Blossoms Day Nursery

Blossoms Day Nursery 109 - 110 Waddon New Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 4JE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/02/2014 19/07/2011

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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 provider does not ensure that the staff team identifies and minimises risks to children's safety effectively. Safety checks for the garden are inadequate and hazards remain, so children's safety is compromised. Staff also fail to teach children how to stay safe.  Staff to child ratios are not maintained during staff lunch breaks which means that children's needs are not met well during these times.  The provider does not ensure that all staff have a clear understanding of safeguarding matters which means that they are unclear about what to do if they suspect a child is at risk.  Staff are not always clear about how to plan and provide adult-led activities so that children are able to learn and develop.

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It has the following strengths

 Babies are cared for in their own group room by staff who provide support for their emerging communication skills, including their home languages.  Children's assessments are used well to track their progress and are shared with parents.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities involving children and staff.  The inspector met with the manager and the provider to discuss practice.  The inspector spoke to staff about their understanding of safety and safeguarding.  The inspector spoke to several parents and took account of their views.

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Information about the setting

Blossoms Day Nursery was registered in 2004 and is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 56 children on roll. The setting receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. It operates from a two-storey detached building on a main road in Waddon, in the London Borough of Croydon. The nursery is located in a residential area close to the local school and transport links. The nursery is close to a bus service, tram service and two train stations. Children are accommodated in three group rooms, two on the ground floor and one on the first floor. Children have access to a garden area at the rear of the property. The nursery offers football and French classes as part of their curriculum. Blossoms Day Nursery is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6.15pm all year, except for public holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year. The nursery supports children who are learning English

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Information about the setting

is an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are eight staff working directly with the children. Seven members of staff have a recognised childcare qualification, one of whom holds Early Years Professional Status.

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enforcement action:

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:

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enforcement action:

ensure that all necessary measures are taken to identify and minimise risks to children in all areas of the premises with particular regard to the outdoor play area and hazards that may arise during the course of children's play indoors.

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must:

 improve staff deployment and ensure that staff to child ratios are met at all times, especially during staff break times

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must:

 ensure that the lead practitioner for safeguarding children provides support, advice and guidance to all other staff on an on-going basis

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must:

 ensure that adult-led activities are planned effectively so that staff know what they want children to learn and how best to support them during the activities.

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who attend

Children are making adequate progress in their learning and development. They learn valuable communication skills because staff use lots of visual clues to support all children, such as signs and photographs. Staff also work with parents to learn words of the languages children speak at home. They then encourage children to use their home language during play which helps children feel valued and make progress. Assessments are used to plan for children's next stage in their learning; staff monitor their progress effectively and plan for their individual interests. Activities are freely available throughout for all age groups but the support during adult-led activities varies because some staff are not clear about what they want children to learn from the activity. As a result the plans for the next steps in children's learning are not always implemented in practice. This means that not all activities build successfully on what children know and can do to make sure

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who attend

they are sufficiently challenged during the group activities.

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who attend

Babies are cared for by attentive staff in their own group room, where they are secure and happy. They play and explore freely and staff provide activities they enjoy such as painting and playing with 'sticky' cornflour. Staff talk to them constantly and encourage them to explore. This means that babies are making rapid physical development and progress in their language. This supports their all-round progress well. Children aged two years are also cared for in their own group room and generally enjoy a suitable range of activities. For example, children concentrate for long periods on activities of their choosing, such as pretend play with dolls and shopping games. This helps to develop their social skills and confidence. Children experiment with measurement and counting using water play and counting bears. Although they enjoy stories and group times, staff do not always adapt ways of presenting the activities to sustain children's interest and extend

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who attend

their learning. This means that opportunities are missed, for example, when staff do not introduce new words or early mathematical ideas. Staff working with this age group complete the required developmental progress check at the age of two years and share this with parents. This means that staff are working with parents to assess any extra help that children may need and provide support accordingly.

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who attend

Children attending in the pre-school room are making progress through a variety of activities across all areas of learning. This helps the children to be eager and motivated to learn and to gain the skills needed to prepare them for school. For example, they recognise their names in print because they find their own name card when they arrive and at snack time. Children can write their names because staff sit with them to practise their letters and develop their drawing skills. Children show a sense of achievement when they put pictures they have drawn onto the 'wow' board. They are also eager to share their stories with others after they have taken the nursery 'Blossom bear' home for the weekend. Children in this age range enjoy weekly French classes and all children enjoy football games to develop their physical skills. Planned cooking activities help children to learn about weight and measurement and children help to set up for lunch which involves

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who attend

counting. However, during the time after lunch, when pre-school and toddlers join up together, older children are limited to fewer activities such as drawing or playing on the computer. This limits their choice of what to play with and their learning experience during this time of the day.

