Twizzle Tops Day Nursery

Twizzle Tops Day Nursery Roaring Meg Retail Park, STEVENAGE, Hertfordshire, SG1 1XN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/11/2013 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

 Practitioners display a weak understanding of the prime and specific areas of learning. This means that activities provided for children are often mundane and as a result, children do not show much enthusiasm for learning.  Practitioners are not effective in identifying and responding to each child's emerging needs. They do not provide a wide range of suitably challenging and enjoyable experiences that are firmly based on children's interests.  Practitioners have not completed the required progress check at age two for any children who are aged between two- and three-years-old. This means that parents do not receive a written summary of their child's progress in the prime areas of learning in accordance with legal requirements.  Resources are not used well enough to provide children with challenge or engage their interest.  Children do not have daily access to fresh air and natural light. This means that a

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It has the following strengths

 Good use of high visibility jackets ensure that the nursery children are easily identified when playing in the soft play area amongst members of the public.  Parents and children are welcomed into the nursery and included in the daily routine.

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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 was accompanied by a quality assurance manager. The inspector observed practitioners and children in the baby room, the party room and in the soft play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the managers, talked to practitioners, students and key persons. The inspector and the nursery manager carried out joint observations of activities with each age group.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at various documents, including policies and procedures, children's records, evidence of the suitability of practitioners and safeguarding procedures.

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Information about the setting

Twizzle Tops Day Nursery was registered in 2013 on the Early Years Register and on both the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from two base rooms within a multi-activity play centre in a retail park in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It is managed by Partyman World of Play. The nursery serves the local community and is accessible through the main entrance of the activity centre. Children have access to an indoor soft play area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 7am until 7pm. There are approximately 19 children attending who are in the early years age group. Children attend for a variety of sessions.

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Information about the setting

The nursery provides funded early education for three-year-old children. It has a number of children on roll who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs five members of staff; three members of staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and one holds a qualification at level 4. One member of staff is unqualified.

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must:

 improve practitioners delivery of the learning and development requirements; to make sure that each area of learning is implemented through planned purposeful play

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must:

 make sure that practitioners have sufficient knowledge in in identifying and responding to each child's emerging needs by providing a mixture of activities which are firmly based on children's interests and will provide suitably challenging and enjoyable experiences for children

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must:

 ensure that practitioners review children's progress and provide parents and/or carers with a short written summary of their child's development in the prime areas for children between two and three years of age

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must:

 improve the opportunities for children to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves through communication and language

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must:

 allow children to explore and think critically by encouraging them to choose and use their own choices of resources during play activities to support their creative and critical thinking

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must:

 ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis, in all weather conditions so that children experience daily fresh air and natural light.

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who attend

Children do not have their needs met successfully. This is because the educational programmes provided do not adequately cover the seven areas of learning. Children wander aimlessly about the playroom because practitioners do not give them direction or successfully engage them in meaningful play activities. Interaction with children is subdued and teaching is poor. Practitioners sit with children and provide activities, such as, sand, play dough or jigsaws. However they do not extend children's creative and critical thinking because they do not involve children in talking about what they are doing and there is limited conversation. Children's social and communication skills are generally poor and they display little enthusiasm for learning. Consequently, children make poor progress in the prime areas of learning. For example, children were not allowed to bring the play dough to the paint table, therefore, their creative ideas and sense of exploration

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who attend

is not encouraged or supported. This has a negative impact upon their confidence to initiate play and the development of their self-esteem is stifled. Therefore, children are not well prepared for school with the skills they need to be ready for the next stage in their learning.

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who attend

Parents are involved in completing a basic initial information form about their children when they first start. However, further observation and assessment is weak. Practitioners have not completed the required progress check at age two for children who are between two-and three-years-old. This means that practitioners do not effectively identify children's strengths and any areas where children's progress is less than expected. Therefore, children who need early intervention are not identified rapidly in order to effectively provide support for their future learning and development. This is a breach of legal requirements. Ongoing information sharing with parents is weak and focussed on only care practices. As a result, parents are not aware of what their children are learning.

