Little Treasures NurseryOfsted inspection, 25 Nov 2014

Little Treasures Nursery The Haven, 222 Livingston Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey, CR7 8JW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/11/2014 12/01/2010

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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 required ratios are not adhered to, compromising children's welfare. In addition, there is no named deputy to take charge when the manager is absent.  The vetting, induction and performance management systems are weak. This means staff are not always vetted promptly, lack a secure understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and are not supported to improve their practice.  The key-person system is ineffective in helping staff to meet children's needs in partnership with parents, and parents are not made aware of their child's key person.  Staff lack a secure understanding of how to meet children's learning and development needs through purposeful activities so they make progress in all areas of learning.  The children do not have daily access to the outdoors and space and resources are not well organised for all age groups. This is detrimental to their learning and well-being.  The provider does not make sure there is sufficient clean bedding available for times

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This provision is inadequate

when children need to rest and sleep. This puts children's health at risk.  Self-evaluation is not used effectively to identify and tackle key areas of weakness to improve the quality of the provision for children.

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It has the following strengths

 The children are confident and build positive relationships with staff and each other.

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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 children in all areas of the nursery.  The inspector spoke to staff, children and parents to gather their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a selection of documents and policies, as well as children's records and observations in their development folders.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Little Treasures Nursery registered in 2005 and operates from four rooms in a single- storey detached house, situated in Thornton Heath, Croydon. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 26 children on roll, 21 of whom are in the early years age group. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 50 weeks of the year. The nursery also provides a breakfast and after school club facility. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery employs 12 staff, of whom 10, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications. Access to the nursery is via steps to the front door; however, there is a side access for those with mobility difficulties. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years.

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must:

 ensure required staff-to-child ratios are adhered to at all times, with effective staff cover arrangements in place to safeguard children and meet their learning and well-being needs

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must:

 ensure robust vetting systems are in place and used to check the suitability of all adults working on the premises on which the childcare is provided

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must:

 implement an appropriate key-person system to meet children's individual needs, to offer a settled relationship for each child and to build a relationship with the child's parents, ensuring parents are aware of their child's key person

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must:

 develop more rigorous induction and performance management systems to ensure that all staff have a secure awareness of their responsibilities in regard to safeguarding children, including the nursery's child protection and whistle-blowing policies, and fire-evacuation procedures

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must:

 ensure that there is a named deputy who is capable and qualified to take charge in the manager's absence

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must:

 ensure all children, including babies, are provided with a varied and challenging range of activities based on their individual needs, interests and stages of development

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must:

 ensure all children access outdoor activities on a daily basis

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must:

 ensure that all indoor spaces the children have access to are organised in a way that meets their needs

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must:

 ensure that there is an adequate supply of clean bedding available for babies and young children when resting and sleeping.

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

 implement an effective system of self-evaluation and use this to identify weaknesses in practice, and carry out targeted plans to tackle these weaknesses to drive improvement

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

 review the layout of all rooms so all learning resources are more easily accessible to children.

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who attend

The nursery does not consistently meet the required ratios of staff to children, particularly for the youngest children in the nursery. As a result, staff do not provide children with a wide range of challenging activities that reflect their interests and developmental needs. Therefore, the quality of teaching and learning for the children is inadequate and their needs are not well met. During the inspection, staff endeavoured to improve this by grouping children together. However, this resulted in babies sitting passively, while the staff supported older children as they played.

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who attend

Staff work well as a team to ensure that the children's development records are kept up to date. These records show that the children are making some progress in their learning. Parents' and children's feedback is sought and included in the development records. This allows staff to talk to children about the activities they like and develop an understanding of the children's learning in the home environment.

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who attend

The staff have made close attachments with the children who attend the nursery and the children are confident in the learning environment. Staff teach the older children literacy and numeracy on a daily basis, but some of the activities are not age appropriate for the children who attend. During the inspection, children were asked to solve a word puzzle where they had to match the first letter in a word to the rest of that word. The children became uninterested and gave up on the activity because it was too difficult for them to do without a lot of adult support. This demonstrates a weakness in the quality of teaching and hinders children's individual learning. The children do not have many opportunities to select their own choice of activity because staff plan and set up the environment, resulting in the majority of the activities being adult directed.

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who attend

The children are confident in using technology as they are able to access a tablet computer and laptops. Staff read to the children with enthusiasm and children become excitedly engaged in the story time sessions. This helps to promote the development of literacy and introduce children to a range of vocabulary in an interesting way. Staff provide children with a range of toys and resources. However, children do not always have independent access to all the resources as some are out of reach. In addition, not all the rooms have enough space and are not organised in a way that meets the needs of the children. At the inspection, the younger children were in the conservatory during the morning, where the space available to them was cramped. This did not allow the children room to explore and move about easily, which hinders their learning.

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who attend

The children have very little opportunity to explore the outdoor environment purposefully, and not all children do this on a daily basis. This does not promote their health and learning needs effectively. During the inspection, the older children were very excited about going outdoors. They put on their coats eagerly and had lots of fun trying on boots to find which ones would fit them. This helped them to develop their mathematics skills and how to solve problems.

