Little Angels day Nursery

Little Angels day Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): 2688720 Address: 127 Woodhouse Lane, Manchester, M22 9NW Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 06/10/2022 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Little Angels Day Nursery Ltd

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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. Safer recruitment procedures are not robust and do not ensure the suitability of all those working with children. For instance, references are sought but not followed up. This means staff who may not have passed all checks work with children unsupervised. Leaders have not ensured that staff have received the training they need for them to know, understand and uphold their safeguarding responsibilities. Those in charge of leading safeguarding procedures have not maintained a vigilant attitude towards recognising that safeguarding issues might occur in any setting. Leaders are complacent and make assumptions about concerns. They have failed to identify signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is suffering from abuse or neglect. This has prevented them from reporting significant safeguarding concerns in a timely manner to appropriate

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Safeguarding standards not met

agencies. Child protection procedures and policies are not appropriate and are not adhered to.

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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 Urgent improvement

Leaders have not ensured that they secure high standards of achievement. Children do not make expected progress. They are unprepared for their next educational stage of learning. For example, children who are due to move to school lack basic social skills, such as the ability to form friendships. Children do not learn how to regulate their behaviour. This leads to emotional outbursts and poor wellbeing.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Children gain limited physical development skills. They are not mastering the appropriate strength, coordination and positive attitudes to physical activity. For example, in the outdoor area, children are not supported to develop the hand–eye coordination to fill and empty water containers. They enjoy splashing in the shallow water but their learning has no purpose. Children's development in communication and language is weak. For example, older children cannot use words to communicate their needs and babies make little attempt to babble. Staff do not have the time to engage with children and support their early communication attempts. Children are not encouraged to extend their language. There is not sufficient focus on learning new words.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Children's progress is not assessed. Staff do not know what children should be able to do or what they need to be able to do. They fail to monitor each child's development sufficiently. Children fall behind and are not supported to keep up with their peers. Children show curiosity in their play but the poor teaching means that their interests are not built upon. For instance, children wish to build a train track but are not shown how to do this, so they become bored and disinterested. Children demonstrate limited perseverance and resilience. They get upset easily if they cannot achieve a task or have to wait for their turn.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Leaders have not put in place consistent and reliable routines for children. This means children do not know what to expect and when. As such, they are unsettled and demonstrate insecurity. Children do not understand what they should do when it is outdoor play time, sleep time or group time. They have not been supported to develop a positive attitude towards their play and learning and do not behave accordingly.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Staff lack the skills and knowledge they need to be able to support and encourage appropriate sociable behaviour. This, combined with staff feeling overwhelmed and the lack of support from leaders, creates a chaotic and disorderly environment. Children run around the rooms aimlessly. Children frequently hurt one another. On some occasions, staff notice, intervene and tell children to stop. However, they are unsuccessful in distracting and redirecting children. At other times, staff fail to notice children's altercations. As a result, children are frequently hurt, both physically and emotionally, and staff do not have the skills to support children to resolve conflicts. During the inspection, leaders recognised that staff were struggling to manage children's behaviour. However, they were unable to demonstrate how they would support staff to help children regulate their behaviour and foster positive

