Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Southam

Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Southam

Unique reference number (URN): 2688090 Address: Old School House, School Street, Southam, CV47 1PL Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 07/07/2022 Registers: EYR Registered person: Ashbourne Day Nurseries 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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Achievement Needs attention

Most children make progress in some areas of learning, such as communication and language and their social and emotional development. However, overall, children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those known (or previously known) to children's social care, do not reach their full potential. For example, children do not develop their mathematical understanding. In addition, children do not consistently develop useful skills to support them to become independent in their self-care.

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Achievement Needs attention

Children develop listening and attention skills as they actively join in with stories and songs of their choice. They form close friendships, learning how to be kind and thoughtful of each other. Children are developing some of the knowledge and skills they need for future learning. They demonstrate a desire to explore the play resources with confidence and curiosity.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Leaders are at the early stages of taking action to help establish effective routines and a consistent approach to supporting children's behaviour. Inconsistencies with staff practice do not ensure children always have positive role models. For example, some staff unnecessarily raise their voice and use inappropriate ways to manage children's behaviour. However, leaders are taking action to address these weaknesses in practice.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

There are weaknesses in the organisation of transitions within the daily routines, such as waiting to brush teeth and to eat lunch. Unnecessarily long waits cause children to become restless.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Relationships between children and staff are generally positive and supportive. Key-person arrangements help to promote children's sense of security and confidence. However, these are not effectively used to support children's personal care routines, such as nappy changing and potty training.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Children are supported to settle and build positive attitudes towards their learning, for example as they freely choose which activity or toys they would like to play with. Older children are supported to play cooperatively together, take turns and share toys as they build structures.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Leaders promote children's attendance effectively through their policy and procedure, ensuring absences are followed up.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and curriculum design in the setting, although plans are gradually being developed to bring about improvement. Staff provide children with activities they enjoy, but these lack purposeful

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Urgent improvement

learning and are not supported through high-quality interactions. Older children enjoy reading books with their friends, while younger children join in with songs they know and love. This supports children's early literacy skills and introduces new words to their vocabulary. Older children engage in a guessing game and are encouraged to describe an animal. This promotes some of the children's thinking skills, but for others this is too advanced, and they struggle to join in. Therefore, teaching is not adapted to meet all children's needs.

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Urgent improvement

From early stages, babies have access to open space and climbing structures to support their physical development. This builds their strength and coordination as they learn to walk. However, opportunities for older children to build on their physical skills are limited due to the lack of planning and organisation of the outdoor areas. Staff do not have a focus on mathematics within the curriculum, and this area of learning is not supported well enough.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Children's individual needs are identified during settling-in visits with the child's family and through termly assessments. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Staff recognise when children need additional support for their learning and development and implement strategies to support their progress. They use additional funding, such as the early years pupil premium, to purchase resources that are intended to support children's learning and development. However, leaders and staff do not consult with relevant external specialists. Therefore, they cannot be assured that the strategies staff use fully meet children's needs and ensure they progress to their full potential.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders and staff have recently started to take action to ensure staff receive appropriate training. This is aimed at supporting staff to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding required to ensure a positive difference is consistently made for children with SEND.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Although leaders have policies and procedures in place to support children's welfare and wellbeing, these are not appropriately followed by staff. For example, hygiene procedures are not completed to the required standard. Staff do not change personal protective equipment or wash their hands in between changing children's nappies. Soiled potties are not emptied immediately. In addition, staff are not ensuring children's privacy when they are using potties or having their nappy changed. Children drink from each other's water bottles. This level of practice puts children's health at risk of cross infection and illness.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Children are provided with healthy and nutritious meals, which they enjoy. However, procedures to support children with allergies have not been sufficiently effective, resulting in a child being given incorrect food on more than one occasion. While leaders have implemented more consistent and robust measures aimed at ensuring this does not happen in future, these remain ineffective. This is because children do not receive appropriate levels of supervision during mealtimes. As a result, they are not prevented from eating food from other children's plates. Leaders do not ensure staff deployment makes it possible for staff to sit facing all children so they can swiftly identify and respond to choking incidents.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement

Children have opportunities to explore the indoor and outdoor learning environments and participate in activities. However, leaders and staff do not take adequate action to ensure risks are minimised or removed through the daily checks. Leaders have recently taken action to improve security arrangements.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders are aware of some improvements needed but have not yet identified and addressed the most urgent issues relating to children's health and safety. For example, leaders do not ensure staff follow correct hygiene procedures when changing children's nappies. This means there is a risk of cross infection to children's health. Leaders do not ensure staff take adequate action to minimise or remove hazards in the outdoor and indoor play areas, therefore posing a risk to children's safety.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Significant changes to the management and leadership team have taken place during recent weeks. Leaders are committed to making improvements to the level of care and education children receive.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders discuss their intentions to create a more stable staff team and increase the consistency of care for children. This will help strengthen the key-person approach and enable children to consistently build secure relationships.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders are starting to form a culture of continual improvement, where staff can improve their practice through various training and professional development opportunities.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders have developed positive relationships with local schools to support children's transitions. Teachers visit children in the setting to help support children's journey into school.

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

Arrangements to promote children's safety are not sufficiently effective. There are weaknesses in the arrangements to identify and address risks, and some aspects of the daily practices and routine, such as mealtimes, are not effective. For example, children do not receive adequate levels of support and supervision during mealtimes. Not all staff position themselves so they can see children's faces while they are eating. This does not enable staff to swiftly identify potential choking incidents or respond to unexpected allergic reactions to food. Children eat from each other's plates, which sometimes goes unnoticed by staff. This does not adequately protect children from the risk of consuming food that is not in line with their individual needs. In addition, staff do know always know which water bottle belongs to which child, raising the risk of cross-infection when children drink from bottles that do not belong to them.

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

Children's health is not protected during personal care routines. For example, staff do not follow effective hygiene practices during nappy changing and leave used potties in areas accessible to children. Staff do not ensure children have appropriate levels of privacy or make best use of the key-person system during these personal care routines. Therefore, children's needs are not met effectively.

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

Outdoor and indoor play spaces are not adequately checked for hazards, which may cause harm to children. For example, trailing wires are not removed out of children's reach, cleaning products are not safely stored and sharp weeds and plastic material are not removed out of children's reach. Children access outdoor areas that have not been adequately cleaned and organised to promote their learning.

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

Children are generally settled and happy. They enjoy developing skills such as digging, constructing, pouring, emptying and filling containers as they play with their friends in the water and sand. Children learn new vocabulary as they join in with their favourite songs and story times. They are encouraged to look after their oral health during daily teeth brushing routines.

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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 children are always within sight and hearing of a member of staff while eating and, where possible, staff sit facing children while they eat to prevent choking and food sharing 10/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure staff follow appropriate hygienic procedures for changing children who are in nappies and using potties, ensuring their privacy is considered 10/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

undertake robust risk assessments to ensure staff and children are not exposed to risks 10/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

implement effective arrangements to ensure that individual staff receive the training and support they need to fully understand and undertake all aspects of their role 10/07/2026

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Action Completion Date

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

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Action Completion Date

devise and implement a curriculum that covers all areas of learning and that is adapted by staff to reflect the individual needs of each child, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities 30/09/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners and the special educational needs coordinator 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. Southam CV47 1PL Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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About this inspection

Registered person: Ashbourne Day Nurseries Limited

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About this inspection

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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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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