Rascals

Rascals The Old House, Keelby Village Hall, King Street, Keelby, GRIMSBY, N E Lincolnshire, DN41 8EE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/01/2014 10/05/2013

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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

 Secure and robust recruitment procedures are not adhered to by the provider. Reference checks have not been undertaken on all members of staff, to fully verify their suitability. This results in the safety of children being compromised.  Safeguarding children procedures are not always implemented quickly enough and staff fail to effectively follow these procedures. This results in children not always being protected from potential harm.  Supervision and monitoring of staff is not fully effective. The provider is continually identifying the same or similar targets for staff to work on at each supervision meeting. This is because targeted support, training and coaching is not effectively provided to support each member of staff to develop their skills.  Teaching is inconsistent because staff do not always recognise when to not intervene and disrupt children's play and/or when to engage and support them. Younger children

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This provision is inadequate

are also not always provided with purposeful play experiences within the outdoor environment. This results in all children not always benefitting from consistently good learning experiences.

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It has the following strengths

 Parents comment positively about the setting and the staff team. They confirm they receive some good information about their child in the daily diary and they also state that their children's skills have developed since starting at the setting.

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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 two playrooms and the outside learning environment.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the provider.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the provider of the setting and she spoke to the staff and children from each room when appropriate 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 working with children, the provider's self-evaluation and improvement plans.

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Rascals was registered in 2008 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in The Old House in Keelby, Lincolnshire. Children are cared for in two main designated playrooms, one for babies and one for children over the age of two. The setting also provides care for school-age children, and additional playrooms are set up as and when required to ensure all children have appropriate space to play. The main village hall is also occasionally used by the setting and all children access an enclosed area for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs five members of childcare staff, plus the owner, who is also the manager. They also employ an administrator who occasionally works with the children. Of the childcare staff, two staff hold degrees in childcare, two hold appropriate qualifications at level 2, and the manager holds a qualification at level 4. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round, closing for bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 60 children on roll, 20 of whom are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-olds and supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 ensure robust recruitment procedures are adhered to, with specific regard to obtaining reference checks on all staff, to fully ensure their suitability to work with children

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must:

 ensure concerns about children's safety and welfare are notified to the relevant agencies, including local children's social care services, without delay

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must:

 ensure all staff are fully trained to understand the safeguarding children policy and procedure so that they recognise and take immediate action when concerns are noted about a child, including following up their concerns to ensure appropriate action is taken

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must:

 ensure supervision of staff promotes the continuous development of staff's skills and knowledge through offering ongoing support, coaching and training and by ensuring areas for further development are checked at each supervision so that improvements are actually made in all areas.

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

 improve the provision of outside play for younger children, with regard to enabling non mobile babies to access stimulating, purposeful outdoor play experiences which meet their needs and promote their development

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

 improve the quality of teaching so that staff know when to not intervene and disrupt children's play and when to actually engage and support children in their play so that they more consistently promote children's good learning and development.

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who attend

Children have fun as they engage in a suitable range of hands-on learning experiences. Observational assessments are completed on all children and even though these are not all kept fully up-to-date with accurate information, staff are knowledgeable about the development and progress of their key children. They use this knowledge to identify and plan a suitable range of next steps to aid each child's progress and to appropriately prepare them for school. As staff monitor their key children's progress, they identify any children who are not making expected levels of progress. Staff begin to work more closely with these children's parents and outside agencies if necessary, as they assess whether the child has any specific special educational needs and/or disabilities. This then enables them to provide targeted support where needed to aid children's continued progress and development. Children's learning journals are accessible to parents on request and they

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who attend

are shared with parents at specific times throughout the year, like at parents open days. Staff ensure the learning journal is up-to-date for these meetings and they always chat to parents to keep them adequately informed of children's current levels of progress. Parents are encouraged to share information from home on children's interests and achievements, which staff then build-on within the setting. Teaching is consistently satisfactory and occasionally good, resulting in children not always benefitting from fully effective learning experiences. For example, during an adult-led key person activity, more children join the activity than originally planned. The baking activity is planned to meet the needs of the key group of children to promote their turn-taking skills, to introduce them to counting and to encourage their communication skills. However, when other children join the activity this results in the overall learning experience for all children being satisfactory at

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who attend

best, as the member of staff's skills are stretched as she tries to support and engage all children. Other staff fail to recognise that as the majority of children are now joining in with this activity, they should be offering their support to ensure the learning experiences is effective for all children. As the member of staff is left to deliver the activity alone, her initially good open-ended questions begin to diminish as she tries to maintain her focus on all children.

