Abbeywood Tots Day Nursery

Inspection of Curious Hedgehogs Day Nursery and Pre-School Stockwood Lane, Bristol BS14 8SJ

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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 Inadequate

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The provision is inadequate

The management team has not addressed the actions raised during the last inspection sufficiently, indicating a lack of effective leadership.

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The provision is inadequate

The manager and staff do not prioritise children's safety. Their current risk assessment procedures prove ineffective, allowing hazards, such as a blocked fire exit and potential dangers in the outdoor area, to persist. Inaccuracies in recording children's daily hours of attendance and insufficient supervision during mealtimes leaves children exposed to potential harm. Staff fail to set appropriate behaviour expectations or manage children's behaviour effectively to prevent them from hurting themselves and others. Additionally, staff do not always ensure that children have access to fresh water at all times to meet their care needs.

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The provision is inadequate

Leaders do not provide a clear and stimulating curriculum, and this hinders children's learning and development. Furthermore, they fail to adequately monitor staff practice, resulting in limiting learning experiences being offered to children. Consequently, staff do not actively engage with children or extend learning during their interactions. This particularly impacts babies, who do not receive the responsive care necessary for their development. Additionally, toddlers and pre- school children lack an interactive environment that fosters curiosity and learning through play.

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The provision is inadequate

Leaders fail to ensure the accuracy of required written assessments or to ensure that the key-person system is effective. Consequently, key persons do not share accurate information with parents about their child's progress. Parents comment that they are not aware of their child's assigned key person and how to support their child's learning at home.

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The provision is inadequate

Staff encourage children to develop some skills that support their independence. For example, pre-school children wash their hands before lunch without assistance. Toddlers use tongs to place fruit into their bowls during snack time, demonstrating their confidence and self-reliance.

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need to do better?

n The lack of proper supervision from staff, particularly during mealtimes, presents a significant risk to children's safety. Even though staff sit with the children during these times, they are not vigilant enough. Children often put excessive food in their mouths, throw their heads back while eating, feed each other or move around with food in their mouths. Staff's failure to respond appropriately to these behaviours indicates significant concerns for children's safety. n Staff do not address children's care needs effectively. They fail to ensure that

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need to do better?

12 July 2023 fresh drinking water is available and accessible at all times. This results in some children lacking adequate hydration, particularly during snack time. n Leaders do not ensure the safety and suitability of the premises and equipment. Unused resources obstruct the fire exit at the back of the building. Consequently, in the event of an emergency evacuation, staff and children encounter substantial delay in exiting the building, jeopardizing their safety. The outdoor play area lacks organisation, with resources consistently left on the floor. n Staff fail to understand the importance of maintaining an accurate record of children's attendance. In the event of an emergency, this lack of documentation hinders staff's ability to account for the children's whereabouts, potentially putting them at risk. n Staff do not manage children's challenging behaviour effectively. Older children snatch resources off each other, stand on chairs during mealtimes, ignore staff

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need to do better?

requests to sit down during group times, and disturb story times for other children. Staff struggle to handle this challenging behaviour and often give up, allowing children's behaviour to continue. This negatively impacts on the children's personal development and hampers their social interactions with peers. n The key-person system is not effective, and children do not receive the individualised support they need. As a result, children struggle to settle and feel secure. For example, children who have attended for a long time still struggle to settle at drop-off time, and they are upset throughout the day. Some staff working with the toddlers do not know children's names or any key information about them. Staff in the pre-school room do not know which children they are key person to and are not aware of important information, such as the children's ages or developmental needs. Staff also do not build strong partnerships with

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need to do better?

parents. They do not provide parents with adequate information about their children's development and ways they can further support learning at home. n The new manager, despite her experience and ambition, does not provide adequate coaching, supervision, and support to ensure that staff have the appropriate skills and knowledge to carry out their roles. Although the manager intends to carry out supervisions and identify weak practice for all staff, currently this has only been completed for staff in the baby room. The manager is aware of other staff who require support, but she has not yet taken steps to address weaknesses in staff practice. This has a significant impact on the care and learning that children receive. n Staff do not provide opportunities for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to build upon what they already know and challenge them further. For instance, during a small group activity involving

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need to do better?

play dough, children show eagerness to participate. However, staff do not actively engage with them, failing to interact or discuss the ongoing activities. As a result of the lack of staff engagement, children quickly lose interest, disengage from the activity, and move on. Additionally, although staff undertake progress checks for children aged two years, identifying some of their strengths, they do not report on areas where children's development is less than expected. This leads to inaccurate assessment of children's progress and hinders children's

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need to do better?

12 July 2023 potential for growth and development.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders do not monitor staff effectively to ensure that they understand their role and responsibility to safeguard children in their care. Staff recognise some indicators that may suggest a child is at risk of abuse and have refreshed their knowledge on how to report concerns since the last inspection. However, there is no noticeable improvement in implementing comprehensive risk assessments, including identifying hazards in the environment. For example, staff block the fire exit in the outdoor area with unused resources, compromising the safety of children. Additionally, during mealtimes, staff's supervision falls short, as children frequently walk around while they are still chewing their food, which poses a choking hazard.

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Due date

improve the supervision of children to meet their needs and to keep them safe, with particular regard to mealtimes 13/07/2023

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Due date

ensure that children always have fresh drinking water available to them 13/07/2023

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Due date

ensure that fire exits are not blocked and are accessible 13/07/2023

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Due date

improve risk assessment and identify and minimise hazards to keep children safe 13/07/2023

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Due date

keep an accurate daily record of children's attendance 13/07/2023

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Due date

ensure that children's behaviour is managed in an appropriate way so that they do not put themselves or others at risk of harm 24/07/2023

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Due date

12 July 2023 ensure that the key-person system is effective and offers children support, meets their individual needs and builds partnerships with parents. 24/07/2023

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Due date

improve the monitoring of staff practice to identify weaknesses, and target support, coaching and training, to improve the quality of the provision. 31/07/2023

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Due date

ensure that the progress check for children age two includes an accurate reflection of their development to identify their strengths and any areas where their development is less than expected 04/08/2023

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Due date

plan and implement a curriculum that offers children challenge and targets their learning effectively. 04/08/2023

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY221445 Local authority Bristol City of Inspection number 10301842 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 79 Number of children on roll 147 Name of registered person Abbeywood Tots Day Nursery Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 01275 839 188 Date of previous inspection 13 March 2023

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Information about this early years setting

Curious Hedgehogs Day Nursery and Pre-School registered in February 2002. The nursery offers care from 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, all year round. There are 31 members of staff employed to work with the children. Of these, the manager holds an appropriate childcare qualification at level 6, 13 staff hold appropriate childcare qualifications at level 3 and three hold appropriate childcare qualifications at level 2. There is one member of staff who holds a qualification at level 4, and 13 staff are unqualified. The nursery receives early education funding for children aged two, three and four years.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors Stella Orfanidou Victoria Nicolson

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Inspection activities

n 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 talked to staff at appropriate times during the inspection. n The inspectors discussed the safety and suitability of the premises with the nursery manager and the area manager. n The inspectors observed interactions between staff and children. n The inspectors observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact this was having on children's learning. n The lead inspector spoke with the nursery manager and the area manager about the leadership and management of the setting. n The second inspector and the manager carried out a joint observation in the toddler room. n The inspectors spoke to several parents during the inspection and took account of their views. n The manager showed the lead inspector documentation to demonstrate the

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Inspection activities

suitability of staff working in the setting. n The lead inspector and the manager completed a learning walk together of all areas of the nursery and discussed the early years curriculum.

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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

12 July 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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