The New Barnet Day Nursery and Pre-School

Inspection of The New Barnet Day Nursery and Pre-School 54 Station Road, New Barnet, Barnet EN5 1QG

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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 Not applicable

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The provision is inadequate

The breaches in the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage have a significant impact on the learning, safety and well-being of the children. The quality of care and education is too variable. Not all staff understand child development and are able to provide a good quality of teaching or care practice. This could put children at risk of harm and does not teach children how to keep themselves safe. For example, staff do not know how to help babies sleep safely. Neither do they identify and eliminate risks, including in the garden and at the activities provided. This puts children's health and safety at risk.

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The provision is inadequate

Staff are kind and build warm relationships with children. Staff teach children to use their manners and older children independently serve their food at lunch, which helps children gain some skills needed for their eventual move on to school. All staff regularly praise children for their attempts to do different tasks. This helps to boost their self-esteem. Children are generally happy and enjoy some activities provided. However, the quality of learning experiences and interactions from staff are inconsistent. For example, some staff do not effectively interact with children and do not help them to learn new words, extend their vocabulary or ability to think for themselves.

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The provision is inadequate

Some staff do not know how to appropriately manage children's behaviour. They do not take into account children's age and stage of development. For example, when some children display unwanted behaviour, staff do not explain what they have done inappropriately, what are the consequences and what was the expectation in such a situation. This does not support children's ability to learn boundaries and affects their personal and social development.

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need to do better?

n The provider does not monitor the quality of provision effectively and does not ensure that staff provide a well-designed curriculum. The manager has a clear vision of what an exciting and ambitious curriculum should look like and has very ambitious plans in place for future improvements. However, due to the weaknesses in practice, the vision is not effectively implemented. n The manager monitors staff and their performance through regular individual meetings and identifies staff's weaknesses and creates improvement plans when needed. However, due to the recent changes in staffing arrangements across the nursery, weaknesses have not been promptly identified and addressed yet. As a result, staff provide poor education for children and do not follow the nursery's own policies and procedures to keep children safe and healthy. During the morning hours, the required adult to child ratio is not always met, which

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need to do better?

further impacts on the quality of care and education provided.

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need to do better?

29 March 2023 n The management team uses the funding available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities effectively. For example, they purchase resources that should help those children achieve their next steps and develop the skills they require. However, those resources are not used effectively to ensure children's next steps are promptly achieved to help them to progress. n Staff regularly attend a variety of training sessions and courses. However, there are still some gaps in their knowledge and understanding of health and safety, and safeguarding. For example, some staff do not follow up-to-date guidance on safe sleeping practices for babies. Consequently, they place young babies on their front, which puts babies at risk of harm. In addition, some staff do not notice when children use each other's cups to drink from or share their dummies. Furthermore, staff do not always clean children's running noses,

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need to do better?

leaving children for too long, which does not support their health and does not prevent cross-contamination. These practices put children's health and safety at risk. n Some staff have poor knowledge and understanding of children's learning and development stages and how to support children. For example, staff working with younger children do not effectively support their communication and language. For example, they do not correct children's incorrect pronunciation of words to support the extension of their vocabulary. Staff do not provide suitable books and do not have an inviting book area in their rooms, as some books are torn, some are not age-appropriate and are stored untidily. n Staff plan activities for children. However, some activities are not well thought through and are not age-appropriate. They are not based on a sequence of development that will help the child to progress and achieve their future next

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need to do better?

steps. For example, babies are asked to use glue sticks to stick pieces of paper and are provided with small crayons, which they are not ready to use yet. Staff do not understand how to sequence the curriculum and that for children to be able to complete such tasks, they need other activities first to achieve the desired outcome. n Some staff have appropriate skills and they provide age-appropriate activities. This helps some children to extend their language and develop social skills, such as during group activities. For example, they learn to take turns and make friends. However, some children are left alone and without attention for too long, which does not support their interests and learning needs. These approaches do not foster a positive attitude to learning in children. n Parents report that staff are kind and friendly. All children have an allocated key person. However, some of them do not know the children well enough to meet

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need to do better?

their individual care and learning needs. In addition, some parents do not know their child's key person so this impacts on the effective information sharing between them. As a result, children's learning and care needs are not always met. n Children receive healthy and nutritious meals and have daily opportunities to play outside, which supports their understanding of healthy lifestyles.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

The provider has effective recruitment systems to ensure thorough vetting procedures are applied for all staff, before they are allowed to provide any personal care or be left alone with children. However, some staff who are not allowed to perform such care, do not follow the procedure, and perform personal care or are left alone with children. This puts children's safety at risk. Although staff attend safeguarding training, they are still unable to identify some safeguarding concerns and follow the correct procedures. Risk assessments are not effective. Staff do not recognise potential hazards and do not remove them to maintain children's safety. For example, during the inspection, the inspector identified a number of hazards and broken equipment inside and outside that staff did not identify and remove. Moreover, staff do not always follow hygiene procedures and do not identify when children are exposed to cross-contamination. This puts children's health and safety

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Due date

ensure all staff have a secure knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding policies and procedures; are able to identify all signs when a child might be at risk of harm, and know the correct procedure to follow in the event of an allegation 28/04/2023

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Due date

ensure those staff who are not allowed to provide personal care and be left alone with children do not provide personal care and are not left alone with children 28/04/2023

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Due date

improve key-person system arrangements to ensure that all parents are aware of their child's key person, and to ensure the key persons know their children well and are able to meet their learning and care needs effectively 28/04/2023

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Due date

29 March 2023 ensure that staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children, particularly during morning hours 28/04/2023

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Due date

ensure all staff consistently manage children's behaviour in an appropriate way to support their understanding of age-related expectations, boundaries and consequences 28/04/2023

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Due date

comply with the requirements of health and safety legislation, in particular hygiene requirements to eliminate any cross-contamination 28/04/2023

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Due date

ensure staff put infants down to sleep safely in line with the latest government safety guidance 28/04/2023

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Due date

improve risk assessment procedures, so all staff can identify and remove or minimise potential risks, to ensure children's safety 28/04/2023

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Due date

improve staff's knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements of the 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage' so they can create an environment and plan activities that promote children's learning 28/04/2023

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Due date

improve the quality of teaching to ensure all staff offer children a challenging and ambitious curriculum to help them achieve their best potential, particularly around communication and language. 28/04/2023

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Setting details

Unique reference number 2684856 Local authority Barnet Inspection number 10282715 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 56 Number of children on roll 43 Name of registered person Little Garden Day Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0208 441 6728 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

The New Barnet Day Nursery and Pre-School re-registered under new ownership in 2022. It is open on weekdays all year round, apart from Bank Holidays, from 7.30am to 6.30pm. The setting receives funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The provider employs 20 members of staff; 12 of whom hold relevant childcare qualifications at level 2 or above.

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Inspection activities

n This inspection was carried out following Ofsted's risk assessment process. n The manager and the inspector discussed the organisation of the setting and the educational programmes during the learning walk. n The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager. n The inspector spoke to the parents, the manager, staff and children and took account of their views and experiences. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided in all rooms and outside play and assessed the impact on children's learning. n A sample of required documentation was viewed by the inspector, including documents relating to the suitability of staff and safeguarding policies.

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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

29 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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