The Cottage Nursery

The Cottage Nursery Alexander Hall, Faringdon Road, Watchfield, Nr Swindon, Wiltshire, SN6 8TS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26 January 2017 20 January 2014

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Inadequate 4

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate 4

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The management team has failed to fulfil its duty to ensure staff's ongoing suitability. This compromises children's welfare.  Staff's knowledge and understanding of safeguarding matters are weak. They cannot identify all indicators that a child may be at risk of harm and are unfamiliar with referral procedures in the event of a child protection concern. They also fail to identify potential safety hazards. This compromises children's health and safety.  The provider and management team fail to monitor staff practice effectively and provide all staff with the support and training they need to fulfil their roles.  The management team does not obtain all the required information about children in its care, such as who has parental responsibility for the children.  Staff fail to ensure that all children have daily opportunities to be outdoors. The quality of teaching is poor, particularly in the pre-school groups. Staff do not support children's

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This provision is inadequate

development effectively in each area of learning. Staff do not keep parents informed about their children's progress. Outcomes for children are poor.  The management team has failed to address the recommendations raised at the last inspection. The breaches of requirements, including those associated with the Childcare Register, compromise children's safety. The quality of the provision has declined.

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It has the following strengths

 Children behave well and are given some opportunities to be independent.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and the Childcare Register the provider must:

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Due Date

 implement effective procedures to ensure staff's ongoing suitability and check staff understand their responsibility to inform the provider of any issues that may affect their suitability 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure all staff know how to identify possible indicators that a child may be at risk of harm, and understand how to implement the nursery's safeguarding procedures in the event of a concern about a child's welfare 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure staff use risk assessment effectively to identify and minimise any safety hazards 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 monitor all staff's practice effectively and provide them with effective supervision, support, coaching and training to ensure they fulfil their roles as children's key persons, and to raise the quality of teaching 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure sufficient information is held about each child, including information about who has parental responsibility for them 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure all children have daily outdoor play opportunities 26/02/2017  tailor activities to build on what children already know and can do, and ensure that children have good opportunities to develop their communication and language, and mathematical skills 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure staff use their teaching skills to interact effectively with children and provide the support they need 26/02/2017

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Due Date

 ensure that parents receive regular information about their children's progress and information about the early years foundation stage. 26/02/2017

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Due Date

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

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Due Date

 use self-evaluation effectively to identify any breaches in requirement and areas for development, and take action to improve the provision.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors observed activities and children's involvement in the nursery play area and outside.  The inspectors looked at children's records and documentation and discussed these with staff.  The inspectors took account of the views of parents on the day of the inspection.  The inspectors sampled documents used to support practices, including children's development records, child record forms, staff suitability checks, safeguarding children and self-evaluation.  The inspectors carried out joint observations.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is inadequate

Safeguarding is ineffective. Staff do not know the procedures to follow in the event of a concern about a child's welfare and are unaware of their roles in safeguarding. For example, staff are not aware of the requirement to notify the provider of any changes that may affect their suitability, and the management team is unaware of its duty to check this. At times, staff compromise children's safety in the baby room. For example, they have not identified the risk presented by them lifting children over the picket fence. The management team does not monitor children's progress or staff's performance effectively, and fails to ensure all staff have understood training. Consequently, staff's poor practice, skills and knowledge go unrecognised. The management team ensures required minimum staff-to-child ratios are met. However, the team lacks the ability to identify weaknesses in the provision and make relevant improvements.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

Staff do not all follow the nursery policy to keep a record about children's development, and they fail to share sufficient information with parents to help them understand how their children are developing. The quality of teaching between the rooms differs. Not all staff identify the next steps for children's learning, and activities are not tailored to help build on what children know and can do. For example, staff in the pre-school rooms decide what toys to set out for the children, without any consideration of children's individual learning needs and interests. Children are generally occupied by the activities but not suitably challenged. The quality of staff's interactions with the pre-school children is poor. For example, staff do not talk sufficiently to the children and are too quick to answer their own questions. This affects children's language development. Younger children have slightly better learning experiences, but their development of mathematical

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

skills is not adequately supported. Staff do not teach children about numbers, shapes and space. For example they miss opportunities to develop children's mathematical awareness as they arise when children paint, sing songs, and play and explore with construction toys.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are inadequate

Weaknesses in leadership and management and in the staff's understanding of safeguarding mean that children's welfare and safety are compromised. In addition, the key-person approach is not fully embedded to ensure children receive the emotional support they need when parents leave them. This often leads to children becoming unnecessarily upset. The nursery has a good-sized outside area; however, not all children enjoy daily experiences outside. Staff understand the nursery's procedures for illness and encourage children to eat well. Children receive well-balanced, nutritional snacks and evening meals made by the nursery cook.

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Outcomes for children are inadequate

Children are not suitably challenged, and learning that takes place is incidental rather than planned. Children do not develop sufficient understanding and speaking skills in the pre- school groups, and mathematical progress for the toddlers is poor. This has a negative impact on children's overall progress and does not prepare them for school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY381532 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 1082888 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 150 Number of children on roll 93 Name of registered person The Cottage Nursery

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 20 January 2014 Telephone number 01793 314461

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reference number

The Cottage Nursery re-registered in 2008 and is a registered charity. The nursery operates from premises in Watchfield, near Faringdon on the Wiltshire/Oxfordshire border. The nursery opens on weekdays, from 8am to 6pm, for 51 weeks a year. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. A team of 23 staff is employed, 19 of whom hold a suitable childcare qualification.

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reference number

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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reference number

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

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reference number

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reference number

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reference number

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

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