Wulstan's Lodge Childcare

St Wulstan's Child Care Group St. Wulstans R C Primary School, Elmfield Walk, STOURPORT-ON-SEVERN, Worcestershire, DY13 8TY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/10/2013 06/11/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 2 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

 There are several breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements relating to suitability, first aid and staff qualifications, notifications to Ofsted and record keeping. All of these adversely impact on children's well-being and safety.  Children are not safeguarded because changes to the nominated individual, committee and managers have not been notified to Ofsted. As a result, Ofsted has been unable to check the suitability of new committee members.  There are weaknesses in staff vetting processes and staff deployment arrangements. It is unclear whether all staff's suitability checks have been completed. Qualification requirements, including those for first aid, are not consistently met. Some required records are not available for inspection.  Management and accountability arrangements are unclear. Weak monitoring and evaluation and a lack of understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements

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This provision is inadequate

have resulted in breaches of regulation going unnoticed for some time.

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It has the following strengths

 The manager and staff enthusiastically plan and organise rewarding activities and resources. These foster children's enjoyment and generally purposeful learning, although at times younger children are less engaged.  Effective partnership working with parents means they are actively involved in and well- informed about their children's learning and development.

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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 indoor and outside areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with three members of the committee and the manager.  The inspector spoke to children, parents and staff during the inspection.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff and discussed procedures for notifying changes to the committee.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at and discussed a sample of records and policies relating to safeguarding and children's health and safety.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at and discussed the group's self-evaluation form and plans for improvement.

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Information about the setting

St Wulstan's Childcare Group was registered in 2004 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from self-contained premises in the grounds of St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Primary School in the town of Stourport-on-Severn. The group is managed by a committee and offers nursery, before and after school; and holiday playscheme sessions. The group serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There are enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The group employs nine members of childcare staff. Of these, four hold appropriate early years qualifications to at least level 3. Another member of staff is working towards a teaching qualification and three are working towards a qualification at level 2 or 3. The group opens Monday to Friday all year round, closing for bank holidays and over Christmas. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. Children aged from two to 14 attend the group.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 43 children on roll, of whom 28 are within the early years age group. The group provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 improve understanding of the requirements and devise clear procedures to follow regarding notifications to Ofsted about changes to the nominated individual, committee members and managers

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must:

 improve staff deployment to ensure minimum qualification requirements, including those for first aid, are met at every session

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must:

 obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service check for every person who works directly with children and maintain an accurate record of these checks and other vetting processes

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must:

 ensure required records are retained for a reasonable period of time and are available for inspection. Specifically this refers to records of staff's Disclosure and Barring Service checks and of records of children's hours of attendance during the summer holiday playscheme and of the names of their key persons

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must:

 strengthen the committee's role in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the group and develop a culture of mutual support and teamwork in order to consistently drive and sustain continuous improvement.

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

 consolidate the planning and organisation of activities and resources to focus more precisely on the needs of two-year-olds in order to enhance their interest and active participation.

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who attend

There is a lively, often purposeful atmosphere. Most children are keen to join in activities and discussions. They eagerly respond to the staff's enthusiasm, encouragement and their stimulating surroundings, where they can help themselves to toys and take part in an interesting range of activities. Some younger children are not ready to concentrate for long. At times, they are easily distracted and while staff are attentive they are not always successful in keeping these children involved and engaged. There is, therefore, scope for staff to further develop their planning and organisation of activities and resources in order to consistently capture younger children's interest and to promote their active learning. Parents' views about their children's learning and development help staff to get to know each child's characteristics and interests and to plan more accurately for them. In turn, parents appreciate being able to talk about their child's abilities, for instance in their child's

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who attend

'all about me' record or through their 'wow' moments' comments. They like looking at their child's learning journey and welcome opportunities to talk to staff and to read their written feedback in their child's diary about their day at nursery.

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who attend

Overall children make satisfactory progress. The manager and staff now have a sound understanding of each child's abilities and ongoing learning and development needs. They have improved consistency and accuracy in observation and assessment, including implementing user-friendly and informative two-year-old progress checks. The manager's current priority is to ensure key persons complete an accurate baseline assessment of their key children's abilities and understanding which they can then build on. She is also visiting other settings and seeking other early years professionals' advice on how to more rigorously follow up children's next steps in the planning of activities and resources. However, the manager and staff already provide a good balance of child-initiated and more adult-led activities. During these they successfully concentrate on children's individual learning priorities, such as, sharing, speaking more clearly or concentrating for

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who attend

longer. This includes helping children to be effective learners in readiness for going to school. For instance, during stories, circle time discussions and registration sessions, staff encourage children to listen, be attentive and to confidently join in discussions and express their views.

