Little Elms Daycare Sydenham

Inspection of Little Elms Daycare Sydenham 246 Perry Hill, LONDON SE6 4HD

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Inadequate Leadership and management Inadequate Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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The provision is inadequate

Children's safety and well-being are compromised because staff do not follow policies and procedures correctly. Risk assessment procedures implemented to ensure children's safety are not effective. Staff do not take sufficient steps to keep toddlers safe when they flow between indoor and outdoor play. Children are observed to repeatedly push the external door, causing it to close with force. A safety hook is in place to prevent the door from being closed, but staff do not use it. This means that children could be injured by the closing door. Despite this, children are happy at the setting and have formed close relationships with staff. They generally settle well and enter the setting confidently. Staff support new children well with the information they gain from parents during settling-in sessions.

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The provision is inadequate

Staff do not have high enough expectations for children's learning and development. They provide activities based on their opinion of what all children should be working on. They do not offer opportunities that are targeted to individual children's development needs and, as a result, children are not sufficiently engaged. Children mostly behave well. Babies and toddlers are reminded of the rules of the setting and most respond well to this.

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need to do better?

n Supervision of children is inadequate. Staff do not always follow the procedures in place to ensure that children remain within sight or hearing. This is particularly when moving between the indoor and outdoor areas. This means that staff are not always certain of where children are. n The setting does not provide children with a high-quality curriculum. Individual children's learning and development needs are not considered when staff set up activities such as messy play with cornflour. Staff do not reflect on how this activity may support individual children's next steps in learning. This means that children do not receive enough challenging opportunities to allow them to progress further in their learning and development. n Staff do not consider the learning environment around them when carrying out circle time activities with babies. They attempt to sing songs and rhymes and teach babies new words while sitting next to a CD player, which is playing loud

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need to do better?

music. This results in a chaotic environment where children are unable to hear the staff effectively and lose interest in the activity. n Children's experiences are variable. Staff focus on children who actively draw their attention and often miss those who do not. Some babies are left for extended periods of time without interaction from staff. Additionally, staff are observed to lean over babies to engage with the other children in the same activity. In the garden area, older children who are able to play and explore

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need to do better?

20 May 2021 independently do not receive sufficient interaction from staff to extend their learning further. n Staff's routines do not take the needs of children into account sufficiently. Pre- school children are required to sit and listen to stories so that staff can tidy up after lunch. During these times, staff do not maintain children's focus effectively. This is further impacted as staff speak loudly to the children over each other while they are being read to. As a result, children lose interest and become disruptive. n Staff do not carry out policies and procedures in place to protect children with allergies effectively. Staff are aware of the foods that cause children to have an allergic reaction. However, they do not supervise snack times well. This means that children have access to foods that may cause them to have an allergic reaction. n Leaders and managers do not support staff effectively in their practice. The

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need to do better?

management team are aware of the weaknesses in the setting but have not yet acted to address them. Staff have access to training on how to implement the early years foundation stage. However, the management team does not monitor how staff use the knowledge and skills gained through training to support children's learning and development needs. Furthermore, staff do not have regular supervision meetings to review and discuss their practice. As a result, the quality of education is poor. n Parents speak highly of the setting, particularly regarding improvements in the communication received from the setting. They feel involved in their children's learning and value the information they receive from staff at the end of each session.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and managers have not developed a positive culture around safeguarding. This means that the manager cannot be sure that important information related to children's safety and protection is appropriately shared. The provider does not fully understand the requirements for making a notification to the designated officer. As such, they have not followed the correct procedures following a significant incident. Staff are able to describe the actions they should take when they are concerned about the safety and welfare of children. However, they have not demonstrated this in practice. As a result, they have failed to keep children safe.

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Due date

20 May 2021 ensure those with safeguarding responsibilities have sufficient knowledge and skills to implement policies and procedures and take action in line with local authority requirements 25/06/2021

p.3

Due date

improve staff's practice in ensuring that children who have allergies are not able to access foods that may cause them to have an allergic reaction 25/06/2021

p.4

Due date

ensure that children are adequately supervised, and that staff follow agreed procedures that make sure children remain withing sight or hearing 25/06/2021

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Due date

coach, mentor and monitor staff practice and teaching to enable them to provide consistently high-quality learning opportunities for all children 25/06/2021

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Due date

improve staff's understanding of children's individual learning and development needs and provide planned, purposeful and challenging activities that match their age and stage of development, to promote good progress 25/06/2021

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Due date

ensure staff respond to each child's needs and interests to guide their development through positive interaction and purposeful planned activities 25/06/2021

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Due date

improve the educational programmes by ensuring staff have sufficient understanding of the seven areas of learning and how best to teach them. In particular, how to develop children's communication, language and literacy skills. 25/06/2021

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY440075 Local authority Lewisham Inspection number 10195626 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 62 Number of children on roll 104 Name of registered person Little Elms Daycare Nursery Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 02086999481 Date of previous inspection 8 October 2018

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Information about this early years setting

Little Elms Daycare Sydenham registered in 2012. It is located in Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham. The nursery is open each weekday from 7.30am until 6pm, for 52 weeks of the year, except for bank holidays. It receives funding for free early years education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery employs 23 staff, including the manager. There are 16 staff who hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the setting received since the 2020-21 COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the setting and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the setting. n The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk together. n The inspector completed joint observations of staff practice with the manager. n Staff spoke to the inspector about the activities they were providing for the children. n The inspector observed staff practice and followed the experiences of children in the setting. n Parents shared their views of the setting with the inspector. n This inspection was carried out following Ofsted's risk assessment process, after the provider notified us of a significant event.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection 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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Inspection activities

20 May 2021 regulates and inspects 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 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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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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