Golden Beginnings Day-Care

Golden Beginnings Day-Care

Unique reference number (URN): 2859086 Address: 190 Alexandra Road, Gateshead, NE8 4EB Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 13/10/2025 Registers: EYR Registered person: Golden Beginnings Daycare 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. Leaders do not ensure safeguarding concerns are recorded. This means they cannot adequately monitor and respond to concerns about children to ensure their safety. Leaders and staff do not understand how to appropriately respond in the event of any allegations against adults. Leaders do not ensure all staff have a Disclosure and Barring certificate, as such there is a lack of evidence to ensure that these members of staff are suitable. There are significant weaknesses in information and record- keeping. Breaches of the statutory requirements for safeguarding have a significant impact on children's safety.

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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 are not developing knowledge and skills well enough across all key areas of the curriculum. In particular, there are weaknesses in their personal social and emotional development. Quieter children do not yet have the confidence to fully join in with the activities and experiences on offer, while a minority of more confident children dominate these activities. Children find it difficult to manage their behaviour, including when social skills are required, such as turn-taking and sharing. At times, this results in children becoming upset.

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Achievement Needs attention

There have been some recent successes in children's achievements. Babies and toddlers are now successfully sleeping at nap times, without the need of a pushchair to sleep in. Babies also show enjoyment when listening to favourite stories. Toddlers practise their pencil control as they carefully draw, showing skills in concentration. Parents are pleased with this progress and share that their children are also developing some key skills that they show at home, such as drinking from an open cup and eating with increasing independence.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have an appropriate ambition for the curriculum and know what it is they want children to learn. They have recently identified that there is a weakness in how staff support the transitional routines in the nursery. However, leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the inconsistencies in the overall quality of teaching and implementation of the curriculum. As such, they do not have a clear action plan to bring about improvement. The quality of children's learning experiences is inconsistent. Some staff do not understand the key areas of learning within the curriculum and are not skilled in ensuring that their interactions with children are consistently high quality, particularly in relation to supporting children's personal social and emotional development. The inconsistent teaching impacts on how well staff support children's overall progress.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have considered how to support babies' physical development by providing a soft play area, which they have access to during some parts of the day. However, support from staff while they use this area is minimal and the designated baby area limits how well babies can practise physical skills, such as crawling, due to the cluttered floor space.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have not ensured that the outside area is a suitable environment to effectively support all children's learning. The opportunities for babies to explore outdoors and develop key skills are particularly limited. For instance, there is a lack of stimulation to encourage babies' speech and language skills. The flooring is an uneven, hard surface, which is a trip hazard and does not support babies who are learning to walk.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Some activities are thoughtfully planned and link to children's experiences with their families outside of the setting. For instance, by providing opportunities to talk about visits to the beach and play out these experiences with small-world toys. There is a focus on sharing songs and stories with babies. They develop their concentration and listening skills as they listen to staff read familiar stories.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders are starting to identify and support children who have barriers to learning, however, strategies for identifying and supporting these children are in the early stages.

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Inclusion Needs attention

When new children join the setting, leaders do not check if they are known (or previously known) to social care. Without this knowledge, leaders are limited in understanding if any children require additional support and are unable to liaise with other agencies effectively. However, there are some instances where leaders have worked effectively with parents and outside agencies to put support strategies in place for children, who have presented with identified needs. This support has been impactful in supporting these children to make progress.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders and staff are not yet ensuring that there is a consistent approach to inclusion and, as a result, not all children's needs are responded to quickly and accurately. For instance, where staff have recognised that children struggle with transitions within the daily routine, they have not made adaptations or used strategies to support children in coping well at these times. As a result, children become upset and struggle to re-join the routines. Staff understand some strategies that work to calm children, when they have become upset, such as the use of comforters, however, there is not yet enough support in place to reduce the triggers that lead to children's distress in the first place. Furthermore, leaders do not ensure that assessment of children's needs accurately identifies the appropriate use of any additional funding children may receive.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Leaders do not support staff to implement a clear, consistent approach to supporting behaviour. Strategies to support children's behaviour are not in place. As a result, children do not demonstrate consistently positive behaviours. Children snatch toys and push each other, causing other children to become upset. Children do not consistently tell staff when they have been hurt by another child, showing that they have become accustomed to these poor behaviours. Staff do not teach the desired behaviours of turn-taking and sharing, which means children are not being supported to improve these behaviours well enough. Staff do provide some comfort to children, who have become upset due to the behaviours of others, such as giving cuddles and comforting words, however, the approach to improving the behaviours of the children who have caused the upset is inconsistent.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Not all staff arrive at the setting in advance of children arriving, and many arrive at the same time as children. This limits how effectively staff can prepare for the day and leads to a busy environment, meaning children do not start their session in a thoroughly supported and calm manner.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Transitional routines throughout the day are not well embedded. For instance, staff do not help children understand when it is time to tidy up and get ready for lunchtime. This leads to a chaotic and disorderly environment. Some children are supported to wash their hands and sit down at the table, while others do not respond and continue to play. Children do not develop skills such as taking care of their environment and tidying up.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement

