Childrey Little Ducks Pre-school

Childrey Little Ducks Pre-school

Unique reference number (URN): EY495310 Address: Fletcher Pavilion, Playing Field, Childrey, Oxfordshire, OX12 9NT Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 05/10/2015 Registers: EYR Registered person: Childrey Little Ducks Pre-School CIO

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Safeguarding standards not met

Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that adequately protects children from harm. Leaders do not ensure that robust safeguarding procedures are in place. The leadership team has failed to act on whistleblowing concerns and has not followed required safeguarding procedures. Staff have an insufficient understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. Many staff do not recognise the signs or indicators of wider safeguarding risks that may suggest a child is in danger. In addition, some staff are not confident in the referral procedures they must follow when a concern arises.

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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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Achievement Needs attention

Children typically show curiosity, independence and early social skills as they make choices in their play. However, some children who need extra help, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning, do not always receive the support that they require. This is because information about children's needs and adaptations is not shared with staff effectively. As a result, children do not always benefit from strategies that would help them make expected progress.

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Achievement Needs attention

Children demonstrate positive relationships, responding well to gentle reminders as they learn to play cooperatively. They develop an acceptable sense of wellbeing and build their physical skills confidently. Daily outdoor play, forest school experiences and sports sessions give children rich opportunities to explore, take risks and strengthen their social, emotional and physical development.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Daily routines are not managed well enough. Transitions, especially at lunchtime, take too long. Children often sit waiting with nothing to do, which makes them restless and reduces the time they have for learning and play. Staff are also taken away from teaching to carry out routine jobs that take too long. As a result, children do not always receive the support or attention they need, and learning activities are interrupted.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Children behave well and generally understand what is expected of them. They get on with each other and often play cooperatively together. For example, some children wait their turn and enjoy role-play games, such as pretending to work in an office. These moments show that children can build positive relationships when routines are well organised.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Staff support children's attendance and greet them warmly each day, helping them to settle in. Leaders and staff create a warm and welcoming environment where children feel comfortable. Children play alongside each other positively and share resources. For example, after lunch, some children share a book together. Staff offer children regular praise and encouragement and model good manners and respectful behaviour.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders generally know what they want children to learn and achieve before moving on from the pre-school. However, the design and delivery of the teaching does not support learning well enough. Some staff have not had induction for their roles and do not know what the curriculum should look like, while others are not aware of the areas of learning they are focusing on for children. Some staff lack confidence in the 7 areas of learning and do not always match activities to the correct learning intention. For example, some staff say they are supporting children's hand–eye coordination yet complete the task for the children, which limits their learning and independence. During activities, some staff incorporate mathematical learning appropriately. However, not all staff recognise appropriate opportunities to build on early number recognition, shape and measure skills.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff engage with the children well overall. However, they do not always maintain a sharp focus on developing communication and language skills. At times, staff supervise children rather than interact, which reduces opportunities for meaningful conversations. Children show suitable curiosity as they explore the woods, climb trees and search for insects. When teaching is at its best, some staff support children's imagination well. They incorporate stories into children's play as they retell the story of 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Other children pretend to drink the hot chocolate they have made from water with natural materials. Children have access to a suitable range of books and generally appropriate resources that also help them learn about similarities and differences, including those that reflect festivals, people and communities. Overall, staff provide a range of interesting resources that encourage children to explore and investigate. For example, children enjoy

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

exploring ice, making marks with pens, and using simple materials to be creative.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders and staff aim to create an inclusive environment, but current practice does not consistently meet the needs of all children. Systems for identifying and supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not strong enough. For example, staff who oversee the support for children with SEND do not share information with all staff to enable them to adapt and adequately support children's specific needs. This lack of guidance results in inconsistent practice to help children access learning successfully.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Staff do not always adapt routines or activities so that every child can participate meaningfully. For example, long waiting times during transitions, particularly at lunchtime, make it difficult for some children to remain engaged. Partnerships with external professionals are not embedded well enough to ensure coordinated support. For example,

