safety and well-being of the children. In addition, the provider has failed to meet the associated requirements of the Childcare Register.

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provision

Staffing in the pre-school room is not consistent and a high number of staff are still undertaking training to gain a recognised qualification so qualification requirements are not met. A robust process to support the induction, on-going monitoring and mentoring of staff practise has not been established and the owners have not accurately identified or tackled weaknesses with staff performance. This has led to inconsistent practice in the nursery and means that staff do not have the necessary knowledge and understanding of how young children learn. This impacts on the how well some children progress.

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provision

Parents have some opportunities to input their views or feedback on the service through questionnaires and discussions at a parents evening. However these comments have not been used to inform changes within the nursery. There is a complaints policy in place but the owners have a poor understanding of responding to the concerns raised or keeping details of the complaints made. Parents are further involved as partners as they have been tasked by the nursery to phone in 'fire' alerts as a means of supporting staff to practise the fire drills more regularly. This was set as a recommendation at the last inspection. Staff now practise the fire drill and keep a log, but this details at least four occasions where staff have failed to maintain the register accurately which was only discovered when they evacuated the premises. This does not indicate secure practice and may endanger children, should a real fire occur, as children are not noted down securely on the

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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 a list of complaints made during the previous three years is produced to Ofsted if requested (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  keep a record of any medicine administered to any child who is cared for on the premises, including the date, circumstances and who administered it, including medicine which the child is permitted to self-administer, together with a record of a parent/guardian/carer's consent (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure the premises and equipment used for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable for that childcare (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  implement a system to ensure that any person caring for, or in regular contact

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

with, children is suitable to work with children which includes obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure a list of complaints made during the previous three years is produced to Ofsted if requested. (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  keep a record of any medicine administered to any child who is cared for on the premises, including the date, circumstances and who administered it, including medicine which the child is permitted to self-administer, together with a record of a parent/guardian/carer's consent (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure the premises and equipment used for the purposes of the childcare are safe

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

and suitable for that childcare (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  implement a system to ensure that any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children which includes obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (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 509570 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 843316 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 39 Name of provider Tiny Town Kindergarten Limited Date of previous inspection 03/02/2010 Telephone number 0118 9814325

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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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