Kids Planet Southport

Inspection of Kids Planet Southport Yarrow House, 80a Manchester Road, SOUTHPORT, Merseyside PR9 9BJ

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

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

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The provision is inadequate

Leaders do not ensure the safety of children in this setting. Staff do not receive effective support and training that ensure they have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities for keeping children safe. Consequently, some staff do not always identify and minimise potential risks to children in areas that they have access to. This means that children are exposed to a number of hazards that place them at risk of injury.

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The provision is inadequate

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the manager recognises that children require extra support for their social and emotional development. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They provide a positive environment that supports children's emotional well-being. For example, staff provide coping strategies for children when they face difficult situations, such as bereavement and parent separation. This provides comfort for children and helps them to deal with their emotions during these periods.

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The provision is inadequate

Children have many opportunities to explore the local community. For example, older children visit the theatre, where they learn about the performing arts. They develop acting talents and confidently perform a Christmas Nativity play for their parents and again for local care home residents. These interesting learning activities help children to explore their emotions and express themselves.

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need to do better?

n Leaders do not ensure staff are effective in their roles of keeping children safe. Lack of support and oversight from managers means staff do not have the skills and knowledge they need to help them to recognise potential hazards to children. Furthermore, this also has an impact on staff's ability to implement the risk assessments already in place effectively. n Due to weaknesses in the support for staff and the failures to assess risks robustly, children are exposed to a number of hazards that go unnoticed and therefore are not addressed. For example, loose scaffolding is stored in an area that children and staff use to access the outdoor space. Despite staff putting in some measures to keep children safe, these are not effective in removing this significant risk to children entirely. Further hazards include very hot radiators that pose a risk of scalding children, and equipment left out for children to climb

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need to do better?

on that is not for purpose. n Despite gaps in leadership and management, the manager does has a clear vision for children's learning. She shares this with the staff team, who put the curriculum intent into action. There is a clear focus on supporting children's social and emotional development, which is well established throughout the setting.

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need to do better?

6 January 2023 n Partnerships with parents and carers are strong. Parents know who their child's key person is and staff share ideas of how to extend their child's learning at home. n Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported very well by dedicated and passionate staff. Staff are quick to refer children when they need additional support. They work very closely with a wide range of professionals, such as speech and language therapists and physiotherapists. Staff use set targets and adapt activities so that all children can participate and engage. This supports children to make progress during their time at the nursery. n On the whole, staff promote children's communication and language skills well. Staff use some language that is interesting and older children have opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas. However, staff working with babies do not consistently model correct words. For example, they use words such as 'peggies'

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need to do better?

instead of teeth and 'fishies' instead of fish. Children do not always benefit from highly effective teaching strategies that fully support them to develop their vocabulary further. n Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and help them to understand the rules and routines. They provide plenty of opportunities for children to develop their independence skills. For example, younger children wash their hands and help to clean the table before lunch. n Staff report that there are good opportunities for professional development to help them to continually improve their skills. However, the manager does not always ensure that all staff receive clear targets, based on incisive evaluations of practice, to help them improve the quality of their teaching.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Children are not kept safe in this setting. Staff are not supported to assess risks effectively to ensure that all hazards to children are minimised. Despite this, staff access child protection training so that they can recognise children who may be at risk of harm of neglect or abuse. They understand safeguarding issues, such as the risks to children from being exposed to extreme views or gang-related activity. Most staff know the action to take if an allegation were to be made against another member of staff. However, some newer members of staff are less confident. The manager follows safer recruitment procedures to ensure that new staff are suitable to work with children.

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Due date

6 January 2023 take all reasonable steps to make certain that children are not exposed to risks and that risk assessments are completed effectively 13/01/2023

p.3

Due date

ensure effective systems are in place to provide staff with support and training to help them to understand their roles and responsibilities, in particular how to assess risks to children's safety. 13/01/2023

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should:

n help staff to understand how to further extend children's growing vocabulary, to support children's communication and language skills to the highest level n develop the systems for the supervision of staff further so that they have clear targets that support them to enhance their teaching skills to the highest level.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY499371 Local authority Sefton Inspection number 10264567 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 168 Number of children on roll 249 Name of registered person Kids Planet Day Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 01704 534 855 Date of previous inspection 19 June 2017

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Information about this early years setting

Kids Planet Southport registered in 2016 and is located in Southport, Merseyside. The nursery employs 36 members of childcare staff. Of these, 26 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. Two staff have qualified teacher status and one has early years teacher status. The nursery opens from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, all year. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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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 The inspectors viewed the provision and discussed the safety and suitability of the premises. n The manager and the inspectors completed a learning walk together of all areas of the nursery and discussed the early years curriculum. n Children spoke to the inspectors about what they enjoy doing at the setting. n The inspectors spoke with the manager about the leadership and management of the setting. n The inspectors carried out joint observations of group activities with the manager. n Parents shared their views on the setting.

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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

6 January 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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