Cocospreschool

Coco's Pre-School Centre Ltd Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY340767 Inspection date 03/11/2010 Inspector Ann Cozzi

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Setting address Cocos Nursery, Blindmans Lane, Cheshunt, WALTHAM CROSS, Hertfordshire, EN8 9DW Telephone number 01992 626 123 Email Type of setting Childcare - Non-Domestic to 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, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as

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you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

Coco's Pre-School Nursery is privately owned and was originally established in 1991 and relocated to its current premises in central Cheshunt in 1994. The nursery has five separate areas, these are defined as; the main classroom, quiet room, physical education room, art room and an outdoor area comprising of a lawn and paved garden to the rear.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is registered to provide care for a maximum of 50 children. It is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. Currently there are 72 children on roll in the early years age group who attend on a part-time or full-time basis. Children attend from the local and wider geographical areas. The setting supports a small number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The nursery opens between the hours of 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, all year round, with the exception of bank holidays.

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Description of the setting

There are 12 staff members in total including the manager and cook. There are eight staff members who work directly with the children and over half have early years qualifications. One member of staff is working towards Early Years Professional Status.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is inadequate.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

There are significant weaknesses in the understanding of management and staff to protect children's welfare inside and outside of the setting. This results in several breeches in specific legal requirements in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Systems to monitor children's individual progress are limited which impacts on the ability of staff to ensure that they provide adequate support for learning. Partnership with parents and other providers with regard to children's learning is adequate including those with additional support needs. Children make satisfactory progress given their age, ability and starting points. Systems to promote future improvements are ineffective, resulting in a provision that fails to prioritise identified areas for development in order to respond to all user needs and improve outcomes for children.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall, the early years provision requires immediate action. Ofsted will take enforcement measures to ensure children’s safety and compliance with the welfare, learning and development requirements or will cancel registration.

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further?

To comply with the requirements of the EYFS the registered person must take the This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 following action by the specified date:

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further?

 implement an effective safeguarding children policy and procedure which ensures that all people who's suitability has not been checked do not have unsupervised contact with children who are being cared for (Suitable people)(also applies to both parts of the Childcare Register) 13/12/2010

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further?

 provide effective systems to ensure that practitioners and other people aged 16 or over likely to have regular contact with children are suitable to do so (Suitable people) (also applies to both parts of the Childcare Register) 13/12/2010

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further?

 keep a record of risk assessments clearly stating when it was carried out, by whom, date of review and any action taken following a review of incident (Documentation) (also applies to both parts of the Childcare Register) 24/11/2010

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further?

 take all reasonable steps to ensure that hazards to children both indoors and outdoors are kept to a minimum (Suitable premises, environment and equipment) (also applies to both parts of the Childcare Register) 24/11/2010

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further?

 plan and organise systems to ensure that every child receives an enjoyable and challenging learning and development experience that is tailored to meet their individual needs (Organisation) 28/02/2011

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further?

 keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance (Documentation) (also applies to both parts of the Childcare Register) 13/12/2010

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further?

 ensure adults looking after children have appropriate training and skills to undertake sensitive observational assessment in order to plan to meet young children's individual needs (Suitable people) 28/02/2011

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further?

 make sure that adults looking after children have appropriate qualifications, training, skills and knowledge in the Early Years Foundation Stage in order to ensure children's well-being is promoted (Suitable people). 28/02/2011

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further?

