Kids Planet Apley

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

Children's safety and welfare are compromised. Risk assessment is not used effectively to identify and minimise, or remove, risks to children's safety. Staff do not recognise choking risks to babies when they bite pieces off sponges that they are given to play with.

Staffing arrangements do not meet the needs of children or ensure that they are properly supervised. Some children wander around crying. Staff comment that it is because children are tired, but they do not provide sleep or rest time for them.

Children who are newer to the setting do not build relationships with their key person so that they feel secur...e. Interactions from staff predominantly focus on removing their comforters, which causes some children to become upset. The quality of education that children receive is poor.

The curriculum for children is not ambitious enough for them to become well prepared for the next stage in their learning. Younger children spend a lot of time wandering around the environment. Staff provide some resources for them to play with, but they do not have high enough expectations for their learning.

In contrast, older children do enjoy some experiences on offer. Two-year-old children manipulate dough to make pretend pizzas. Older children practise moving vegetables through paint to the rhythm of different sounds they hear, which promotes their early listening skills.

That said, when children have finished activities, staff do not always change them. As a result, children quickly become bored, which impacts on their behaviours and their attitudes towards learning.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

Staff do not use risk assessment rigorously to identify and respond to risks to children's safety.

They fail to notice stagnant water standing in tyres outdoors, which poses a risk to children's health. Nappy bags and cleaning products are left within children's reach in bathrooms. Resources provided for younger children are not safe or appropriate for their ages.

This compromises children's safety.Managers fail to ensure that the deployment of staff meets the needs of children. There are often new staff or cover staff from the provider's other settings deployed to care for children, and these staff do not know the children well enough.

At times, children are not properly supervised. Children eat tissue and wax crayons without staff noticing. This puts children's safety at risk.

Staff do not ensure that children's good health is well supported. Children are left with runny noses. Younger children drink from each other's cups without staff noticing.

Nappy changing areas are not properly cleaned. This increases the risk of infection spreading.Managers have not made sure that all adults who handle food properly understand children's dietary requirements.

On occasion, adults carry out activities using food without knowing whether there are any children present who have allergies to the products used. This means that some children may not be safeguarded.The complaint procedure is not implemented effectively.

Due to several recent changes to the management of the setting, managers do not know whether some complaints received have been responded to at all. Current managers lack knowledge of historic complaints that have been received and have not maintained the required records relating to these. This impacts on the leadership and management of the setting and the relationships with parents.

Key-person systems are weak and do not prioritise children's needs. Children are left to wander around or cry with minimal interaction from staff. Children are not helped to form relationships with their key person so that they feel safe at nursery.

Older children are sent outdoors promptly when activities take place. Staff and managers fail to recognise that children are not dressed appropriately for the cooler weather, with some children wearing only short-sleeved tops.Staff do not have an appropriate understanding of children's development.

Key persons do not fully understand what children know and can do in order to identify what they need to learn next. Although some activities and experiences are provided, they are not closely matched to children's interests and stages of development. Consequently, staff do not help children to make good progress in their learning.

The curriculum designed by leaders and managers is too narrow. It does not ensure that children make progress across the seven areas of learning. Staff lack understanding of their intent for children's learning.

Activities provided are mostly based on children's choice and do not help them to become deeply engaged and motivated to learn.Although staff undertake some assessments of children's development, the results of these assessments are not used effectively. Progress checks at age two do not identify next steps for children or actions to support the delays that are noted in their development.

They are not shared with parents in a timely way to help children gain support and close gaps in their learning swiftly.The new manager has started to carry out supervisions for some staff. However, some staff have not had supervision opportunities for a long period of time.

Some opportunities that have been provided for staff have not allowed for confidential discussions to take place to promote the safeguarding of children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.There is not an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take enforcement

action.We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to: Due date ensure that risk assessment is used effectively to identify any risks to children's health and safety and make sure that action is taken to remove or minimise these in a timely way 01/03/2024 ensure that the deployment of staff is effective so that children are adequately supervised and their needs are met at all times 01/03/2024 ensure that hygiene practices and procedures promote the good health of all children 01/03/2024 make sure that all staff responsible for the handling of food fully understand information obtained from parents about children's dietary needs 01/03/2024 ensure that there is an effective policy and procedure in place for managing complaints, including maintaining a written record of any complaints received and their outcome 01/03/2024 make sure that all required information and records are sufficiently organised and are easily accessible and made available upon request 01/03/2024 embed an effective key-person system that helps children to form secure and settled relationships in order to meet their physical and emotional needs 01/03/2024 embed systems for the supervision of all staff to ensure that they are provided with regular opportunities for support, coaching and to discuss confidential issues.01/03/2024 To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date ensure that key persons have a suitable knowledge and understanding of each child's development in order to provide tailored learning programmes 29/03/2024 implement a broad and varied curriculum that is ambitious for every child 29/03/2024 ensure that suitably challenging activities and experiences are planned and provided for children which take account of their individual interests and stages of development 29/03/2024 ensure that the progress check at age two provides parents with clear information about next steps in children's learning and is shared in a prompt and timely way.

29/03/2024