Little Foxes (Wigan) Ltd

Little Foxes (Wigan) Ltd Iona House, Billinge Road, Wigan, Lancashire, WN3 6BL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/11/2013 16/09/2013

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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

 The nursery's comprehensive medication policy is not consistently implemented. As a result, medicines are not always safely administered and written parental consent and records of administration are not always kept. This is a breach of legal requirements.  The monitoring of staff is not always sharply focused to support the identification of occasional weak or inconsistent practice and the evaluation of the actions taken to improve does not demonstrate a sustained impact on the provision for children.  Occasionally, staff give children too much information in one go and do not make best possible use of quieter areas to support listening and attention skills, particularly for children under three years.

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It has the following strengths

 Children enjoy a wide range of adult-led activities and are well supported in their independent learning using the well-organised, continuous play provision. As a result, they become enthusiastic, independent learners, who make good progress and achieve well.  A well-planned, flexible admission programme effectively supports children's emotional well-being. Consequently, they settle well and develop the confidence their need to explore and become independent learners.  The ambitious management team use their training and expertise to continually plan and drive improvements to the provision for children.

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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 care routines and activities in the baby room, toddler room and pre-school room, in addition two outside areas.  The inspector held meetings and conducted a joint observation with the manager.  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 practitioners working with children, the provider's self-evaluation form and improvement plan.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day and through comments made in the setting's documentation.

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Information about the setting

Little Foxes (Wigan) Ltd was registered in 2004 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from Iona House, which is situated in the Highfield area of Wigan and originally opened in 1984. The nursery owners also operate two other nurseries and employ an operations manager to oversee the individual management of all three provisions. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from four main base rooms and there are three separate enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 17 members of childcare staff. All staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at a minimum of level 2, and 15 hold qualifications at level 3. Two members of staff hold early years qualifications at level 6. The nursery also employs domestic support staff.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm and children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 129 children on roll aged under eight years. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It supports a small number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 ensure children's good health is safely promoted by implementing suitable procedures for the administration of medication, including obtaining prior written permission from parents before administering medicine, and keeping a written record each time a medicine is administered to a child.

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

 introduce more rigour into the monitoring of staff practice to eliminate inconsistencies in the implementation of nursery policies and procedures, and to further improve the evaluation of the impact of any actions taken to improve the provision for children

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

 strengthen the consistency in the ways that staff support listening and attention skills, particularly for children under three years, so that they consistently engage children when speaking with them and make better use of quieter areas for small group and individual story times.

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who attend

The well-organised and enabling environment, enhanced by secure planning and monitoring, ensures all areas of learning are promoted effectively. The quality of teaching is good. Children learn through a balance of both child-initiated play and targeted adult- led experiences, which have specific learning intentions in mind. Consequently, they achieve well and make good progress in the stimulating and imaginatively resourced indoor and outdoor environment. For example, babies are well supported in their physical development because staff provide relevant equipment to motivate their early movement and handling. Purposeful design of the environment supports babies to pull themselves up using the domestic furniture. Once they are walking, their physical skills are further challenged outside when they negotiate a small step, which leads to a low seating area on the large wooden ship. By the time they are in pre-school room, children continue to

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who attend

develop their physical skills and challenge themselves by climbing and balancing on large equipment and using the ground covering tree branches. Through the routine provision of opportunities to handle small tools and equipment, for example, when using dough, paint and other raw materials, children in pre-school room already use writing implements with some skill. They show a keen interest in making marks for a purpose and follow through their own thinking by accessing paper and pens from the writing area, so they can pretend to take the register in their role play. They know where to find the materials they need to support their learning and extend their thinking and staff effectively support this by questioning children about the items they want and what they plan to do with them. The provision of interesting resources effectively supports children's natural instincts to explore and investigate. As a result, from an early stage, babies show interest in a range of

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who attend

materials, which stimulate their senses. They feel the texture of soft and hard brushes, run their fingers up and down bubble wrap fixed to the wall and show intrigue when staff model how to make sounds with metal kitchen utensils before attempting to copy.