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Urgent improvement

information is not always shared for children who attend more than one setting, which limits continuity of care and learning.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Leaders do not take action to ensure the people who have contact with children are suitable. Furthermore, they have not ensured that staff supervise children adequately during mealtimes. Staff frequently leave children unattended while they are eating. This lack of supervision increases the risk that a choking child will go unnoticed or that first aid will not be applied quickly. Although staff know the importance of supervising children and understand the procedures, they do not implement these consistently during mealtimes. Leaders do not check effectively that staff follow the policies and procedures designed to keep children safe.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Leaders and staff maintain effective standards of cleanliness and care, and the environment remains clean and well ventilated with suitable non-smoking procedures in place. However, staff do not maintain children's privacy when they use the toilet or have their nappies changed. For example, children use and leave the toilet area while others are washing their hands, which compromises their dignity and does not promote respectful care.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Overall, the setting feels welcoming, and staff maintain support for children's physical care appropriately. They follow established routines that promote children's wellbeing, and children develop independence by making choices about the activities they want to explore. Each child has an allocated key person, who supports their care well overall. Staff help children learn how to keep themselves safe, such as using equipment properly and ensuring an adult is nearby when they climb a tree.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders, including those who are responsible for governance, do not understand their roles and responsibilities. Their knowledge of safeguarding is poor. They do not maintain or follow the policies and procedures needed to keep children safe. Leaders fail to act on safeguarding concerns staff raise. As a result, leaders have been unable to identify risks or implement immediate measures to protect children. Leaders have not ensured that all staff maintain up-to-date safeguarding knowledge. The arrangements in place to ensure the designated safeguarding lead maintains their role are ineffective. Consequently, staff suitability cannot be assured, and children's safety is compromised. Leaders demonstrate a poor capacity to improve. As a result, we have suspended the setting's registration.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders do not recognise weaknesses in practice. They do not take action to meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Leaders and staff are not aware of recent changes to early years inspections or documents, such as the early years inspection toolkit. This shows that continuous improvement for children's education is limited. Leaders have a significantly weak understanding of their roles. They have failed to notify Ofsted of a significant event. This is an offence. Leaders' arrangements for monitoring, supervising and observing staff practice are ineffective. Staff say that they do not feel supported and that leaders do not prioritise their wellbeing. Current systems for coaching and supervision do not give staff the clear guidance they need to understand their roles, responsibilities and expectations. Leaders do not ensure that all staff know how to meet children's needs well enough.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

That said, all staff have the required checks to work with children and have access to online training platforms to support their professional development. However, leaders do not ensure that all staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities, including how to identify and respond to safeguarding concerns. Leaders do not act on concerns staff raise with them, which further weakens safeguarding practice. Leaders and staff develop professional relationships and demonstrate a suitable awareness of the importance of confidentiality.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Parents and carers receive sufficient information to help them understand how their children are developing. However, significant improvements are needed to ensure children are kept safe and all staff consistently fulfil their roles and responsibilities.

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

Children's health, wellbeing and safety are significantly compromised at this pre-school. Leaders and staff do not uphold the pre-school's policies and procedures, resulting in serious breaches of safeguarding practice. Some staff demonstrate weak safeguarding knowledge, and children are not consistently supervised well enough, particularly during mealtimes. Children generally arrive to a warm greeting and settle quickly. However, the quality of teaching is inconsistent and does not always support children's learning and development effectively. Not all staff interact purposefully with children, and too often they prioritise routine tasks over meaningful engagement. This limits children's enjoyment, participation and progress.

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

There is poor oversight within the leadership team, leading to gaps in staff's understanding. Some staff have key responsibilities but are not aware of what support is in place for children who face barriers to their learning. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not always receive the full support they require.

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

Not all staff feel supported in their roles. They do not receive regular supervision, and induction processes are not effective in helping them understand their responsibilities. Consequently, some staff lack a secure understanding of the areas of learning they are teaching and are unable to support children's development effectively. Key persons can talk about their key children's progress. However, teaching does not consistently promote children's learning. For example, when staff make binoculars, they describe this as supporting children's hand–eye coordination, yet children simply watch adults complete the tasks and are not actively involved in the learning experience. When teaching is of better quality, children enjoy activities that promote their physical development, such as climbing, exploring trees in the forest school area, and balancing on logs. These experiences engage children and support relationships. Staff praise children for

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

their efforts, and children patiently wait for their turns.

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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 leaders and all staff, including those with lead responsibility for safeguarding, securely understand and are able to implement the pre-school's safeguarding policy and procedures so they are fully confident to make a referral if there are concerns about a staff member or a child 03/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

take action to ensure staff with lead responsibility for safeguarding have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the pre-school and local safeguarding children's partners' procedures for referrals in the event of a safeguarding concern 03/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure whistleblowing procedures are fully known and understood by leaders and staff so that when concerns are raised about staff's poor or unsafe practice or where there are safeguarding concerns about a staff member, they understand the processes to follow 03/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

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

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Action Completion Date

ensure all staff know how to identify possible signs that a child may be at risk of harm 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that staff consistently sit facing children during mealtimes to maintain children's health, safety and 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure children's privacy is considered and balanced with safeguarding and support needs when changing nappies and toileting 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement regular staff coaching and supervision to review the quality of teaching, identify training needs, and ensure all staff have the skills and knowledge to fulfil the requirements of their role 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that all staff are well trained and have the necessary knowledge and skills to support every child to achieve the best possible outcomes 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that those with oversight and governance of the setting understand their roles and responsibilities, maintain requirements and can develop the overall quality of provision 24/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that all children receive an ambitious, well- sequenced curriculum that takes account of children's individual needs, interests and stage of development, so that every child is supported to reach their full potential 24/07/2026

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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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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. As a result, we have suspended the setting registration. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this. Unique reference number (URN): EY495310

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Address:

Fletcher Pavilion Playing Field Childrey Oxfordshire OX12 9NT

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Childrey Little Ducks Pre-School CIO

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:45 - 15:15

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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.

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Urgent improvement

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

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