Barn Owl Day Nursery

Barn Owl Day Nursery 1117 Oxford Road, Tilehurst, READING RG31 6UT

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Inspection date 27 November 2018 Previous inspection date 8 June 2016

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Previous inspection: Good 2 Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate 4 Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate 4 Outcomes for children Inadequate 4

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This provision is inadequate

n Staff fail to keep children safe and they do not implement robust risk assessments. They fail to keep the premises secure and do not adequately supervise visitors. Some staff's knowledge and understanding of safeguarding referral procedures is weak, which further compromises children safety. n Staff do not maintain good hygiene practices and put children's health at risk of cross infection. n The quality of teaching is variable. Some staff's teaching practice is poor and does not help children to make adequate progress. Not all staff engage purposefully with the children or support their communication and language, and emotional development well enough to meet their needs. n The tracking and observations of some children's development is weak. Some staff have a poor understanding of the seven areas of learning and fail to show how children are developing. They do not tailor activities to meet children's individual needs.

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This provision is inadequate

n The tracking tool staff use to monitor children's overall development is not used appropriately by the management team to help fully identify children's levels of achievement and support their next steps in learning appropriately.

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It has the following strengths

n Appropriate recruitment procedures are in place to help ensure staff working with the children are safe to do so. n Staff working in the baby room offer a good range of experiences. They interact skilfully and support babies' individual needs well. Babies are very happy, they explore with interest and remain engaged in their play.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to prevent unauthorised persons entering the premises 07/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

ensure that effective risk assessments are undertaken to identify, check and remove hazards to children's safety, with regards to the supervision of visitors in the nursery once they have been let in by staff, and to minimise risks for children in regards to broken equipment 07/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

take action to ensure all staff understand the settings safeguarding policy and procedures, and have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues, including how to respond to possible signs of abuse and neglect 28/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

review hygiene routines to ensure necessary steps are taken to prevent the spread of infection, with particular regard to the cleanliness of the carpet in the toddler room and snack and meal times 28/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

improve staff's teaching skills and understanding of the seven areas of learning to ensure that all children receive the support they need to make good progress in their learning and development 28/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

ensure that staff use assessment effectively to identify where children are in their learning and use the information to tailor activities and teaching to meet children's individual learning needs 28/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

improve the arrangements for monitoring and sharing children's level of achievement, to help staff plan and provide learning experiences to meet each child's next steps in learning. 28/12/2018

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

Inspection activities n The inspector observed activities available to children. n The inspector observed interactions between children and staff. n The inspector asked staff questions about their work and observed practice with the manager. n The inspector spoke to parents available about their views and opinions of the provision and considered these. n The inspector sampled documentation.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

Safeguarding is ineffective. Staff do not consistently implement the risk assessment procedures to maintain children's safety. For example, the security procedures at dropping off and collection times are not consistently followed to ensure visitors are always supervised and their identification thoroughly checked. This compromises children's safety. The manager provides training to the staff, such as first aid and safeguarding. However, some staff have a poor understanding of the referral procedures to follow in the event of a child protection concern, which puts children at risk. The manager provides staff with supervision and appraisals but fails to ensure that staff use their teaching skills effectively to support children's learning. Procedures for monitoring children's progress is poor and puts children at risk at falling further behind. Leaders do not evaluate the nursery sufficiently to enable them to identify and minimise weaknesses

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

proactively. Partnerships with other professionals are developing and staff share some relevant information with parents to support continuity of care. Parents spoken to at the nursery comment positively about the staff and activities available to their children.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

The quality of teaching is inconsistent depending on the rooms the children attend. Some staff are not confident with the areas of learning and admit that they do not know how activities link with them. Staff in the toddler and pre-school room fail to offer children adequate support to meet their individual needs. Not all children benefit from purposeful interaction during planned activities. For example, while children make pizzas staff give them bread, sauce and toppings with minimal instructions and fail to use this activity to build on children's communication and mathematical skills. In addition, staff do not encourage children with speech and language delay not to use their baby dummy throughout the day, to help promote their communication. Generally, staff offer some activities that interest and occupy the children, such as arts and crafts. However, staff consistently miss using good teaching strategies to engage and interweave areas of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

learning to support the children's next steps in learning. For instance, as children colour in pictures the staff sit in silence watching them and, at times, do not respond to the children when they are talking. Despite this, interactions and play offered by the staff in the baby room is positive. Staff actively encourage babies who are starting to crawl to move, such as by putting toys just out of their reach for them to move to.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are inadequate

Children's well-being is compromised by weaknesses in safeguarding practice. Staff do not ensure all equipment is suitable to maintain children safety. For instance, in the toddler room, the safety gates used to keep children from entering the lobby and the kitchen areas unsupervised are broken. They are either held together by tape or poorly fitted so they come away from the wall. Generally, staff support positive behaviour. For example, staff encourage children to share and reward good manners with praise. Children receive healthy and nutritious foods. However, hygiene practises are poor and do not promote children's understanding of how to keep themselves healthy. For instance, toddler children play on carpet areas that have large amounts of dust and ground in dirt on. In addition, staff do not encourage pre-school children to wash their hands before snacks, or to clean the tables prior to snack time.

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Outcomes for children are inadequate

Not all children are consistently challenged in their development or make the best possible progress in their learning that they are capable of. Some children are at risk of falling further behind in their learning, especially those who have lower starting points. Not all children engage in activities and some were seen wandering around with little purpose. Children are not well prepared for school or their next stage in learning.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY396413 Local authority West Berkshire Inspection number 10085549 Type of provision Full day care

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register

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Day care type

Age range of children 0 - 4 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 109 Name of registered person Lynch, Paul James

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 8 June 2016 Telephone number 01189425555

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reference number

Barn Owl Day Nursery registered in 2006 and is privately owned. The nursery operates from a former residential house in Tilehurst, Berkshire. The provider receives funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery is open five days a week from 7.30am to 6pm all year. There are 19 members of childcare staff working with the children, of whom 12 hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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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.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 . 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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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