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

The provider has not ensured that staff update their understanding of safeguarding and this has a negative impact on children's well-being. Not all staff are able to demonstrate their understanding of how to protect children from harm and what to do if they have any concerns about a child's well-being. Risk assessments are not used effectively to identify and remove hazards in the garden area and to maintain a safe indoor play environment. The area has bait boxes for rodents which are accessible to children. The provider cannot confirm if these contain poison or not and this shows that insufficient consideration has been given to the potential risk these present in their accessible location, within the outdoor play area. Also, staff give insufficient consideration to children's ongoing safety throughout the day. They use a check sheet to assess garden safety before children go out to play. Staff tick against the risks listed but do not do a thorough check of the

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

garden. This means that other risks are overlooked. For example, the soft play surface in the garden is not cleared of twigs and sand that present slip and trip hazards. Indoors, particularly when the children of different ages come together, toys become strewn across the floor. Staff ignore the safety risks this presents and toddlers are seen struggling to manoeuvre safely over or around the obstructions. This compromises children's safety. Staff miss the opportunity to teach children to put toys away to help maintain a safe play environment

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

Some aspects of children's health and well-being are fostered appropriately. Children enjoy regular fresh air and exercise. Staff manage children's behaviour using 'golden rules' and discussions with children about thoughts and feelings. Staff give children the emotional support they need. Due to this, children are happy in the setting and they enjoy positive relationships with staff and each other. Moves between the age group rooms and preparation for the move on to school are handled sensitively to reduce children's anxiety. Children enjoy meals because there is a varied menu with freshly prepared foods and fresh fruit snacks. They help themselves to snack and drinks and enjoy sitting with their friends. However, the organisation over the lunch-time period means that children do not always receive the support they need. Children know the routine for play, rest and sleep and enjoy songs and stories with staff. Parents of children of all ages are provided with

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

written feedback about daily care, food and drink, which supports children's welfare.

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provision

The inspection took place due to concerns raised relating to safeguarding and staff to child ratios, child supervision and staff deployment, accidents, premises, risk assessments, and information for parents and complaints. This related to concerns that staff were not always aware of how accidents and injuries occurred. The inspection found that the provider does not have sufficient understanding of the legal requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Although there is a suitable safeguarding policy in place, the provider has not ensured that there is sufficient induction and on-going training to ensure that all staff understand their responsibility to safeguard children. The provider has not ensured that there are effective procedures to assess risks to children's safety. This is particularly in relation to the bait boxes used to trap vermin, the condition of the outdoor soft play surface and the maintenance of a safe play

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provision

environment. These failings present a risk to children's safety and health and are breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. The provider does not ensure that staff to child ratios are maintained over lunch time. To enable staff to take lunch breaks the younger children are taken to join the older group for lunch. This results in high numbers of children, of mixed ability and ages with too few staff to supervise them adequately. Some younger children have only just woken up and staff struggle to meet the individual needs of all of the children. This arrangement also compromises children's safety in the event of an emergency. This is a further breach of the safeguarding and welfare requirements and affects how well children's individual needs are met. Accidents are observed to be handled appropriately; children receive prompt first aid and a record of the accident is made and shared with parents. The complaints log shows that the provider

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provision

understands their duty to investigate any complaints and feedback the outcome to parents.

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provision

The manager of the nursery works with her team and outside agencies to meet the learning and development requirements. Children's assessment records are used well overall and the manager has a system to track the progress of different groups of children. Children are making steady progress although inconsistency in the support they receive from staff affects this. The manager evaluates her provision and plans for improvements using feedback from staff and parents. She has also achieved links with a local children's centre and a local school to support children and prepare them for school. Most parents spoken to during the inspection are happy with the service and feel that they are helped to become involved in their child's learning. However, the weaknesses in safety do not ensure that children are adequately safeguarded.

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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 EY294365 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 953962 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 56 Name of provider Blossoms Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 19/07/2011 Telephone number 0208 760 0540

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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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