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who attend

The member of staff encourages children to sometimes count items but at other times she does this for them, which minimises the challenge provided, especially for older children. Although weighing scales are used, children are only encouraged to see how the scales have moved or to pour the ingredients in to a certain number, but there is little discussion about what the scales are and what the numbers on the scales represent. Again, this is because she is responsible for managing the whole group of children and this minimises the amount of quality time she can spend on each aspect of the activity. The member of staff does reinforce and encourage turn-taking with all children. However, during the activity another member of staff shouts over to one child and asks if they would like snack. While the children's attention had been appropriately maintained on the baking activity, this interruption by the member of staff results in half of the children leaving the

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who attend

table to go and get snack. The member of staff clearly gives little consideration into what the children are doing and how her interruption affects their active engagement in the activity. As staff do not always know when to engage and support children and when to not intervene and disrupt activities, this results in children not always benefitting from good learning experiences as teaching is sometimes inconsistent.

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who attend

Babies enjoy playing in a warm and welcoming environment. They investigate and explore their surroundings, freely accessing resources like treasure baskets which enables them to use their senses as they play. Staff continually respond to children's interests, providing them with suitable opportunities to develop their skills. For example, following a babies interest in books, the member of staff sets out a range of different books for them to access. These include, board books, touchy feely material books and press button noisy books. The baby is allowed to choose the book which appeals to them most and they enjoy time to look and examine this for themselves. The member of staff then looks at the book with the baby, further promoting their interest in books. Babies enjoy singing activities and making lots of noise with the instruments, developing the use of their senses as they play. Staff continually respond to younger children's attempts at communication

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who attend

and always talk to them as they play. This encourages their early language development. Older children's language and communication skills are generally well-promoted through staff using interesting props to spark discussions and children's use of imagination. For example, a member of staff unveils a glowing egg and asks children to consider what might be inside the egg. This promotes lots of discussions as some children think there is glitter inside, while others think there is a carrot inside the egg. This clearly shows how staff sometimes use good teaching techniques, which encourages children's critical thinking skills. Older children access and engage in some appropriate learning experiences within the outdoor environment. For example, they develop their physical skills when riding bikes and scooters and when climbing up the climbing frame. When playing inside, they have fun initially using the pretend bricks to make a tower. They then show their

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who attend

good use of imagination as they use their bricks to make an aeroplane, which begins to provoke the majority of children's interest as they all begin to sit on their plane as they pretend to fly off. The indoor baby room environment is generally well-resourced to meet children's needs. However, the outdoor environment is less well-organised and resourced for younger children, especially babies. During colder wetter months, babies, especially non mobile babies, are unable to engage in quality outdoor learning experiences as the only provision for them to access the outdoor environment is in a pushchair. This restricts the quality of learning experiences provided for these children.

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

Children are happy and settled in the setting. Transition to the setting from home, from the baby room to the older children's room and finally to other settings and school, are quite good. Settling-in sessions provide new children and their parents with time to get to know the staff and the environment. Staff build links with parents during these initial settling-in sessions, encouraging the exchange of some clear information. This results in children's individual needs being met and also results in children showing secure emotional attachments to staff. For example, a baby who is quite new to the setting is being held securely and rocked to sleep as staff are aware that this is how the child's parents settle the child to sleep. Settling-in sessions as also provided when children move through to the next room, with their key person passing on their knowledge of the child's development to aid continuity of care and learning. Staff continue to build children's confidences as they

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

hold discussions and read stories about starting school, emotionally preparing them for their transition to school. Initial visits are also arranged to the local school, providing opportunities for children to get to know their new setting before they officially start there.