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who attend

The manager and staff ensure activities are fun and interesting. Their involvement helps children to get the most out of these. For example, children concentrate while making marks because the member of staff offers them a choice of materials and talks easily to them about what they are doing. Her colleague, meanwhile, talks to two other children about the pictures they want to download and print so they can colour in some favourite cartoon characters. The children learn how to use the printer and to adjust the setting when a technical hitch results in an incomplete image. They then happily join the other member of staff in the mark making area. At another activity children take it in turns to make pictures featuring their foot prints. This is, in the main, led by an adult but every child is captivated and relaxed as the soles of their feet are painted white, they make prints, and then their feet are wiped clean. All the time, each child and others calmly

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who attend

waiting their turn, chat away to the member of staff and are delighted with their picture. The activity provides a good opportunity to consolidate children's independent dressing as most of them manage by themselves to take off and put back on their socks and shoes.

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who attend

Staff skilfully promote different aspects of children's learning during these activities. For instance during sensory play, the manager reinforces a child's mark making, awareness of shape and understanding of texture. During a group activity another member of staff and children talk about feelings. This leads on to a lovely discussion about expressions and then about different features and uses of parts of their bodies. The session ends with children and adults getting ready, in the words of a child, 'to rumba' as they expertly take part in a dance routine, following the actions of dancers featured on the whiteboard screen.

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

Staff are not adequately prepared for ensuring children's well-being in the event of an accident or if a child becomes unwell. A member of staff with a paediatric first aid qualification is not always on the premises when children are present, which is a breach of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The committee have not ensured that enough staff had current first aid qualifications to allow for staff's varying patterns of attendance, the hours the group operates or to cover for staff absences. When first aid qualified staff left at short notice there were not enough qualified staff available to provide sufficient cover. At the time the manager organised training for herself and three other staff but they have only recently started these courses. She also sought the adjacent school's help to provide cover from paediatric first aid trained school staff during school hours.

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

In other respects, children's well-being is effectively promoted. The manager and staff make sure they are well informed about and effectively cater for each child's care, health and dietary needs. Children and families feel welcomed and comfortable because the manager and staff create an inviting atmosphere. Children settle quickly in the child- friendly surroundings and have formed close attachments with the kind and approachable manager and staff. They ensure parents and carers feel included and when they come to pick up their children they often spend time chatting to staff and finding out what their children have been doing.

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

Staff enthuse and encourage children, helping them to become increasingly confident, to form positive relationships and to be emotionally and socially ready for school. In addition, the group's location on a school site and the close links with the school ensure children become familiar with aspects of school life. Children are well behaved and like to be helpful, eagerly assisting with tidying up. They enjoy socialising with each other at snack and lunch times, and staff consistently promote their sharing and turn taking.

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

Children are encouraged to be healthy. The group's outside area is well-equipped and interesting. Children relish being out and being active in all weathers. Activities elsewhere in the school grounds provide them with greater physical challenges. Children and staff often talk about exercise and how it helps to promote their good health. Children are encouraged to follow good hygiene procedures and are helped by staff to become independent in managing their toileting and other self-care needs. Through discussions and displays of different foods, children develop some understanding of the importance of healthy eating. Staff also encourage children to behave safely and sensibly. For example, they promote children's spatial awareness and controlled movement on various wheeled toys. Children and staff discuss different aspects of safety when they talk about and take part in practise emergency evacuations. The manager and staff use risk assessments and

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

checks to monitor the safety and security of the premises and outside areas and to ensure toys are of high quality.

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provision

Children are not safeguarded. The committee do not have a clear understanding of the requirements to notify Ofsted of any changes to the nominated individual, members of the committee or manager either before the event happens or within 14 days of the changes occurring. In the last 12 months there have been significant changes to the leadership and management of the group, all of which happened several months ago. This includes the nominated individual leaving and not being replaced, some committee members resigning and new members joining, and changes to the day-to-day management of the group. No action was taken to notify Ofsted of these changes at the time they occurred. This has an impact on the welfare of children because the regulator has not been able to initiate vetting processes to check if new committee members are suitable. However, on this occasion, Ofsted is taking no further action. Recently, prior to the inspection, the

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provision

committee took steps to find out the process for making notifications and to download required documentation.

