Footprints Child Care Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Leaders aspire to provide good-quality care and education. However, the provider has faced significant challenges in recruiting new staff. Although leaders have ensured that ratio requirements have been adhered to, some managerial duties have not been fulfilled.

These include monitoring the quality of education precisely and providing targeted support to staff to ensure that they gain the skills required to fulfil their roles effectively. This lack of oversight contributes to inconsistencies in how the curriculum is implemented by staff and impacts on children's progress over time. Nonetheless, children are settled and happy in th...e nursery.

Leaders and staff focus on building positive relationships with children and their families. They carefully consider the transition arrangements when children begin at the setting or move to a different room within the nursery. This helps children to feel safe and secure.

The setting has a policy for managing children's behaviour. However, this has not been shared effectively with all staff. Not all staff understand how to promote positive behaviour consistently.

This means that, at times, children are not supported to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others.

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

Leaders have designed a curriculum that focuses on independence skills and preparing children for school. However, the curriculum is not implemented effectively.

Learning opportunities do not consistently reflect children's interests or learning capabilities. As a result, some children become disengaged and lack purpose to their play. Although children do make progress from their starting points, they do not all make the progress of which they are capable.

Staff follow suitable hygiene routines when changing children's nappies and assisting them in the bathroom. They ensure that surfaces are cleaned, and children wash hands before meals. However, some sleep mats that children use are ripped and in poor condition.

This has the potential to impact on children's health.The curriculum for physical development is good. Young babies are supported to sit and pull themselves up.

This helps to build their large-muscle skills. Older children enjoy balancing and climbing on the climbing wall in the garden. All children make good progress in their physical development.

Staff do not support children to regulate their behaviour effectively. Consequently, occurrences of poor behaviour are displayed, particularly by older children. Although staff recognise this, the setting have not yet put in place effective measures to help children understand how their actions impact others.

This means that during independent play, some children are unkind to each other and staff do not always respond. Children are not supported to understand behavioural expectations.Parents describe the staff as 'helpful and supportive'.

Staff share children's daily care routines, such as meals and sleep times, with parents. However, they do not share information on children's development, such as next steps. This means parents are unable to support their children's next steps away from the setting.

Staff sing nursery rhymes and read familiar story books to young children. Staff in the pre-school room help children to begin to retell stories using story props. These opportunities support children to develop their communication and language skills.

Staff value the measures the setting take to support their well-being. For example, a staff 'shout out board' is used to celebrate each other and boost morale. Supervision meetings are provided where staff can discuss any concerns.

However, leaders and managers do not consider precisely enough what staff need to do to improve their practice and teaching skills. As a result, the quality of teaching is variable.Leaders failed to notify Ofsted of a change in the manager of the setting.

Although this is a breach of the 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage', there is no impact on the children or the running of the setting.Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) consistently. Those responsible for SEND provision are on hand to guide staff and help children.

Staff work together with parents and the relevant professionals to ensure that support is provided in a timely manner. Children who require more support have targeted support plans in place.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date provide staff with professional development, so they are all aware of and are able to implement a focused and challenging curriculum that builds on what individual children know and can do 08/09/2024 ensure that robust hygiene procedures are adhered to when implementing children's sleep routines.08/09/2024 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to provide consistent ways to encourage children's good behaviour about expectations and the impact of their behaviour on others share children's next steps with parents, so they can support children's development at home.