Ofsted will take enforcement measures to ensure children’s safety and compliance with the welfare, learning and development requirements or may take action to prosecute or cancel your registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

The leadership and management of this setting does not sufficiently focus on ensuring the implementation of welfare requirements, raising achievement and promoting the personal development of staff and children. Procedures for the recruitment of staff are inadequate because management have failed to ensure that Criminal Record Bureau checks and references have been undertaken on all staff. In addition they have failed to verify checks undertaken on students attending on long term placement. These issues impact on safeguarding in relation to access to children and their records. In addition, it gives children a false sense of security in regard to feeling safe. Risk assessments are weak and do not ensure the safe and effective management of the setting. This is because the setting fails to identify dangers or take appropriate steps to eliminate risks in order to keep children safe. For example, broken pieces of play equipment stacked in a corner of

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the early years provision

the garden, three accessible containers filled with rainwater and in the playhouse two child size chairs with a substantial amount of lose nylon cord wrapped around them. These all pose a potential danger to children. In addition, current risk assessments fail to identify when and by whom they have been checked. Some staff have a current paediatric first aid qualification. This means that should an accident occur children receive appropriate care.

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the early years provision

The management team has been inconsistent in driving improvement and as a result they have failed to implement appropriate measures in order to meet safeguarding actions raised at the last inspection. This has resulted in a failure to protect the safety and welfare of children in their care. Although the management team are aware of some areas of weakness and have put an action plan in place, systems for monitoring are not meaningful and therefore limited action has been taken to implement improvements. For example, the setting has failed to keep a record of children's hours of attendance so that they can be safely accounted for at all times. The undertaking of staff appraisals is inconsistent and therefore does not identify the training needs of individuals or ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities. As a consequence, this fails to promote staff's ongoing professional development so they can support children in all aspects of their welfare, learning

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the early years provision

There is a range of policies and procedures in place. However, they are not always implemented in practice, for example, leaders and managers lack an understanding of the safeguarding children policy and how to implement it. Deployment of staff across the setting ensures that the pre-school routine is implemented. Staff ensure that resources are accessible to children. However, due to the setting's routine at times children's access to all areas of learning is limited, including opportunities to learn about diversity and the world around them.

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the early years provision

Parents and carers are provided with verbal information relating to children's care and achievements. In the lobby of the setting there are displays and information linking to the Early Years Foundation Stage and the setting's policies and procedures. Partnerships with others are satisfactory and information is shared on This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 the transition of children to other settings.

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and outcomes for children

Overall, children make some progress. Staff provide a range of activities across all six areas of learning and on the whole the level of challenge is sufficient to interest and engage most children. Observations are undertaken. However, they do not cover all areas of learning and children's next steps are not identified. As a consequence, planning does not effectively take account of children's individual learning needs.

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and outcomes for children

Children are generally settled and take part in activities. They make some choices about the activities they take part in within the routine of the setting. Children are encouraged to make adequate progress in communicating, literacy, numeracy and skills relating to information and communication technology. However, at times staff fail to promote children's learning and independence, for example, during snack time they do not consistently develop children's understanding of simple mathematics or encourage them to learn how to pour their own drinks.

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and outcomes for children

Some children are beginning to develop cooperative skills and are learning how to share with others, for example, as they take part in small world play with a rocket ship. Children have some opportunities to develop their communication and language skills, sharing books with adults and mark making. Staff throughout the setting use praise and encouragement. On the whole, children's behaviour is satisfactory. However, due to the organisation of daily routines, expectations on some children are inappropriate. For example, group story time and snack time do not take account of children's individual learning needs. In addition, children's play is constantly interrupted to fit in with the daily routine.

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and outcomes for children

Children have access to water and are provided with a balanced range of snacks and meals each day. Parents and carers provide information about their child's individual dietary requirements at the start of placement. Children's understanding with regard to developing healthy habits such as good hygiene practice is promoted, for example, they are required to wash their hands before food. Some children demonstrate their developing understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe, for example, as they manoeuvre wheeled toys in the garden they tell adults to 'mind toes'. However, the management's failure to implement effective safeguarding procedures means that children at this setting gain a false sense of security. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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Early Years Foundation Stage

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 4 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 4 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 3 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 4

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 4 The extent to which children feel safe 4 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 3 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 4 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 4

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Not Met (enforcement)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Not Met (enforcement)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The registered provider does not meet the requirements of the compulsory and or voluntary part/s of the Childcare Register.

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