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who attend

Staff's experience and their secure knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and how to promote individual children's next steps through both planned activities and routine interactions helps to ensure that children make progress in all areas of learning. For example, staff model drawing around their hand, which children copy and which supports the development of their pencil control and coordination. They are challenged to count the number of fingers on their hand and then to compare the sizes of the hands using mathematical language, such as 'biggest' and 'smallest'. Individual staff members know what their key children can do and what they need to do to support their development further. They indicate on weekly written planning sheets how adult-led activities and interaction will support individual children's needs in relation to their interests, the provision of new experiences, to promote their next steps or as an

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who attend

assessment opportunity. This ensures provision is consistently tailored to the needs of individuals. Planning sheets for individual children challenge staff to think about their role in supporting learning. As a result, they are well prepared to enhance children's learning through the promotion of specific language, questions for thinking or the equipment needed to extend the activity further. Staff keep learning journey records to follow individual interests and monitor what they can do using a development tracker. This ensures that children, who are at risk of falling behind, are identified. Targeted interventions are matched to their needs through clear action planning and effective partnership working, for example, with the Speech and Language Therapist, which supports their progress. Some staff use techniques developed from specific approaches, such as initiatives to support children's speech, language and communication skills.

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who attend

However, some aspects of children's listening and attention are not consistently promoted. Staff working with toddler aged children do not always engage them when speaking, sometimes because they use complex sentences. Additionally, they do not make best possible use of quieter areas of the room, such as the book area, to support listening skills.

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who attend

Staff know that mostly children make good progress in the setting because they discuss children's general starting points with parents right at the start, particularly in relation to the prime areas of learning and they record this in an 'All about me' record. Parents are kept well informed of children's activities, their interests and their progress in a variety of ways, including use of daily diaries for babies, learning journey records and summary reports about their child's learning and progress. They also attend parents' evenings and are involved in their child's progress check at age two years. As a result, they are actively engaged in children's learning.

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

While health care planning ensures that each child is provided with a tailored package of care in line with information and requests from parents, this inspection has identified occasions when a very small number of staff have failed to implement the nursery's comprehensive medication policy and procedures. This failure had not been identified by managers. As a result, children have routinely been given medicine provided by parents in unlabelled containers, without obtaining prior written consent for each medication request from the parent and without keeping clear records each time a medicine has been administered. This practice means that staff are not absolutely sure what they are administering to children and because they are not keeping clear records, they have no clear system of communication to prevent duplication and to ensure that parents are fully informed. These weaknesses impact on children's health and their safety. Otherwise,

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

children's safety is well managed. The setting is very secure. An electronic buzzer release entrance system is monitored by staff and internal entrance doors are also key-coded. Staff promote children's awareness of staying safe when they practise emergency evacuation drills with them and arrange visits from a local fire officer. They are vigilant at key times, which supports appropriate risk assessment and ensures children learn about behaving in safe ways.

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

A secure transition into the setting, which is flexibly planned to meet individual children's needs, supports their emotional well-being. A key person and 'buddy' system also ensures children are continually supported by adults, who know them well. The warm and friendly relationships staff build with children results in strong relationships at all levels. Children develop strong friendships and their secure emotional attachments provide a strong base on which they develop confidence and the self-awareness they need for their future learning. Staff support children's behaviour well. They reinforce children's understanding of what is expected of them using simple, meaningful messages, such as 'Thank you for sharing' or 'Well done for using your kind hands'. The secure key person system ensures that individual children's care needs are known and met, including for example, their individual dietary requirements. Meals are freshly made up on the premises and are

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

blended to the right consistency for babies by a designated cook. Staff know meals are nutritious for children because the nursery has achieved a Healthy Business Award and the highest rating in a recent food hygiene inspection. Children's physical development is effectively supported by the well-planned environment. Additionally, staff encourage children to put on their own coats or to help with dressing when they are going to play outside. They encourage children to feed themselves and hold their own cup from an early stage and by the time they are in the pre-school, children can pour their own drink from the milk carton when they need one. The provision of toilet facilities, integral to each playroom, supports children in the development of their self-care. The development of these skills ensures children are developing some secure foundations for their future learning at school when the time comes.

