Toad Hall Nursery

Inspection of Toad Hall Nursery Edney's Hill, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 4DS

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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 does not maintain effective oversight of the nursery. They do not fulfil their own roles and responsibilities to meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage. The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of a change to the management of the setting. Furthermore, changes to directors of the organisation have also not been notified to Ofsted, which is an offence. Due to a lack of staff, managers have to work in rooms and are, therefore, unable to dedicate time to their roles and responsibilities. This impacts negatively on their ability to oversee practice and quality in the nursery, and ensure requirements are met. Children's individual needs are not met, and too often they fail to receive the support they need. The curriculum plans for learning are not clear or ambitious for all children. This does not ensure that children make the best possible progress, and gaps in learning do not close quickly enough for some.

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The provision is inadequate

Children are happy and settled. Overall, they behave well. Children show confidence in exploring and navigating their surroundings. Older children's physical development is appropriate. They have regular opportunities to develop their skills and learn to take safe risks as they take part in active play. Children are beginning to develop some independence and self-care skills, although this is not consistent across the nursery. Children eat well and young children learn to feed themselves. They benefit from the opportunity to try new foods and receive a healthy and nutritious diet.

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need to do better?

n The provider has failed to provide Ofsted with the information required to enable suitability checks to be carried out on all directors. Additionally, they do not put in place effective support for the managers or staff, to help ensure they can fulfil their roles and responsibilities effectively. This compromises the quality of the nursery. n Staff and managers do not receive regular or effective supervision. The provider does not ensure that they benefit from the coaching, support and mentoring they need. Weaknesses in staff practice and teaching are not identified, targeted or supported well enough to embed good quality learning experiences for children. Teaching is ineffective across the nursery. Too often children lack meaningful interactions with staff to support and develop their knowledge and skills. At times, learning is incidental. n The nursery key-person approach is ineffective. Due to recent staff changes

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need to do better?

within the nursery, staff do not always know who their allocated key children are. This does not help them to plan effectively for children's learning, or to meet their individual needs. Additionally, staff do not always obtain the information they need about children's knowledge and skills when they first

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need to do better?

1 March 2023 start. This hinders how children's learning is supported from the outset. n The provider fails to ensure that sufficient qualified staff are on site, during the day. She fails to meet the minimum staffing ratio and qualification requirements throughout the day. Furthermore, managers do not deploy staff within the nursery effectively. Supervision of children is inconsistent. At times, staff stand in doorways to ensure all children can be seen, but do not interact with children to make the most of learning opportunities. The lack of staff hinders how staff can meet children's needs effectively. For instance, at mealtimes staff do not always supervise younger children closely enough. This does not continually minimise the risks to children from choking. n The ability of staff to meet the needs and support the continued learning of children with special educational needs and /or disabilities is variable. Managers

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need to do better?

and staff are unclear about additional funding or education plans for these children. They are not able to demonstrate that additional funding is used effectively to support children's learning. As a result of weakness in the key- person system, staff do not understand children's needs well enough, or the strategies that have been put in place to support them. For example, staff fail to use visual prompts consistently enough to enable children to share their wants or needs. Consequently, some children fail to make good progress in their communication skills. n The curriculum for learning is ineffective. Managers and staff do not understand the skills and knowledge they want children to learn, to ensure they make the progress they are capable of. The intent for children's learning is unclear and, at times, not relevant to the specific age groups. At times, some staff attempt to introduce ideas and learning that is too complicated for children to process.

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need to do better?

Leaders do not work effectively with others, such as local schools, to prepare children well enough before they move on. This does not ensure children are as ready as they could be for their next stage in learning. n Parents comment they are happy with children's care. They feel children are safe and well cared for. Overall, parents know those staff who work with their children, and are given regular information about their child's learning and development. They also say that staff provide ideas to help them to support their child's learning at home.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Weaknesses in the supervision of children impact the effectiveness of safeguarding. However, children access a safe and secure environment. Managers and staff carry out suitable risk assessments to ensure they minimise hazards to children's safety. Staff have a secure knowledge of safeguarding. They can identify different types of abuse and the action they would take to report and escalate these concerns. Staff are aware of the contact details for the local safeguarding partnership, to support them to make referrals if they need to, including those relating to concerns about their colleagues. Managers and staff work hard to support families with social care involvement, working with parents and/or carers and other agencies to keep

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Safeguarding

1 March 2023 children safe and well. Managers follow robust recruitment procedures to ensure those staff who work directly with children are suitable to do so.

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Due date

ensure that all persons with governance and oversight understand their roles and responsibilities 21/03/2023

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Due date

ensure all staff including the managers receive effective support to enable them to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively 21/03/2023

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Due date

ensure Ofsted is provided with relevant information, so vetting processes can be completed for all directors, to ensure their suitability 21/03/2023

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Due date

put appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision, mentoring and coaching of all staff, including the managers, to ensure effective teaching practice across the nursery 21/03/2023

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Due date

implement effective arrangements to assign every child a key person and make sure that staff know who this is, to ensure that learning and care is tailored to meet children's individual needs 21/03/2023

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Due date

improve the deployment of staff to ensure the needs of all children are met and they are adequately supervised, especially at mealtimes to minimise the risk of choking 21/03/2023

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Due date

take steps to ensure that the ratio requirements are met at all times, so that the needs of all individual children are met 21/03/2023

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Due date

1 March 2023 put appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that the minimum legal requirements for qualified staff are maintained 21/03/2023

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Due date

improve the arrangements in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to ensure their individual needs are met and they make effective progress in their learning and development. 21/03/2023

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Due date

devise a challenging curriculum that is understood by managers and staff, so all children can make the progress they are capable of 31/03/2023

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Due date

ensure all staff consistently implement the curriculum to a high standard, so that children are continually engaged and involved in meaningful learning 31/03/2023

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Due date

strengthen systems for gathering information about children's individual needs when they first start and on an ongoing basis, to help staff consistently support their learning. 31/03/2023

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Setting details

Unique reference number 148628 Local authority Wokingham Inspection number 10276876 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 107 Number of children on roll 205 Name of registered person Toad Hall Nursery Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0118 9776200 Date of previous inspection 17 July 2018

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Information about this early years setting

Toad Hall Nursery registered in December 1994 and is privately owned. It is situated in Wokingham, Berkshire. The nursery opens five days a week, all year round, with the exception of bank holidays and the Christmas period. It is open from 8am until 6pm. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are currently 29 staff who work with the children, 21 of whom hold relevant early years qualifications at level 2 or above.

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Inspection activities

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 We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. n The manager and inspectors completed a learning walk and discussed the early years curriculum. n Children spoke to the inspectors during the inspection. n The inspectors talked to staff at appropriate times during the inspection and took account of their views. n The special educational needs coordinator spoke to the inspectors about how they support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. n The inspectors observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning.

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Inspection activities

n The managers and the inspectors carried out two joint observations. n Parents and carers shared their views of the setting with the inspectors. n The managers showed the inspectors documentation to demonstrate the suitability of staff.

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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

1 March 2023 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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