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

relationships. This shows poor leadership oversight and knowledge of how to coach and guide staff to fulfil their roles.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Approaches used by staff are not inclusive. For example, staff give verbal instructions only, which means those children who cannot understand words, such as those learning English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not know what is happening and why. Leaders do not promote good attendance at the setting and do not sufficiently challenge absences.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Children do not develop strong attachments to those who care for them. This is because leaders have not prioritised an effective key-person system. For example, leaders do not know which staff care for which children. The continual changes in staffing over recent months have prevented children establishing warm, positive relationships. This has affected their sense of security in the setting. As such, children cry for long periods of time. Staff do not understand children and their attempts to communicate. For example, when children leave their shoes in the outdoor play area, they try to tell staff using gesture and action, but staff do not know what the children want to communicate. Staff's lack of engagement with other professionals such as speech and language therapists hinders the children's fulfilment, as they are not understood.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Children's health is not promoted. Hygiene practices are not effective in meeting the personal care needs of children. Staff do not wash their hands after wiping noses or feeding babies. Staff dispose of used tissues in an open container next to toys, easily accessible to children. Staff do not wash babies' hands before mealtimes. They place children down to rest on dirty bedding placed on a carpet strewn with remnants of food. Leaders and staff do not consider how this access to dirty food poses increased risk to the children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The failure to put in place appropriate policies and procedures compromises children's health.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Risk assessments are not completed to ensure the safety of all children. Leaders fail to ensure that staff are competent to minimise risks to children. For example, toys that have not been checked for their suitability are introduced into the environment. As a result, items that present a choking risk are accessible to the youngest children. Staff do not check outdoor play areas before children play outside and that they meet children's emerging needs. This means they can access and play in stagnant water. At mealtimes, food is placed in front of children without appropriate adult supervision. Staff turn away from children while they complete tasks, which means babies can reach and eat food out of the sight of staff. This puts them at significant risk of consuming food that is unsafe for them to do so. Leaders have not ensured that safer food policies are followed. Parents and/or carers are not consulted about the stages of weaning for their children. Consequently, staff do not know if

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

the food they provide is safe and suitable for each child.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Leaders have not put in place an appropriate curriculum. They have little ambition for the children and are overly positive about the basic activities provided. For example, those who lead teaching and learning do not recognise that activities provided need to focus on what children need to learn rather than simply keeping them busy. Leaders have not ensured that staff have accessed suitable training to enable them to understand how to plan age- and stage-appropriate learning. Consequently, the teaching and learning planned do not match the developmental stage of the children. For instance, staff try to teach babies to line up before mealtimes. Older children are expected to learn about the heat of the sun while playing with corn flakes, which is beyond their level of understanding.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Staff interactions are poor. Staff spend most of their time supervising children rather than engaging in meaningful conversations that promote learning. When staff do talk to children, they ask too many questions that require a yes or no answer and do not help children to think and explore their own ideas. Children do not learn the right things at the right time.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Staff do not understand the learning needs of each child because inconsistency in staffing has prevented them from getting to know them well. The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is particularly poor. For instance, staff do not know and use individualised strategies to promote learning effectively. Leaders have failed to address the recommendations raised at the last inspection. Communication and language skills are not taught effectively. Staff fail to provide activities, such as sharing books, rhymes and songs as part of the daily routine, to support children's early language development.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Children's physical development is not well supported. Toys are set out in the outdoor play area but this is not well thought out and children do not have the space they need to ride bikes safely or jump over hurdles effectively. Staff do not teach children how to use equipment or model safe use.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Children with barriers to their learning, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are not effectively supported to make sufficient progress. Too often, staff do not identify that children have significant delays in their overall development. This is because the leaders have not ensured that staff have the required skills and knowledge. Furthermore, adequate assessment is not completed to help staff know what children need to support their development. Where children are identified as having SEND, those in charge do not take swift action to put in place high-quality teaching and support. For example, advice and guidance from speech and language therapists is not used by staff in their teaching. This means that children with SEND spend their time in the setting disengaged from purposeful play and learning. They wander around aimlessly and, at times, become overstimulated and distressed due to frustrations.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Children learning English as an additional language are not provided with the support they need to acquire effective language skills. Staff are not aware of the languages children speak at home or if they are making expected progress. Staff lack the skills to be able to promote communication and language skills. As a result, many children who speak additional languages are quiet and withdrawn in the setting. They do not benefit from the planned activities because they cannot access them. Leaders have low expectations and do not ensure these children are included and thrive.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders have not ensured that they understand the community they serve. They have failed to ensure that staff clearly understand their responsibilities for supporting disadvantaged children. There is too little focus on the positive outcomes of all children.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders' oversight of the setting is poor. They have failed to take action to meet the welfare requirement notice served at the last visit. This means children have continued to be exposed to an unacceptably weak standard of education and care. There are many breaches of the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage, and leaders demonstrate a poor attitude to improvement. Children's safety is not assured. Leaders have not ensured that people who are left in charge in their absence have the skills and knowledge to carry out their role effectively. The provider does not consider the wellbeing and workload of the staff sufficiently. For instance, during supervision meetings, staff tell leaders they feel stressed and overwhelmed, but solutions are not found. As such, staff do not feel valued or satisfied in their work and children's wellbeing is disregarded.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders have not put in place a professional learning and expertise programme for staff. This means staff are not equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to meet children's needs. While staff carry out some training in appropriate topics, leaders do not encourage its implementation and check if this has any impact on children's wellbeing and learning. Leaders have not done enough to improve staff practice, particularly in managing children's behaviour, the implementation of an effective curriculum and successful support for children who face barriers to their learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Partnerships with parents are poor. The provider has not communicated important information to parents. For example, parents are unaware of changes to staffing arrangements and who their child's key person is. This means that they do not know who to approach to seek advice and support. Additionally, it prevents parents from offering a

