St Nicholas Playgroup

Inspection of St Nicholas Playgroup St Nicholas Church, Rochester ME2 4TR

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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 Good

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The provision is inadequate

Children's safety and well-being are compromised at this playgroup, due to breaches to the safeguarding and welfare requirements. The designated safeguarding lead has not fulfilled their responsibilities to ensure that staff have a thorough understanding of child protection matters. Furthermore, staff do not monitor children effectively at mealtimes and when eating. For example, children bring food into the play area and run around with it in their mouth. The staff observe this but do not support children on the potential choking hazards to ensure their safety.

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The provision is inadequate

Strategies for managing children's behaviour lack consistency and effectiveness. This results in children displaying challenging behaviours that often go unnoticed. Children climb on items that are not safe, such as radiator covers. Furthermore, they often push and shove each other to access resources that others have. The lack of consistent support from staff regarding the playgroups expectations about behaviour, leads to a chaotic environment. As a result, children to not receive the support they need to understand how to behave appropriately and safely.

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The provision is inadequate

Although the manager has developed an ambitious curriculum, this is not understood and implemented effectively by all staff. The current focus is based on children's communication and language skills, independence, and for children to be socially confident. Children show some interest in the range of experiences and activities provided for them. For example, they enjoy creating with the blocks and planks, and mark making with crayons. However, the same resources are left out all day, and staff fail to notice when children begin to lose interest. Consequently, staff plan activities they believe children will find enjoyable, yet they lack clarity on the intended learning outcomes.

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need to do better?

n Safeguarding is not effective. The staff do not have adequate knowledge of child protection matters in order to keep children safe and ensure that any concerns are acted upon swiftly. For instance, they are not confident on the purpose and role of the local authority designated lead (LADO). Furthermore, they do not understand the risk to children of county lines, radicalisation and other aspects of safeguarding that may be present in the local community. n Staff deployment is ineffective, not only to prevent potential choking hazards, but also for ensuring children receive consistent, and quality interactions from staff to meet their learning needs. For example, staff spend long periods of time preparing snack, and spend the majority of their time moving around the room to see to the poor behaviour of the children. This means that the staff cannot dedicate quality time to enhance children's learning and development. The

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need to do better?

2 May 2024 staff's ineffective communication among themselves fails to ensure adequate coverage across all playgroup areas. This results in children having to cry out for attention. Children are not making the progress they are capable of. n The ongoing support and supervision of staff is weak. The manager has not identified the inconsistencies in staff practice swiftly enough to guarantee improvement. Staff have received some training. However, this has not been successful in ensuring staff provide effective learning experiences. This negatively impacts on the outcomes for children. n Children are physically active in their play. They ride tricycles with ease, manoeuvring around obstacles. However, at times staff do not adequately risk assess the environment, and take immediate action to minimise these. For example, during play sand makes its way across the majority of the floor causing children to slip. Furthermore, children are not being taught about these risks,

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need to do better?

and the methods to manage them independently. n The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) receives positive feedback from parents for making the referral process easily understandable. She has a good understanding of the individual needs of children. For example, they have created spaces for children to calm down, and regulate their emotions through breathing techniques. However, this is not consistent across the staff team and children become overwhelmed. Furthermore, the quality of interactions from staff is poor, meaning children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are not receiving consistent support towards their individual next steps in learning. n Some key elements of the daily routine are poorly organised and do not reflect children's needs well enough. They often prioritise staff convenience for tasks, like preparing lunch, over the children's needs. For instance, during story time

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need to do better?

before lunch, all children are gathered, some sit at the tables not facing the correct direction. As a member of staff reads a story, the children become distracted by their drinks and what the other staff are doing around them. This does not support children's appreciation for the significance of books, storytelling, or their development of speech and language, which has been highlighted as an area of need. n Overall, parents are happy with the setting. They praise the friendly staff team, and the efforts they go to, to make parents feel at ease. For instance, if children feel uneasy at drop off, the staff will send photographs to reassure parents that their children have settled. Parents have built positive relationships with staff. For example, they are provided with time to speak to their child's key person about what their children have been doing.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

There is not an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

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Due date

take action to ensure that all staff understand the safeguarding policies and procedures, including the role of the LADO 17/05/2024

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Due date

ensure the deployment of staff meets the safety and well-being needs of the children, particularly during meal times 17/05/2024

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Due date

implement a behaviour management strategy that is consistent across the staff team to ensure that children understand what is expected of them 17/05/2024

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Due date

improve the arrangements for supervision of staff so that they rapidly improve their skills and knowledge regarding the quality of teaching provided and their interactions with children 17/05/2024

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Due date

ensure that risks are swiftly identified and managed through effective ongoing risk assessment 17/05/2024

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Due date

take action to implement a clear, sequenced curriculum that is understood by staff and consistently embedded into practice. 31/05/2024

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY551434 Local authority Medway Inspection number 10338446 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 45 Number of children on roll 44 Name of registered person Simmons, Charlene Evelyn

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reference number

Telephone number 07917095632 Date of previous inspection 2 October 2019

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Information about this early years setting

St Nicholas Playgroup opened in 1989 and re-registered under new private ownership in 2017. It is situated in the town of Strood, Kent. The playgroup opens from 9.15am to 3pm on Monday to Thursday and from 9.15am to 11.45am on Friday, term time only. It is in receipt of funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The playgroup employs four members of staff, one of whom holds early years professional status.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the provider 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 provider. n The manager joined the inspector on a learning walk and talked to the inspector about their curriculum and what they want their children to learn. n Children spoke to the inspector during the inspection. n The inspector talked to staff at appropriate times during the inspection and took account of their views. n The SENCo spoke to the inspector about how they support children with SEND. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning. n The inspector spoke to several parents during the inspection and took account of their views. n The manager showed the inspector documentation to demonstrate the suitability

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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

2 May 2024 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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