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

Children's independence with their health and self-care skills are promoted. Older children learn to serve their own meals and babies are encouraged to learn how to feed themselves with the support of staff. Children develop appropriate health and hygiene practices through the daily routine, with staff reinforcing why this is important. Staff praise children when they place their hand over their mouths and noses when they cough and sneeze, advising them this is good as it prevents the spread of germs to their friends. Children play cooperatively with their peers and their good behaviour is promoted through staff offering them regular praise an encouragement. All children benefit from opportunities to be outside in the fresh air and they all benefit from opportunities in the indoor environment where they can be active. However, it is mainly only older children who truly benefit from physical play experiences within the outdoor environment, which

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

encourages them to appropriately learn about the benefits of being active. Although children learn some appropriate safety messages, they are actually given a false sense of security as safeguarding children practices and procedures are inconsistently implemented.

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provision

The provider has failed to ensure the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage for younger children and some of the requirements of the Childcare Register for older children are met. Breaches with the implementation of safeguarding practices and procedures, result in the safety of children being compromised. Although staff detail appropriate child protection procedures to follow should they have any concerns about a child, they fail to effectively follow these as they do not ensure action is actually taken when they notify senior staff of any concerns. The provider has also failed to notify relevant agencies quickly enough about safeguarding concerns relating to a child. This results in the setting's safeguarding children procedures being inconsistently implemented, which compromises children's safety. Children are cared for in a safe, secure setting where staff conduct regular risk assessments to ensure all areas are

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provision

safe and suitable for use. Appropriate health and hygiene routines are implemented to protect children's well-being. This inspection was brought forward because of a concern about the suitability of a member of staff and about the possible breach of confidentiality by staff. Staff understand and adhere to the settings confidentiality policy and procedure, however, the provider has failed to follow secure and robust recruitment and vetting procedures to fully ensure the suitability of her staff team. While Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are undertaken on all staff, reference checks, including those from previous employers, are not obtained for all staff. This results in the full suitability of staff not being assessed to ensure children are cared for by appropriate people. This places children at risk of harm.

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provision

Children are cared for by a suitably qualified staff team. Two staff members hold degrees in early years and they are supported by two other staff who hold qualifications at level two. This enables staff to provide appropriate learning experiences for children. However, ongoing monitoring of staff through regular supervisions and appraisals is not fully effective. The provider is planning to implement peer observations to support the development of her staff team, however, these are not yet fully in place and embedded in practice. During the supervision process the provider identifies key action areas for each member of staff to work on to develop their skills. However, she is consistently raising the same actions for some staff to work upon, clearly showing supervisions to be ineffective as they do not provide staff with effective coaching, support and training to improve and develop their skills and knowledge. This results in inconsistencies, which prevents staff

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provision

from promoting quality care and learning experiences for children. The setting use a computerised system to monitor the effectiveness of the educational programmes. The provider oversees this to ensure each child is achieving within all areas of learning. She is in the process of providing staff with more time to complete children's learning journals to ensure these are more accurately maintained. Improvements have been made in some areas since the last inspection and the setting continually updates their improvement plan, showing the current areas they are working on. However, the provider is not effectively monitoring and evaluating the whole setting through self-evaluation, as weaknesses relating to safeguarding practices have not been identified. This results in continuous improvements not being made in all areas.

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provision

Staff work in partnership with parents and outside agencies to promote the inclusion of all children. Information is gathered and exchanged to ensure children's individuality is respected and met. Parents comment positively about the setting, confirming they receive clear information on their child's daily activities and achievements through a written diary and verbal communication. They are happy with the staff team and the care and learning their children receive and they also confirm that their children have developed their skills since starting at the setting.

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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:

 have effective systems to ensure that the registered person, the manager of the later years provision and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children: is suitable to work with children and is of integrity and good character (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  have effective systems to ensure that the registered person, the manager of the later years provision and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children: is suitable to work with children and is of integrity and good character (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 EY377471 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 948958

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 60 Name of provider Sally Louise MacFarlane Date of previous inspection 10/05/2013 Telephone number 07521 733 303

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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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