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

The provider is breaching a number of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which have a significant impact on the children's well-being. Poor maintenance of ratios mean that staff's time with the children is limited and there are not enough staff to promote children's well-being during daily routines.

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

During snack time and meal times the children have access to healthy food and drinks to support their health and dietary needs. For example, they have fruit at snack time and tuna pasta and salad for lunch. Staff make sure that the babies' food is cut up so it is manageable and safe for the babies to eat.

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

The children show they feel safe with the staff as they confidently enter the nursery. They are aware of the daily routines and expectations of the nursery, as they remove their shoes and place them in a box before finding their friends. The children respond well to praise and staff reward them with stickers for good and helpful behaviour. The children are encouraged to praise one another to support their self-esteem. For example, the pre- school children were developing their early writing skills on a chalkboard. The children took turns to copy the letter B, and when each child had finished the other children were encouraged to praise the child for their efforts. This resulted in all the children wanting to have a go at the writing activity and walking away from the board feeling proud.

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

Not all children have opportunities to enjoy outdoor play as part of a healthy lifestyle. Older children were supervised outdoors for a very short period of time during the inspection but the babies and younger children did not have any access to the outdoors. This breaches requirements and has a negative impact on the younger children's healthy lifestyle and well-being.

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

Sleep routines are supervised and logged as part of the nursery's safeguarding procedures to help protect children's well-being. The children are taken to lie down while soft music is played in the background. Some children sleep in travel cots and some sleep on mats on the floor. However, the children are not covered by blankets when they sleep and the bedding used is unclean, which compromises children's health.

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provision

There are significant weaknesses in the leadership and management that have a detrimental impact on the children and mean their safety is not assured. Recruitment procedures are not robust, which results in a delay in obtaining staff's suitability checks. This puts children at risk. There is currently no named deputy in place who is capable of taking the lead responsibility in the manager's absence. Furthermore, the required staff- to-child ratios are not met at all times and the arrangements for providing cover for absent staff are poor. These weaknesses compromise children's welfare and safety. In addition, induction processes are ineffective, meaning staff have a poor awareness of their responsibilities to safeguard and protect children's welfare.

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provision

There are sufficient policies and procedures in place but staff lack a secure knowledge and understanding of their own responsibilities to provide a duty of care to the children. Some staff are unaware of their responsibilities to report safeguarding and child protection concerns, and the majority of staff are unaware of the nursery's whistle-blowing policy. This puts children at risk of harm. In addition, not all staff in the nursery are aware of the evacuation procedures, and therefore would not be able to exit the building promptly with the children in an emergency. This compromises children's safety. Management supervision is inappropriate. Staff are not fully supported in developing their practice on an individual basis and supportive way to help them raise standards within the nursery.

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provision

Staff attend regular meetings to discuss planning and observations and work as a team to devise plans and identify next steps for the children's learning. The manager monitors staff observations and gives feedback to the staff, as a group, about the activities and resources on offer to the children. This supports staff's understanding of what is being planned for, but does not address any individual staff underperformance in an effective way.

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provision

The nursery does not have an efficient system in place to evaluate practice and identify strengths and weaknesses to drive improvement in the nursery provision. Consequently, the provider has not identified they are breaching a number of requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the associated requirements of the Childcare Register. These breaches of requirements significantly affect the outcomes for children and compromise their safety and welfare.

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provision

There are regular fire drills, which are logged and any issues are highlighted and addressed to help to keep children safe. However, these systems are not robust as not all staff are aware of how to evacuate the building. Accident and medical forms are in place, as required and there is at least one member of staff with a current first-aid qualification. This helps to ensure that children's minor accidents and illnesses can be treated appropriately.

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provision

The key-person system is not effective in helping staff to support children's individual needs. Some parents are unaware of who their child's key person is, which prevents staff and parents building relationships to promote the well-being and learning of the children. Nevertheless, parents comment that they are happy with the staff and feel they are very caring. The provider keeps parents informed about what is happening in the nursery through newsletters and notices on the parents' notice board.

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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:

 ensure that a sufficient number of staff are present at all times on the premises to ensure the safety and welfare of the children for whom the childcare is provided (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  implement robust vetting procedures to ensure that any person living or working on the premises where childcare is provided is suitable to work with children which, must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  implement systems to train all staff on the written statement of procedures to be followed to safeguard children from abuse or neglect (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the premises, including overall floor space used for the purposes of the childcare, are safe and suitable for that purpose (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure children have daily access to outdoor space and activities (compulsory part

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

of the Childcare Register)  take all necessary measures to minimise any risks to children's health or safety regarding the provision of bedding when children rest or sleep (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that a sufficient number of staff are present at all times on the premises to ensure the safety and welfare of the children for whom the childcare is provided (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  implement robust vetting procedures to ensure that any person living or working on the premises where childcare is provided is suitable to work with children which, must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the premises, including overall floor space used for the purposes of the childcare, are safe and suitable for that purpose (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  take all necessary measures to minimise any risks to children's health or safety

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

regarding the provision of bedding when children rest or sleep (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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 EY315402 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 828040 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 26 Name of provider Little Treasures Nursery (UK) Ltd Date of previous inspection 12/01/2010 Telephone number 0208 916 1254

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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

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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