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

By the time they leave the setting ready for the next stage in their learning, children are well prepared. Their progression through the nursery is well managed and mostly, children visit each new room before they are moved. Documentation regarding children's needs and next steps is shared, although, not always continued, which hinders the managers' ability to rigorously track children's continuous progress. When children leave the setting, staff complete summary reports for receiving teachers to support their continued learning. Procedures to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are particularly secure. The key person supports children to visit their new setting and this also gives an opportunity to share important information to ensure consistency in planning how to meet children's individual needs.

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provision

While the strong leadership team demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of and commitment to meeting requirements, they have failed to identify weaknesses in relation to the secure implementation of the comprehensive medication policy and procedures. As a result, a specific legal requirement has been breached, which is also a breach of the Childcare Register requirements. This poor practice has a significant impact on children's health and well-being. While managers do routinely monitor staff practice, particularly in relation to the quality of teaching and learning, they have not identified where individual staff have not followed expected care procedures. They are, however, clear in their commitment to meet requirements and take immediate action to address the issue both in relation to staff's understanding and record keeping. Other general monitoring by the management team is driving improvement in the setting. For example, peer observation

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provision

and supervision sessions allow some opportunities for some individual coaching to improve teaching and learning. This contributes to annual appraisals, which also identify future training needs. Staff access regular in-house training or development opportunities and for example, almost all staff hold a current first aid certificate. Some staff are also supported to enhance the current levels of qualification and at present, four staff are working towards an early years qualification at level 5. The management team are highly qualified and use their expertise to drive forward new ideas. In recent years, some significant improvements have been made to the organisation of space, particularly outside play areas. Consequently, all children are now able to make full use of the natural opportunities for play and investigation in the garden and babies have been provided with separate provision, which is immediately accessible from their room. Staff report that this has had a

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provision

significant impact on the levels of calm within the baby area and provides better quality experiences for all children. Leaders are highly motivated and there is a strong commitment to driving up quality even further. Plans for improvement are relevant and concerted and the area manager uses practice from the very best early years settings and current research to guide her ideas. Although, as yet, managers are not evaluating the success of their actions in relation to an impact on children's learning and development. This is made more difficult because the nursery's tracking of children very occasionally lacks fluidity or is not started immediately on admission.

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provision

As designated safeguarding officer, the manager has received enhanced level training. Several other staff have also been on external training courses and all staff have received internal safeguarding training. Procedures are robust and start with secure admission arrangements for children. All staff understand the nursery's responsibilities and the steps to take in the event of concerns about children or about a colleague. Local contact numbers are immediately at hand should they need them and occasional questionnaires test out staff's knowledge and help them reflect on their understanding. Recruitment and selection procedures are suitably carried out, ensuring that all those working with children are safe and suitable to undertake their role. Checks, such as references, qualification checks and interviews, support the Disclosure and Barring Service checks routinely conducted. All information about an applicant is fully explored to allow the manager to

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provision

make an informed decision regarding their employment.

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provision

Partnerships are a real strength at all levels. Parents value the friendly nature of the nursery, which they feel gives their children a happy experience and supports their progress well. They comment that they recommend the nursery to others and value the communication with their key person. At times, the nursery goes the extra mile to support families and children, who need it most. This includes, for example, regular participation in meetings with other professionals, participation in integrated two year health checks and planning to ensure that provision is flexible and responsive to the needs of individuals.

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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:

 keep records of any medicine administered to any child who is cared for on the premises, including the date and 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, and retain them for a period of two years (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  keep records of any medicine administered to any child who is cared for on the premises, including the date and 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, and retain them for a period of two years (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 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 EY297752 Local authority Wigan Inspection number 938269

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 116 Number of children on roll 129 Name of provider Little Foxes (Wigan) Ltd Date of previous inspection 16/09/2013 Telephone number 01942 227972

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

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

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