Minibuddies Nursery, Pre-School and Out of Hours Care

Hours Care

Unique reference number (URN): 2787873 Address: Manor Beach CP School, Manor Drive, THORNTON-CLEVELEYS, FY5 1EU Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 09/05/2024 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Parkes, Jack

p.1

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.

p.2

How we evaluate safeguarding

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

p.2

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.

p.2

Achievement Expected standard

Children make secure progress from their starting points. Staff assess children's capabilities and seek information from children's parents. This helps them to identify gaps, such as delays in children's communication and language. Targeted support and specialist referrals help children communicate more confidently.

p.2

Achievement Expected standard

Children develop useful skills for their next stage of learning. They make choices, manage parts of their daily care, such as washing hands before eating, and keep trying when tasks are difficult. Staff recognise their efforts and offer appropriate support. This helps children become more confident and resilient.

p.2

Achievement Expected standard

Children achieve well overall. However, staff do not consistently explain and revisit new vocabulary or build on children's ideas. As a result, some children do not consolidate and apply new knowledge as securely as they could.

p.2

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children are happy and settled. Warm, trusting relationships help them feel safe and move confidently through familiar routines. Staff are calm and encouraging. When things do not go to plan during play, staff acknowledge children's feelings, offer reassurance and encourage them to try again. This helps children develop confidence and positive attitudes to learning.

p.2

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Leaders monitor children's attendance and work with families when individual circumstances make regular attendance difficult. Staff also provide practical guidance and offer flexible arrangements, helping children attend more regularly and experience continuity in their relationships, routines and learning. Children behave well overall. Staff calmly redirect children when they throw resources or repeatedly bang items at mealtimes. However, staff do not consistently explain why these actions are unsuitable or show children what to do instead. Consequently, children are not always helped to understand boundaries, manage their behaviour and show respect for others and their environment.

p.2

Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are prioritised. They form warm, trusting relationships with staff and seek them out for reassurance, help and play. Children are happy, settled and confident, showing that they feel safe, valued and part of the nursery community.

p.3

Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff support children's physical health and growing independence. Children manage parts of the snack routine independently, such as pouring their own drinks. This develops their confidence and practical self-care skills. Links with dental services help children to develop an awareness of healthy food choices and good oral health. Staff and leaders provide practical guidance and connect families with relevant services, helping children to attend regularly and remain healthy.

p.3

Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff build nurturing relationships and help children manage their emotions. However, they do not consistently explain expectations or give children the words to express how they feel. As a result, some children are less able to understand their emotions, manage their behaviour and become independent.

p.3

Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have designed a curriculum around children's needs, with communication and language, emotional development and independence as key priorities. This provides a clear foundation for children to develop their communication, manage their emotions and become increasingly independent. Children enjoy learning in a calm, engaging environment where they make choices, attempt tasks for themselves and are encouraged to persevere when things do not go to plan, such as towers falling down. This helps them develop confidence, resilience and positive attitudes to learning.

p.3

Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff understand children's interests and individual needs. They join children's play naturally and use praise effectively. However, teaching does not consistently deepen children's knowledge and understanding. During experiences involving ice and water, for example, staff introduce unfamiliar words such as 'demolition' but do not always explain their meaning or check whether children understand them. Some children repeat new words without learning how to use them meaningfully in a different context.

p.3

Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff do not routinely build on children's ideas or extend vocabulary through everyday conversations. Information shared with families does not always identify children's current learning precisely or explain how it can be reinforced at home, limiting continuity of learning. Children make secure progress, but teaching and partnership work do not yet build consistently enough on what each child knows and can do.

p.3

Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders and staff build a clear picture of each child's development from the time they start. This helps them identify additional needs promptly and provide suitable support, using language assessment tools, targeted learning plans and specialist advice where appropriate. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive adaptations matched to their needs. These include flexible transitions and sensory resources that help children feel secure and regulate their emotions.

p.4

Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders work with families and other professionals to review children's support and progress. Early years pupil premium funding is used to provide targeted help, including guidance from family support workers. Practical guidance and signposting help reduce barriers so children can attend regularly, settle and be ready to learn. Assessment information and feedback from families show that children become more confident communicators. However, some families are unclear about children's current learning and how to build on it at home, limiting their ability to reinforce and extend learning beyond the setting.

p.4

Inclusion Expected standard

Targeted plans are not always translated precisely into daily practice. Some popular resources are not managed in ways that enable children with SEND to access play successfully. When children become distressed, staff respond warmly but do not consistently teach alternative ways to communicate, wait or manage frustration. As a result, some children do not receive sufficiently consistent support to overcome barriers and make the strongest progress from their starting points.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders understand the children, families and community they serve. Communication, emotional development and independence are clear curriculum priorities. Practical help and guidance from family support workers help reduce barriers to children's attendance, wellbeing and learning.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders maintain effective oversight of safeguarding, recruitment and attendance. Staff complete essential training and feel valued and supported. This contributes to a positive culture in which children feel safe and staff are confident to raise concerns.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders encourage staff to reflect and develop professionally. However, their monitoring does not identify precisely enough where individual practice needs to improve in relation to the curriculum priorities. Feedback is supportive but is not consistently targeted or followed up to establish whether practice has improved. Consequently, some staff do not receive the clear direction they need to make their everyday interactions more purposeful. Children therefore do not consistently benefit from teaching that builds securely on what they know and can do.

p.4

Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

p.5

Register

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

p.5

Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

p.5

Register

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

p.5

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

Children are happy, settled and clearly enjoy coming to nursery. They move confidently around the calm, welcoming environment and have warm, trusting relationships with staff. Children seek adults for reassurance, share their interests with them and readily involve them in their play. These secure relationships give children a strong sense of belonging and the confidence to explore, make choices and become involved in their learning.

p.5

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

Children are supported by staff who know them well and respond sensitively to their individual needs. Staff join children's play without taking over, recognise their efforts and

p.5

Address:

Manor Beach CP School Manor Drive give them time to complete manageable tasks for themselves. Children confidently choose resources, pour their own drinks and prepare fruit at snack time. Through these everyday experiences, they develop practical skills, perseverance and increasing independence.

p.6

Address:

Parents speak very positively about the nursery. Many describe it as a home from home and say that staff feel like an extension of their family. Family support is a particular strength. Families receive practical guidance and effective signposting to services that can help them overcome difficulties. This strengthens the relationship between home and nursery, reduces barriers to children's attendance and wellbeing, and helps children benefit more consistently from their early education.

p.6

Next steps

Leaders should provide targeted, performance-led feedback aligned with curriculum priorities, so staff make everyday interactions more purposeful and improve children's learning. Leaders should ensure information shared with families identifies children's current learning and explains how it can be reinforced at home. Leaders should ensure staff regularly repeat, explain, revisit and check children's understanding of new vocabulary so they can use it meaningfully and independently.

p.6

About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, parents and carers during the inspection.

p.6

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. THORNTON-CLEVELEYS FY5 1EU Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

p.6

About this inspection

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00

p.7

Facts and figures used on inspection

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

p.7

Exceptional

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

p.7

Strong standard

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

p.7

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.

p.8

Needs attention

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

p.8

Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

p.8

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.

p.8

Urgent improvement

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.8

Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Urgent improvement

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Urgent improvement

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

p.8