Dicky Birds Pre School Nurseries Ltd – Queens Road

Inspection of Dicky Birds Pre School Nurseries Ltd – Queens Road 27 Queens Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 8NW

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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The provision requires improvement

Children arrive happily and are pleasantly welcomed by staff. They have designated rooms depending on their age and enjoy a mix of adult-led and child-initiated play and learning. Children enjoy taking part in messy play. For example, older toddlers explore with paint as they create their pictures. They paint their hands, open and close their fist as they feel the paint and observe what is happening. However, the curriculum is not sufficiently tailored to the individual needs of each child to maximise their learning.

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The provision requires improvement

Children play in a secure, enclosed garden which they access daily. The pre-school children also enjoy a weekly physical education session in the park. They learn to wait patiently for their turn.

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The provision requires improvement

Staff praise children for sharing and for listening. Children are respectful and well mannered. They sit together for story time. Children listen to the story and look at the illustrations. Some babies engage in looking at books and have stories read to them. However, staff do not make story time consistently engaging for older children who get distracted easily.

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The provision requires improvement

Younger children are learning how to be independent and develop their self-care skills. For example, they are supported to wash their hands and to serve themselves at lunchtime. Older children learn to manage their personal needs during potty training.

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need to do better?

n Managers show a genuine commitment to improving the quality of care and education they provide. They identified that staff recruitment and retention have been difficult. Positively, managers have been working hard to improve this and have implemented plans to address the issues. However, the impact on children's learning and development is not yet secure. n The manager provides support for staff, through appraisal, supervision, training and induction of new and agency staff. She is always on the nursery floor monitoring practice. However, more attention needs to be focused on the educational programme to ensure it is ambitious for all children. Although practitioners observe children and complete the two-year-old progress check, helping them to identify what children know and can do, this information is not considered to ensure staff tailor the curriculum to children's individual learning needs. As a result, the consistently good progress that children can make is not

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need to do better?

effectively supported. n Management ensures practitioners are suitable and appropriately qualified to meet the staff-to-child ratio. However, they need to be more organised to

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need to do better?

6 March 2023 ensure that all documentation is available for inspection. n Parents say that practitioners are approachable. However, communication with management is not very effective. This often takes a while, and they are not consistently informed of changes within the nursery. For example, staffing and of their child's learning and development. n Despite the weaknesses, practitioners promote children's communication and language skills well. They listen to what children say and repeat their words when mispronounced. This helps to reinforce the correct pronunciation, which children often repeat. Babies and toddlers respond to practitioners when they echo their sounds. They smile back at practitioners who smile at them. n Children eat a healthy, balanced diet. Staff know the children with allergies and cater safely for them. They ensure meals for babies are appropriately prepared and have implemented systems to support staff to identify babies' bottles and

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need to do better?

record when these have been offered. n Staff support children to build positive relationships. Children often seek out staff for comfort and support. Staff follow care routines, for instance, they change babies' nappies and when children are wet from water play or get messy at mealtimes. However, bed sheets for toddlers who still have a nap are not safely stored away to ensure they are kept clean and help promote their good health. n Children learn about the environment, each other, people in the local area and different cultures. They are respectful. Staff help older children to understand the weather. For example, they join in experiments to learn how it rains. This sparks conversations about the rain helping plants to grow. Staff link this to a story to help children understand.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Managers and staff complete training that updates and extends their knowledge of child protection matters. Staff know what to do if they consider that a child is at risk of harm. Staff complete required records. For example, when children sustain injuries, staff complete accident forms and share them with parents. Staff identify and minimise hazards to children. They complete daily checks of the premises and supervise children. Managers follow safe recruitment procedures. New staff and agencies complete an appropriate induction programme. This helps staff to understand their role and responsibilities.

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Due date

6 March 2023 ensure the individual needs, interests and development of each child are used to provide a consistently meaningful curriculum that supports and challenge children's learning experiences and build on what they already know and can do 20/04/2023

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Due date

ensure all relevant documentations are available for inspection 20/04/2023

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Due date

develop more effective partnership with parents to help improve communications and enhance outcomes for children. 20/04/2023

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should:

n provide further support for staff to develop the curriculum implementation and improve children's learning n review how sleeping mats for children are stored to ensure they are consistently clean.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY317547 Local authority Merton Inspection number 10278843 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 89 Number of children on roll 120 Name of registered person Dicky Birds Pre-School Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0208 942 5779 Date of previous inspection 28 March 2018

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Information about this early years setting

Dicky Birds Pre School Nurseries Ltd - Queens Road is located in Wimbledon, in the London borough of Merton. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, from 8am until 6pm, all year round, apart from a week at Christmas and bank holidays. Extended hours are available on request. There are 39 members of staff, including the manager who holds a level 6 childcare qualification. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years old.

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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 The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk of the nursery. They conducted a joint observation of practice. n Meetings took place between the inspector, the nursery manager and the regional manager. n The inspector spoke with staff and children during the inspection. She spoke with parents and has taken account of their views. n Examples of documentation, such as evidence of staff suitability were sampled and reviewed by 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

6 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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