Acorn Day Care Limited

Acorn Day Care Limited

Unique reference number (URN): 2721420 Address: 2 Roman Road, Luton, LU3 2QT Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 17/02/2023 Registers: EYR Registered person: Acorn Day Care Limited

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure that communication with parents is effective to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, when parents raise concerns about gaps in children's learning, these are not followed up, and staff do not start to reduce the gaps in children's learning and development.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

A well-established key-person system is effective, and parents and carers speak highly of their child's key person. Staff are responsive and attentive to children's personal care needs. They manage these well to ensure children's dignity and privacy. However, children are not always aware of staff expectations of what they should be doing during transition time. Children do not always know what is happening next. This means they are not as emotionally secure or engaged in meaningful learning at these times.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

Children develop their physical skills and enjoy fresh air as they have access to the garden throughout the day. They can run, play with water, dig sand and throw balls. Children are offered healthy snacks. Staff discuss the importance of healthy lunches with parents. They provide them with guidance to support them to make healthy choices. The setting has engaged with the local authority in implementing new strategies to embed children's and family's knowledge about healthy lifestyles.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Children are not developing the skills and knowledge that they need to advance in their learning. Children are not progressing well enough, particularly in their communication and language. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are not achieving in key developmental areas. This impacts on their ability to successfully transition within the setting and/or to school. For example, young children move quickly between activities and do not stay engaged. Although there is a large garden space, this is not set up to support children's development. This means those children who prefer to learn outside do not make the progress they are capable of.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Some older children begin to develop skills ready for school, particularly independence. The youngest babies are well supported. They develop their physical skills as they move around activities at different heights and strengthen their leg muscles as they pull themselves up to stand. Staff continuously narrate the day, exposing them to spoken words.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Leaders do not embed routines throughout the setting, and, as a result, children do not know what is expected of them. Staff move children around the setting without purpose or planning. This impacts on children's emotional wellbeing, and they become upset. Leaders have not ensured a high-quality curriculum, which means children do not consistently have positive attitudes to learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Leaders have recently adapted their procedures to promote children's attendance in the nursery. This has supported families to become familiar with routines ready for experiences at school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Staff do not promote positive behaviour to a consistent level throughout the nursery. They do not consider the different ages of children when supporting their behaviour during play. For example, when there are disputes over toys in the pre-school room, staff simply tell children to use 'kind hands'. In the toddler room, staff do not explain to children the importance of sharing. As a result, children do not learn strategies for managing disputes independently.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Staff support toddlers to develop good manners. They role model polite behaviour, saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their friends.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

The curriculum design is weak, and leaders have not had sufficient oversight of what children are learning. Without effective leaders, staff have lost confidence in their abilities and cannot explain sufficiently how their teaching helps children to progress. Staff are not always clear on what they expect children to learn. This means that children do not experience teaching that helps them to build on what they already know. Sometimes, they lack meaningful engagement and enjoyment in their learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not experience suitable adaptations to support their development, and so they do not gain skills to help them to progress. Staff do not support children's communication and language development well enough. Children with SEND are not provided with tailored interactions to support individual language development. Despite language acquisition being identified as an area for children's development, children are either not spoken to or asked questions that are too complex for them to understand. The curriculum is not ambitious for all children and results in children being upset and disinterested.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are not provided with focused support to enable them to engage or develop skills. Strategies put in place to support children who require additional help to engage in learning are not consistently used. For example, children with communication and language delay are not supported to ensure that they understand expectations of them, nor are instructions broken down. Individual opportunities to develop language are not in place, and staff do not role model developmentally appropriate language. Staff move children around the setting without any explanation about what is happening or why. Children become upset, as this is confusing and inappropriate for them.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Occasionally, staff can identify if there are any concerns in children's development. However, they are not supported by leaders to create plans to begin to narrow the gaps for these children. This lack of action towards developing and meeting children's learning needs, particularly communication and language, impacts on the progress children make.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders do not have systems in place to ensure that those children who are eligible for additional funding receive this. Additional funding, such as the early years pupil premium, has not been used effectively to assist with some children's next steps.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Following a recent visit from Ofsted, leaders have not completed all actions raised and have not acted in the children's best interests.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders do not have a suitable understanding of what they need to do to improve. They know what it is that they want the children to learn and how this should be delivered, but this is not done in practice as their assessment of the provision is not accurate. Staff do not have regular supervisions. As a result, training opportunities are not targeted to help support their practice or build on the knowledge and skills of the staff team. This impacts on the experiences the children receive. Where staff raise concerns about the setting, such as the baby room garden, leaders do not prioritise these. This impacts on the staff's ability to provide children with access to garden space that meets their learning and development needs.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders do support staff's emotional wellbeing and have regular discussions with staff to ask if there is anything that they can do to further support them. Leaders and staff engage with parents. They share some information about how they can support their children at home, for example guidance on potty training.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Leaders have failed to exercise adequate oversight of the quality of learning and teaching they provide for children. Children who need additional support with their learning do not benefit from consistent opportunities to make steady progress from their starting points. Leaders have failed to ensure that staff check the progress of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities effectively. This means that staff do not accurately identify or plan for areas in which children need further support. As a result, children's learning needs are not met. Leaders do not have the required knowledge to support staff with recognising when children have gaps in their learning and development. Leaders have not ensured that there is an effective curriculum in place to ensure that all children make progress in their learning and development. Children do not have consistent opportunities to build on what they already know as staff do not sequence their learning

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

effectively. Leaders do not ensure that there is consistently high-quality teaching across the setting. As a result, children do not have access to a highly ambitious curriculum. Leaders are unable to reflect on the weaknesses within the setting and are not able to support the setting to make progress and influence change. Where staff discuss concerns with leaders, such as the suitability of the baby garden, this is not prioritised. This impacts on the experiences staff are able to offer children.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Overall, children access activities that staff plan based on their observations of their interests. Babies enjoy the sensory experience of exploring coloured rice. Staff talk to children about the different textures and narrate their play to expose them to language. Staff across the setting have positive relationships with children. They are happy to come into the setting and seek out familiar adults to play with.

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Next steps

The provider is not meeting the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Ofsted intends to take enforcement action.

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Next steps

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to have taken the following actions by the assigned date:

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Action Completion Date

ensure that supervisions are completed in line with the setting procedures and that they offer staff the opportunity to discuss any issues, including child protection concerns 20/03/2026

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Action Completion Date

take action to ensure that practitioners undertake appropriate training and professional development opportunities to build on their knowledge and skills 20/03/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement effective arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities 20/03/2026

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Action Completion Date

To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the following action by the assigned date:

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Acorn Day Care Limited

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 16:00

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Action Completion Date

improve the curriculum and consider what children need to learn next, particularly to help them manage disputes independently and make suitable progress in their communication and language skills 20/04/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the quality manager and external professionals, and environmental health inspectors who visited during the inspection.

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About this inspection

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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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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

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