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provision

Management and accountability arrangements are unclear, impacting on the smooth running of the group. At the time of the inspection, a new nominated individual had not been identified, although the committee hope this can be addressed during their forthcoming annual general meeting. Therefore, for nearly 12 months the group has not had a nominated individual to be their point of contact and legal representative. Historically, the committee have not taken an active part in influencing the quality and effectiveness of procedures relating to children's welfare, health and safety or the suitability of those who work directly with the children. Within the last year the current committee recognised the need for them to actively manage the group. However, significant staff changes have meant their attention has been focussed on recruitment and support for the new manager and staff so the committee has not yet taken a decisive role

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provision

in the overall monitoring and evaluation of the group. This has led to other breaches in the safeguarding and welfare requirements going unnoticed or not being addressed quickly enough. For example, staff are not always effectively deployed to ensure the minimum qualification requirements are met at every session, and a qualified first aider is not always present. Some required record keeping is either not available or up-to-date. In particular, this means that the group are unable to demonstrate that all staff have completed Disclosure and Barring Service or Criminal Records Bureau checks. Attendance records from the summer holiday playscheme are not available to confirm that whether ratios or qualification requirements were met. These weaknesses also mean the group is failing to meet several requirements of the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register which governs their provision for children aged over five.

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provision

In other respects, following this turbulent period of change, the current committee and staff have pulled together to effectively address other weaknesses. For instance, when the current manager was appointed she quickly identified what needed to improve, with regard to the quality of teaching and children's learning and information sharing with parents. Through her effective supervision and mentoring of staff, the manager identified clear individual targets for each member of staff to work towards. She ensured they had support and accessed in service and external training in order to achieve these. The committee have been involved in recruitment and supported the manager in raising standards. As a result, the manager and current staff are an effective team. They are enthusiastic, focussed and increasingly confident as they promote children's care, learning and development. Other improvements, such as, reorganising the learning environment

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provision

and embedding consistent observation and assessment have enabled staff to plan more relevant and rewarding activities for children in more exciting surroundings. The manager has recognised there is further work to do here in order to more precisely plan for two- year-olds. Improved monitoring of children's progress also ensures staff have up-to-date information about each child's progress to share with parents and other professionals and means they have a better understanding of which aspects of a child's learning to focus on next.

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provision

Other aspects of safeguarding are adequately met. The manager and staff have all completed recent safeguarding training, including discussing different scenarios at their team meetings. They have clear policies to follow as well as the local authority's comprehensive guidance. Children's personal details and individual circumstances, including any specific access arrangements, are clearly documented and understood. The manager, in particular, liaises confidently with other agencies involved with vulnerable families. She and her colleagues have sensitively developed trusting relationships with parents who appreciate their advice and support in promoting their children's welfare, safety and good health.

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provision

Positive relationships with parents, other agencies and the school contribute to the manager's and staff's success in meeting children's needs. Parents express their confidence and satisfaction in the way the manager and staff work with them and keep them informed about their children's care routines, activities and achievements. Their views are encouraged and followed up, such as the introduction of a daily diary to give them a written account of their child's activities, experiences and routines. The manager and staff also confidently work with other professionals such as speech and language therapists to ensure they provide tailored support for children with communication difficulties and/or other developmental delay. The close links with the school mean that pre-school age children are familiar with different aspects of school life before they start through using school facilities and enjoying shared activities and experiences. The

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provision

manager and staff provide appropriate information for parents and teachers about children's progress at the time of transition.

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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 at least one person who is caring for children has an appropriate first aid qualification (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  implement effective systems to ensure that every person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children and which must include obtaining a Disclosure and Barring Service check (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that at least half of all persons caring for children have successfully completed a qualification at a minimum of level 2 in a relevant area of work (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 and retain this record for a period of two years (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of changes of circumstance, such as the changes to people, as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after the change occurs (compulsory part of

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

the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of the following: the appointment of a new manager of childcare on non-domestic premises and changes to the nominated person of a childcare provision (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of the following: the name, date of birth, address and telephone number of any member of the committee (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that at least one person who is caring for children has an appropriate first aid qualification (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  implement effective systems to ensure that every person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children and which must include obtaining a Disclosure and Barring Service check (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 and retain this record for a period of two years (voluntary

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

part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of changes of circumstance, such as the changes to people, as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after the change occurs (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of the following: the appointment of a new manager of childcare on non-domestic premises and changes to the nominated person of a childcare provision (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 EY291703 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 935819

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 43 Name of provider St Wulstan's Child Care Group (Stourport) Committee Date of previous inspection 06/11/2008 Telephone number 01299 829032

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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