Kids Planet Southport

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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The provision is good

Children move around their rooms happily. They investigate interesting objects and enjoy a wide range of sensory experiences that support their curiosity, creativity and imagination. Children explore different substances and textures. For example, at the inspection, some children handled turnips, potatoes, red peppers and parsnips in compost, while others handled ice. Staff make good use of these opportunities to help children learn more about the world around them and support their language development. Three-year-old children name different volcanoes and talk knowledgeably about them using words such as 'magma' and 'erupt'. Children use the new words they have learned, which help them to express their feelings. For example, a child says he feels peaceful while sitting with his feet in a foot spa.

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The provision is good

Children have many opportunities to recognise what makes them unique. They talk about themselves, their families and a range of different emotions. Children learn about the local community on many varied visits, including to the supermarket and local parks. Outings, such as visiting the Eurovision song contest village and identifying European flags also inspire children to talk about different countries. The curriculum is sequenced well to build from the baby room to when children leave to start school. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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need to do better?

n Leaders and managers demonstrate a strong vision. They consult staff, parents and children to help identify how they can build on the good-quality care and education. Children are involved in decision-making. For example, older children keenly suggest ideas for their sports day. n Children's health benefits from a wide range of physical activities, which challenge their movement, balance and coordination. Babies benefit from regular tummy time, which helps to strengthen their back, neck, shoulders and core muscles. Older children climb on and walk along low-level equipment purposefully placed in their rooms. They also learn racquet skills on regular visits to the local tennis courts. n Children develop the physical movements needed for later writing in a range of ways. They manipulate dough, run their fingers through substances, including oats and compost, and make marks with paint, chalk, crayons and coloured ice.

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need to do better?

Children also learn that print carries meaning through activities, such as making passports for travel on their role-play airplane. n Many opportunities help to develop children's reading skills. Children make themselves comfortable in reading areas and look at books. They listen to stories read well by staff. They refer to recipe books while making pretend food from dough, which helps them to understand that books hold information.

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need to do better?

24 May 2023 n Staff increase children's mathematical vocabulary as they play. For example, at the inspection, a child is helped to talk about size and matching pairs while searching for gardening gloves that fit. While enjoying drawing with broccoli in paint, children are helped to identify and name different shapes, such as circles and squares. n Overall, partnership with parents is strong. For example, parents are welcomed into the nursery. They help themselves to coffee and fruit and can sit together to chat. They are also offered 'home learning' bags with ideas and resources to continue learning at home. A different policy is displayed each month, as well as other useful information, such as the impact of day-time use of dummies on speech development. This helps to keep parents well informed. n Staff make good use of their own observations and assessments and information from parents where available. They identify what children know and can do and

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need to do better?

decide what children need to learn next to help them make good progress. n Overall, children behave well. However, on occasion, during whole-group activities, staff in the 'rising three' room lose focus on what they want children to learn and some children's engagement declines. n There are clear systems in place for supervising and monitoring staff practice. These help staff to reflect on their own practice and identify how they can develop their skills further. Staff are making increasingly good use of what they learn on training to support children.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff refresh their knowledge of safeguarding regularly and understand how to identify and report concerns. Managers check staff's knowledge regularly and share new information, which helps to keep their knowledge up to date. Most staff hold a current paediatric first-aid certificate and are trained to deal with incidents, such as choking. Since the last inspection, all staff have refreshed their training on how to manage children's behaviour and how to assess risks. Children take turns to be a health and safety officer. They wear a hard hat and fluorescent vest and check for hazards, which they note on a clipboard.

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should:

n plan group times more carefully to support children's engagement and make the best possible use of opportunities to learn n make even greater use of what parents know about their children to support ongoing assessment.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY499371 Local authority Sefton Inspection number 10277698 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 277 Name of registered person Kids Planet Day Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 01704 534 855 Date of previous inspection 6 January 2023

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Information about this early years setting

Kids Planet Southport registered in 2016. The nursery employs 47 members of childcare staff. Of these, 35 hold appropriate early years qualifications ranging from level 2 to level 7. Two staff have qualified teacher status and one has early years teacher status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm, all year. The nursery provides funded early education for two- and three-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n The inspector discussed any continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the provider. n The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk together. n A joint observation was carried out by the inspector and the manager. n The inspector held discussions with staff, children and parents at appropriate times during the inspection. n Meetings were held with the leadership and management team. n The inspector looked at a sample of the nursery's documents. This included evidence about staff suitability and training.

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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

24 May 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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