Foundations Day Nursery

Inspection of Foundations Day Nursery Elim Church Centre, Exeter Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, West Midlands B29 6EU

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

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

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The provision is inadequate

Children are not kept safe at this nursery. Leaders fail to place sufficient priority on protecting children from harm. Weaknesses in safeguarding mean that children's safety is compromised. Despite this, children appear generally happy, settled and confident. They arrive eager to play and learn.

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The provision is inadequate

The quality of teaching is variable. Although children make some progress in their learning, they do not receive the support they need to make consistently good progress. Some activities lack thought and inspiration, which means that children lose interest and are not motivated to learn. That said, children of all ages develop sound physical skills. They refine their small-muscle skills as they manipulate dough and use pincers to pick up small pom-poms. Large-muscle skills are strengthening as children join in with yoga, dance, and music sessions. Children have fun climbing and building with crates outside. Babies make marks with paint and older children are beginning to write their names.

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The provision is inadequate

Children develop some of the skills they need to help prepare them for the next stage of their education, including the move to school. For example, children develop some communication skills. Staff engage children in conversation. They ask children questions, giving them time to think and respond.

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need to do better?

n Leaders do not place enough focus on maintaining a good quality provision. As a result, the overall quality of the nursery has declined significantly since the last inspection. n Leaders and staff do not have a sufficient understanding of safeguarding. They do not monitor staff's understanding of safeguarding effectively. Not all staff know the correct procedures to follow, or how to escalate matters, in the event of concerns about children or allegations against adults. Recruitment and vetting procedures are poor. This compromises the safety of children. n Risk assessment is not robust. Staff do not identify or minimise risks to children. For example, there are several trailing electrical wires in different nursery rooms. This puts children at risk of harm. n Staff do not implement medication policies and procedures effectively. Some records regarding medication are poor. On occasions, staff fail to keep a written

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need to do better?

record each time a medicine is administered to a child. This compromises the welfare of children. n Leaders do not ensure that staff benefit from regular supervision and coaching to develop their practice. As a result, the overall quality of teaching is too variable. n Some teaching is good. For example, staff working with two-year-old children

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need to do better?

13 May 2022 enthuse children to join in a treasure hunt to find hidden 'bugs' in the room. Children excitedly use magnifying glasses to search the room. They squeal with delight when they find them. Staff extend children's mathematical understanding as they encourage children to count how many bugs they have found. n At other times, staff demonstrate a weak understanding of how children learn. Staff place too much focus on the nursery theme, or on children making an end product, rather than on what they want children to learn. For example, staff working with the youngest children provide them with only yellow paint and small pieces of paper because they want them to create a picture of a chick. Children learn little from this activity, as they are not given enough freedom to create and explore freely. n Staff generally get to know children well. They carry out observations and assessments of children's learning and use the information to identify any gaps.

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need to do better?

Staff plan focused activities to help close any gaps in children's learning for funded children, or children who may have additional needs. n Staff are less successful at identifying next steps in learning for those children who are achieving at the typical levels for their age. This means that staff plan most activities for the group in general and do not consistently target their planning and teaching on what individual children need to learn next. n Parent partnerships are sound. Staff use effective systems to enable a two-way flow of information with parents. They talk to parents daily and share learning information electronically. This helps to support continuity in children's care and learning. n Staff support children to develop independence. Staff encourage babies to pull themselves up against furniture, to stand and then take their first tentative steps. Younger children are gaining confidence in using cutlery to eat their

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need to do better?

meals. Older children collect their own meals at lunchtime and pour their own drinks. n Children form close bonds with staff and play cooperatively with their friends. They share and take turns with resources. Children are aware of, and follow, the simple nursery rules, such as listening and walking in line.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders do not place a high priority on keeping children safe. Ofsted received concerns prior to the inspection that the mobile phone policy was not effective, and that staff were poor role models for children. As a result of these concerns, the provider took action to review the mobile phone policy to ensure that it was effective and to develop staff's understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Despite this, leaders do not identify other weaknesses in safeguarding. Leaders and staff have a weak understanding of safeguarding and child protection issues and procedures. Leaders do not provide enough support and training to staff to enable them to respond to safeguarding concerns effectively. Not all staff are aware of the correct procedures to follow if they have any concerns about children or staff behaviour. Children are exposed to risks, such as trailing electrical wires. Leaders

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Safeguarding

13 May 2022 do not implement sound recruitment and vetting procedures. Although they have devised a safe recruitment policy, they fail to follow this. Some staff are employed without robust vetting checks being recorded. Staff do not implement effective procedures to administer medication. This compromises the safety and welfare of children.

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Due date

improve knowledge and understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures and implement these effectively to help keep children safe 13/06/2022

p.4

Due date

monitor staff's understanding of safeguarding to ensure they have a thorough understanding of procedures to follow in the event of concerns and allegations and how to escalate concerns 13/06/2022

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Due date

implement effective risk assessment to identify and minimise risks to keep children safe, with particular regard to trailing electrical wires 13/06/2022

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Due date

implement robust procedures for administering medication and maintain required records when medicine is administered 20/05/2022

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Due date

implement safe recruitment procedures and record vetting checks to ensure staff are deemed suitable to work with children 20/05/2022

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Due date

provide effective training and support for staff to raise the quality of teaching to a consistently good level 27/06/2022

p.4

Due date

ensure staff consistently use assessment information to plan and deliver purposeful learning experiences based on what children need to learn next. 27/06/2022

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Setting details

Unique reference number 509482 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 10116268 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

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

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inspection

Total number of places 143 Number of children on roll 96 Name of registered person Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance

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reference number

Telephone number 0121 4140583 Date of previous inspection 18 October 2012

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Information about this early years setting

Foundations Day Nursery registered in 1993. The nursery opens five days a week all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. The nursery employs 31 members of childcare staff. Of these, 25 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 to level 6. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. n This was the first routine inspection the provider received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the provider and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the provider. n The Early Years Coordinator and the inspectors completed a learning walk to gather information about how the provision and curriculum are organised. n The Early Years Coordinator carried out a joint observation with each of the inspectors, to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching. n Parents spoke to the inspectors and gave their views of the nursery. n The inspectors held a meeting with the nursery manager and deputy manager and looked at relevant documentation and evidence of staff suitability.

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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 May 2022 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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