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

continuity of care at home, as they are not knowledgeable about their child's time in the nursery. Leaders do not work in partnership with specialists such as speech and language therapists to ensure that children's individual targets are supported. This is because they do not communicate to staff how they can help children learn. Furthermore, parents are not informed about their child's progress. This impedes the support they can provide at home.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has not met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has not met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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

Leaders have not ensured a high standard of care and education. As such, children fail to make expected progress. Failure to adhere to the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage results in a chaotic and sometimes unsafe environment for the children attending. Leaders have not ensured robust safer recruitment. This compromises children's safety because staff suitability has not been confirmed. The staffing arrangements do not meet the needs of the children's wide range of capabilities. This means that children, irrespective of their starting points, do not thrive nor are they ready for the next stages in their education.

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

Children do not engage well in their play and learning. This is because staff lack knowledge of child development and do not possess the teaching skills they need. Children often wander around aimlessly or run in circles around the available space not engaging in purposeful learning. They are not sensitively supported by staff to develop a positive attitude to their learning. Some children are not spoken with enough to build adequate communication and language skills. For instance, quiet children and those who speak English as an additional language often spend long periods of time without adult interaction. When children do engage in play, behavioural expectations are not explained to them. Consequently, they do not learn right from wrong and display poor social behaviours, such as snatching from others.

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

Children do not get the comfort and reassurance they require to be happy and secure. Staff do try to help children who are upset but they are too stretched. Leaders do not adequately consider the workload of staff. This impacts negatively on children as, at times, staff are too busy with daily duties to provide positive interactions to support children's needs and development. This means that despite staff's best efforts, children do not get adequate warmth and empathy to help them develop positive relationships or a sense of belonging.

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Next steps

The provider is not meeting the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register 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 suitability of staff is confirmed before they have unsupervised contact with children 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

provide staff with training that helps them to understand their roles and responsibilities, particularly in relation to understanding and managing children's behaviour 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure there are arrangements in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement an effective key-person system to ensure that children's care is tailored to meet their individual needs 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

organise staffing arrangements to ensure that the needs of all children are met 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement effective hygiene procedures that support children's good health 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

take all reasonable steps to ensure children are not exposed to risks 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure information about children's dietary requirements is sought from parents and that this information is known and understood by all members of staff 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that safer recruitment procedures are followed 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

provide parents with information about the daily routines of the setting, activities and food provided 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that all concerns about children's welfare are referred to the statutory safeguarding agencies 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

train all staff and leaders to identify the signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

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

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Action Completion Date

put in place an ambitious curriculum 19/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement effective assessment processes to ensure all children's progress is monitored 19/06/2026

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Little Angels Day Nursery Ltd

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

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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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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and parents 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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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this. This data is from 12 May 2026

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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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