Leaders say that children attend well and they follow up on any instances, where children do not attend as expected. However, as leaders do not check whether children are known to social services, they are not able to share information with other agencies when relevant.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Risk assessments are not well embedded across the nursery. For instance, leaders and staff do not ensure that activities are safe and suitable for the age of children who have access to them. For instance, dried pasta is used as a resource in an area with small babies. Leaders and staff do not identify that this is a choking risk and supervision is weak. There is a lack of close supervision during mealtimes and babies are given their bottle of milk to hold, while laid flat and without direct supervision. This does not ensure children's safety when eating. Hazards that are known to staff, such as a sharp corner on the radiator in the soft-play area are not consistently minimised. The outdoor area is not thoroughly checked to remove hazards, such as a cigarette butt on the floor. There is not a suitable procedure for taking the register of children if staff and children need to evacuate the premises, for instance, if

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

there were a fire. The premises are not consistently kept secure during opening hours, which presents a security risk. Leaders have acknowledged the risks that have been highlighted and confirmed that they will make the necessary improvements to immediately resolve the risks.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Staff do not ensure that good hygiene is maintained, including weaknesses in relation to children's handwashing. Bins are not regularly emptied and nappy changing areas are not thoroughly cleaned.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Although staff speak kindly to children, there is a lack of care and consideration in their practice. For instance, during snack time, staff stand by children who are seated at the table and drop fruit into their bowls. Children who are sitting on the other side of the table have their fruit thrown into their bowl. Children's happiness and wellbeing are negatively impacted by the poor behaviours in the setting.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders do not ensure that safeguarding requirements, including in relation to child protection are met. This does not assure children's safety. Leaders have not ensured that staff have the professional learning and expertise needed to provide children with high- quality teaching and learning experiences and care. This includes a failure to ensure that enough staff have undergone the necessary training in caring for babies.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Weaknesses in leaders' ongoing monitoring of the quality of provision means that they do not identify key areas for improvement, including where there are breaches to requirements. For instance, leaders have not recognised the weaknesses in risk assessments across the setting or the need to improve strategies to better support children's behaviour. Leaders have also not considered the impact of admitting a high number of babies into the small, designated baby area, or the subsequent impact on staff workload. The number of children in the limited size of the indoor and outdoor spaces makes it a challenge to successfully meet the needs of all children and provide quality learning experiences.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Despite previously receiving a notice to improve with an action relating to failure to meet suitable people requirements, there continues to be breaches to the statutory requirements. This demonstrates the provider is not able to sustain improvements and comply with the requirements of their registration.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders do not have organised systems in place for record-keeping and this impacts on how well policies and procedures are followed, including in relation to recording information about Disclosure and Barring Service checks and child protection concerns.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Parents do explain that they have received support from the setting with their children's development, for instance by improving sleeping routines. They explain they are pleased with the feedback they receive from staff.

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

There are breaches to requirements, which have an impact on how well the setting safeguards children. For instance, weaknesses in risk assessments mean the premises are not always secure. There is a lack of vigilance in supervising children when eating. Activities are not thoroughly risk assessed to ensure they are safe and suitable for the age of the children.

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

Children receive inconsistent teaching and the lack of qualified staff in the setting contributes to this. Staff do not fully understand the key areas of learning within the curriculum and there is variance in the quality of interactions. Although leaders aim to establish an effective curriculum, weaknesses in the quality of teaching limits the progress children make in their development. At times when children are upset, there are inconsistencies in how well staff respond and comfort them.

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

Children enjoy some of the activities and experiences in the nursery, for instance babies enjoy listening to books read by familiar staff. Older children enjoy exploring a sensory tray and use small-world characters to play out their understanding of going to the beach. Children delight in blowing bubbles outside and practise how to use the bubble wands. However, during independent play, there are times when children struggle with social behaviours, such as sharing and turn-taking. An inconsistent approach to managing children's behaviour limits how well children develop these crucial skills and does not prepare them well for their next steps in education.

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

Although staff identify areas where children need additional support to make progress in their learning and development, there is inconsistent support in place to ensure they make steady progress. Barriers to learning are not consistently addressed to ensure all children have every opportunity to thrive. Some children do benefit from partnership work between staff and their parents to support them in particular areas of development.

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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

implement clear procedures for recording, keeping and monitoring in relation to safeguarding concerns about children 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure leaders and staff are fully aware of the whistleblowing procedures which must be followed in the event of any allegations made in the setting and that 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

these are in line with the local safeguarding partnership procedures

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Action Completion Date

ensure that information about staff criminal records checks including the check reference number, the date a check was obtained and details of who at the setting obtained it, are accurately maintained 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve training and professional development opportunities for staff, to ensure all staff offer quality learning and development experiences for children, including in relation to transitional routines 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure key people take an active role in ensuring that every child's care is tailored to meet their individual needs 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure at least half of all staff working with children under two have received training that specifically addresses the care of babies 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure children are always within sight and hearing of a member of staff whilst eating 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure staff implement appropriate strategies for managing children's behaviour so that there is a consistent approach in place which ensures that staff respond appropriately to instances of poor behaviour 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement and monitor robust risk assessments in order to improve staff's understanding of risks and hazards and ensure these are minimised where possible 30/06/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that all records are easily accessible and available to those who have a right or professional need to see them 30/06/2026

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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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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Action Completion Date

support staff to understand the key areas of learning within the intended curriculum and ensure that the curriculum is typically taught well, particularly in relation to personal, social and emotional development and babies' physical development. 01/09/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve the opportunities for babies and children to experience high-quality learning and interactions in the outdoor area, including ensuring that the space is accessible for babies 01/09/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, children 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. Registered person: Golden Beginnings Daycare Ltd

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About this inspection

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:30 - 16:30,Friday : 08:30 - 12:30

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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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