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who attend

Babies and young children spend an average of one and a half hours each day in the large soft play area. This supports the development of some of their physical skills, such as climbing, balancing and negotiating obstacles. However, further activities to promote children's physical development are limited. For example, children do not have daily access to outdoor activities. They are not routinely supported in managing daily routine tasks such as, serving their own food or pouring their own drink. Practitioners are not confident to stand back and encourage children to 'have a go' for themselves. Therefore, this inhibits the development of their independence. Children who speak English as an additional language and children with poor communication skills are not effectively supported in finding their own voice. This results in children playing alone for most of the time because they do not have the social and language skills to invite others to join them.

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

Children's personal, social and emotional development is poor and they are generally quiet and subdued. Toddlers seek security and cuddles from practitioners and show they have formed attachments to them. Older children to stay close to practitioners which shows they have low levels of confidence but feel secure with the practitioners. As the nursery is set within a public activity centre, children are heavily supervised to ensure they are safe. All nursery children wear high visibility jackets to quickly identify them when other children are also using the soft play area or when they are on occasional outings. Practitioners join the children on the soft play to prevent accidents and to generally support their awareness of their own safety. For example, reminding children to 'wiggle down on their tummies' rather than jump from the large soft block.

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

Care practices are variable and basic. Partnerships between parents and key persons adequately ensure that children's individual care needs are generally met. For example, practitioners wait until active children are sleeping before applying medicated cream to prevent them from rubbing it off. However, on occasion, children are inappropriately given a bottle just before lunch, therefore, disrupting their normal routine and meaning that they do not eat their lunch. Children are occasionally reminded to clean their hands before eating. They are given reasonably healthy snacks and meals but there is no choice. Although children receive daily physical activities and exercise in the soft play area, children do not get outside in the fresh air every day. Practitioners state that they plan outings for every day. However, poor planning around children's sleep routines means that in practice, outings are only an occasional occurrence. The nursery has no windows to the

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

outside world and children's access to natural daylight is, therefore, limited and compounds the effects of not going outside every day.

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

Practitioners do not use resources well enough to support children's interest and exploration. Toddlers, who select toys from a drawer during story time, are prevented from following their interest because practitioners remove the toy and insist the children all join in. Therefore, the environment is not enabling to children because practitioners diffuse children's interests. This shows that practitioners have a poor knowledge of how children learn. Older children are not well supported when they choose to draw and make marks on paper because there are limited and poor resources. Some pencils are blunt and children only have a few sheets of paper to use. Consequently, children lose interest and move away from the activity.

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provision

The leadership and management of the nursery is inadequate because the learning and development requirements are not adequately met. The environment does not promote children's good progress or enable them to enjoy learning and grow in confidence. Practitioners are suitably qualified, however their practice is weak. They display an ineffectual understanding of how children learn which has a significant impact upon the progress that children are able to make.

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provision

Children's safety is adequately protected. Practitioners displayed a sound understanding of the procedure to follow if they have a concern about safeguarding children. All practitioners have been employed using appropriate recruitment procedures and have been checked for their suitability to work with children. Practitioners show a sound understanding of keeping children safe. Risk assessments are conducted in all areas the children use and they are appropriately supervised. Practitioners have a sound understanding of the nursery's policies and procedures to minimise risk to children. Partnership with parents and other agencies is inadequate because practitioners have not undertaken the required progress check at age two. Therefore, practitioners do not share information on children's progress in time to inform the Healthy Child Programme health and development review.

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provision

Ineffective monitoring of practitioner's quality of teaching results in, inconsistent practice and low expectations of staff and children. This is a significant factor in the nursery's inadequate delivery of the learning and development requirements. Children do not display the characteristics of effective learning because the quality of teaching is poor. Children are often bored and listless because planning and assessment are ineffective. Children are not adequately assessed in order to have their individual needs identified and to receive timely support to ensure that any gaps in the prime areas of learning are closing. This is a breach of the learning and development requirements.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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 EY463752 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 923712 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 19 Name of provider Partyman World (Lakeside) Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01438 745823

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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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