Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day Nursery

Inspection of Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day Nursery 161 Gillott Road, BIRMINGHAM B16 0ET

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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 provider fails to ensure that all staff fully understand their roles and responsibilities. The management and staff do not prioritise children's safety and well-being. Risk assessment is poor, and staff fail to identity potential hazards to children, including the risk of injury and choking. Staffing arrangements and planning do not meet the needs of all children. This leads to a chaotic environment, where children frequently show signs of distress. The management do not have effective arrangements in place to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Weaknesses in teaching mean that children, including those with SEND, do not make the progress that they are capable of.

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The provision is inadequate

Children enjoy the opportunities to be physically active during their outdoor play. They benefit from a range of equipment and resources that help them to build their physical strength. This includes opportunities to climb and use bikes. Children concentrate as they use their large-muscle movements for large scale mark making with paint brushes and water. Staff implement effective hygiene routines to support children's health. Children learn about the importance of regular handwashing. Babies access their drinks of water independently.

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need to do better?

n The provider has failed to identify weaknesses in staff practice and the quality of the service provided has declined since the previous inspection. Staff do not effectively risk assess the children's learning environment to ensure their safety. They do not supervise the children adequately when they are eating. This compromises children's safety. n The recently appointed acting management team have not received the support they need from the provider to oversee the management of the nursery confidently and effectively. They have not successfully monitored the quality of teaching and children's learning to identify weaknesses in staff practice. Teaching is poor and this hinders children's progress. n Although the number of staff available on the premises meets the ratio requirements, the acting manager does not ensure that the staffing arrangements meet the needs of the children at the start of the day. As a result,

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need to do better?

one member of staff is left in a room with 12 children, while the other two staff complete other tasks elsewhere in the building. This means that they are unable to meet the needs of all the children, including babies and two-year-old children. n The acting manager shows poor judgement for organising staff and children. The arrangements for the two-year-old children do not meet their emotional needs. Two-year-old children frequently become upset and need cuddles from staff when they are put in the same room as the older children. Staff struggle to

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need to do better?

31 October 2022 help the children to manage their feelings and tell them to 'calm down'. They do not offer any other guidance to help the children to regulate their emotions. This has a negative impact on the progress that children make and their emotional well-being. n The arrangements for children with SEND are poor. The special educational needs coordinator has relevant training and liaises with the local authority special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo). However, leaders do not implement effective staffing arrangements to ensure that children with additional funding receive their full entitlement. Furthermore, they give the responsibility for the learning of children with SEND to agency staff and do not offer them sufficient guidance. This means that children with SEND do not receive the support they need, which hinders their progress. n The management have not developed an effective curriculum that identifies the

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need to do better?

sequence of knowledge and skills that children need to gain over time to ensure that they make good progress. For example, the curriculum for children's communication and language development is basic and does not identify how to effectively progress children's speaking skills. n Staff have a general overview of children's achievements. However, they do not consistently use their assessments of children to plan well for their learning. Although staff set up some interesting tabletop activities, the two-year-old children cannot reach these. Two-year-old children quickly become bored and restless during large-group times with older children. That said, staff effectively plan activities that engage the babies. Babies enjoy listening to the sounds made as they drop rice into metal containers. They enjoy making marks in paint with brushes and candles. n Parent partnerships are effective. Staff take the time to keep parents and carers

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need to do better?

informed about their children's experiences. They encourage a two-way flow of information sharing about children. Leaders have recently started to welcome parents back into the setting to further enhance parent partnerships.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Weaknesses in safeguarding relating to poor risk assessment put children at risk of harm. Staff do not recognise that household chemicals are a risk to children and leave them out in the areas where children play and can easily access them. Staff leave trailing wires in children's play areas, which get tangled up in their coats and cause them to trip. The premises are secure. However, staff leave the large ground floor windows open, which children can easily access and climb out of, leading to a metre drop. Staff fail to supervise all children when they are eating. They allow two-year-old children to walk around while eating bread sticks. This puts children at risk of choking and serious harm. Staff do not recognise that babies are at risk due to a large mirror in their play area that is unsecured and left leaning against the wall. Staff have completed safeguarding training to help them to identify signs

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Safeguarding

of abuse and neglect. They understand the local safeguarding partnerships reporting procedures should they have a concern about a child. Leaders complete

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Safeguarding

31 October 2022 effective vetting procedures to check the suitability of staff.

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Due date

improve risk assessment and take all reasonable steps to ensure that children are not exposed to risks 09/12/2022

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Due date

ensure that staffing arrangements and deployment meet the needs of all children throughout the day 09/12/2022

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Due date

improve the arrangements for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) 09/12/2022

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Due date

ensure that all staff receive relevant training to understand their roles and responsibilities. 09/12/2022

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Due date

improve the arrangements for staff supervision and monitoring of practice to ensure that planning and teaching are effective in helping all children to make good progress 31/01/2023

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Due date

improve the curriculum to ensure that it sequences the knowledge and skills that the children need to gain to help them to make good progress in their learning. 31/01/2023

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY418276 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 10233775 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 66 Number of children on roll 45 Name of registered person SAI Children Centre Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 01212464922 Date of previous inspection 9 March 2017

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Information about this early years setting

Leaps and Bounds Children's Centre and Day Nursery registered in 2011. The nursery opens Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year, from 7.30am to 6.15pm. It provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery employs 11 members of childcare staff. Of these,10 hold relevant early years qualifications from level 2 to level 6.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the provider 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 provider. 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 acting manager joined the inspector on a learning walk and talked to the inspector about their curriculum and what they want their children to learn. n Children communicated with the inspector during the inspection. n The inspector talked to staff at appropriate times during the inspection and took account of their views. n The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator spoke to the inspector about how they support children with special educational needs and/or

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Inspection activities

disabilities. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning. n Parents and grandparents shared their views of the setting with the inspector.

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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

31 October 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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