Little Explorers Nursery and Pre-school Ltd

Inspection of Little Explorers Nursery and Pre-school Ltd Unit F1 Heritage Business Park, Heritage Way, Gosport, Hampshire PO12 4BG

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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

The overall quality of the provision is poor. As a result, children's needs are not fully supported. At times, children seem happy to engage with the resources available to them, such as play dough, dressing-up costumes and pasta play. However, these experiences are not ambitious and offer little or no challenge to support progression in children's learning.

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The provision is inadequate

Children's emotional well-being is not supported well, particularly during care practices. For instance, staff rush nappy changing time and there's little or no communication between staff and children. This prevents children from developing good independence, building close bonds with staff and becoming familiar with getting ready for the next stage in their development, for instance, toilet training.

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The provision is inadequate

The limited learning opportunities that children receive are often disrupted. The environment is loud and constant alarm noises from opening doors contribute to an overstimulating environment. The routine of the day is disorganised, chaotic and limits the time staff have available to engage with children. Children's story time is interrupted by staff who take them to change their nappies. Children lose interest in the book and become inattentive. This is demonstrated when the youngest children linger by the windows looking for their familiar adult cars to arrive. Older children flit between different spaces in the room and fail to sustain concentration.

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need to do better?

n Leaders are aware of some of the weaknesses across the nursery. However, little has been done to address them. Leaders have a basic understanding of child development but are not ambitious enough with their staff who deliver the learning experiences. This is particularly evident for the older children. n Staff observe children to review their development. However, their findings are not used to inform teaching. Staff do not consistently plan for children's learning with the intention to progress children's knowledge and skills. This results in children not making the progress they should. Although, at times, staff have used this well to review gaps in development and gain additional support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. n Leaders fail to use supervision and coaching effectively to support gaps in staff knowledge. As a result, staff are not encouraged to understand how to teach

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need to do better?

different-aged children effectively. Activities promote little engagement and challenge. For example, staff plan art activities and do not consider what skills and knowledge children already have or what new skills they hope children will gain. n Babies demonstrate secure attachments with their key people. However, this is not consistent as the children transition through rooms. Staff struggle to know

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need to do better?

13 October 2021 how best to support children's behaviour when they become emotional. For instance, less experienced staff walk away from toddler-aged children when they become upset. n Not all staff are able to sufficiently promote children's communication and language skills. When singing activities take place, these are constantly interrupted and used as activities to keep children busy while staff carry out other jobs. It is not seen as a valuable opportunity to promote language. Stories are read to children. However, they are uninspiring. The books are not appropriate for the ages of children and, therefore, children lose interest quickly. n Despite the setting notifying Ofsted of a serious accident which occurred in the outdoor area, they have failed to ensure measures are in place to prevent this happening again. For example, younger children are able to wander out of sight for a short period without staff noticing they are absent. This compromises

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need to do better?

children's safety. n Staff who work with the youngest babies offer a nurturing environment which supports good levels of communication and language. Babies demonstrate they feel safe and secure as they engage with the resources that are of reach to them. The resources are organised well to promote opportunities for babies to develop good physical skills as they crawl to access objects of choice. n Staff have good safeguarding knowledge. They are confident to explain the swift action they would take should they have a safeguarding and welfare concern about a child. n Parents talk positively about the support their children receive at the nursery. They are pleased that the staff work well with other professionals involved in their child's life to support a consistent approach.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff do not supervise children well enough in the outdoor environment. This compromises children's safety when playing outdoors. Other aspects of safeguarding children are working well. Leaders have systems in place to ensure staff are suitable and remain suitable to work with children. They work closely with staff to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities in regard to child protection procedures. Staff are confident to explain what they would do should they have a concern about a child. They demonstrate secure knowledge on how to escalate a concern outside of the setting if required. Leaders work well with other professionals to share information to support the safety and welfare of children.

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Due date

13 October 2021 improve leaders' oversight of the educational programmes to ensure children access meaningful learning opportunities that cover all areas of learning and staff fully understand their roles and responsibilities to lead this 19/11/2021

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Due date

improve the curriculum planning and delivery to support balance of child- initiated and adult-guided play, which challenges children's learning and supports children to regulate their behaviour and develop their communication and language 19/11/2021

p.4

Due date

review the learning environment to ensure it is conducive to children's learning 19/11/2021

p.4

Due date

improve how assessments are used to reflect on what staff know about children to inform tailored activities and teaching experiences 19/11/2021

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Due date

take action to ensure effective supervision and coaching systems are in place to support gaps in staff's knowledge, to improve the quality of education provided to children, with particular regard to understanding the age and stages of children they teach 19/11/2021

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Due date

improve procedures for carrying out care practices to promote children's independence, develop good emotional security with staff and have good communication and language 19/11/2021

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Due date

improve staff deployment to ensure that children are adequately supervised at all times. 19/11/2021

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY448927 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10209348 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 145 Number of children on roll 143

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Name of registered person

Little Explorers Nursery and Preschool Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 02392522614 Date of previous inspection 14 February 2017

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Information about this early years setting

Little Explorers Nursery and Pre-school Ltd registered in 2012. The nursery operates from Heritage Business Park in Gosport, Hampshire. The nursery is open on Monday to Friday, from 7am to 6pm, all year round, closing for bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. There are 35 staff, 32 of whom hold early years qualifications from levels 2 to 6. The nursery receives funding for free early education for children aged two, three and four years.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the setting received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the setting. n We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. n The inspector viewed the provision and discussed the safety and suitability of the premises. n The inspector and the manager carried out a learning walk across all areas of the nursery to understand how the early years provision and the curriculum are organised. n One joint observation was carried out by the inspector and the manager, to observe the quality of teaching. n The inspector held discussions with children, staff and parents at appropriate times throughout the inspection. n The inspector looked at a sample of documentation. This included staff

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Inspection activities

suitability checks and accident records. n A leadership meeting was held with the inspector, the manager and the head of childcare.

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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

13 October 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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