Footsteps Nursery Cannock

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

The culture of safeguarding does not promote children's safety and welfare.

Training provided to all staff, including lead practitioners for safeguarding, is ineffective. Consequently, child protection concerns, including those about staff who work with children, are not identified. Action is therefore not taken in a timely way to safeguard children.

Furthermore, children are not always properly supervised to ensure their safety. At times, children are left out of sight of staff who are carrying out other tasks. This puts children at risk of harm.

Educational programmes for children are poor. The curricu...lum is not implemented effectively to provide children with a breadth of learning experiences. Children are not provided with enough interesting and challenging activities that support them to make progress in their learning.

They are provided with a limited selection of basic resources and mostly spend their day occupying themselves. As a result, children show some unwanted or dangerous behaviours. They climb on and inside equipment and do not receive consistent messages to help them to understand what is expected from them.

When the equipment children climb in is moved from them, some younger children get upset and are left to cry for extended periods. They do not receive the comfort or support they need to regulate their emotions. Older children are confident in their environment.

They lead their own play and are eager to talk to new people. The youngest babies receive some warm interactions and build feelings of attachment with familiar adults. They enjoy being outdoors, where they shake musical instruments and listen to songs and rhymes.

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

There are significant weaknesses across the nursery that have an impact on the safeguarding of children and the quality of care and education they receive. Senior leaders recognise that the quality of provision has declined since the last inspection. They have devised improvement plans to tackle some of the issues.

However, these plans are in their infancy and do not yet have a sufficient impact to benefit children.Leaders do not ensure that all staff understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. Training made available to staff does not ensure that they can identify and respond appropriately to possible child protection issues or concerns about the behaviours displayed by staff.

As a result, concerns about staff's conduct go unnoticed or are not addressed in a timely way. This means that children are not safeguarded.Leaders have not made sure that those who act as lead practitioners for safeguarding are competent to fulfil their roles, including being able to recognise safeguarding concerns.

Concerns raised about the conduct and behaviours of staff have not been managed appropriately and in line with safeguarding policies and procedures or the guidance of the local safeguarding partners. This puts children at risk of harm.The deployment of staff does not consistently meet the needs of children.

At times, there are not always the required number of qualified staff available and working directly with children. On occasions, children are left unsupervised, which has an impact on their safety.Children do not receive consistent messages about how to behave safely and appropriately.

They often lack stimulation. This results in some challenging and dangerous behaviours, such as throwing toys across a room. Although children hear comments such as 'no, thank you', it is not always clear what they are being asked not to do.

Children are frequently manoeuvred to where they need to be without allowing them time to process instructions or make choices for themselves.Children's good health is not adequately promoted. They do not follow robust handwashing procedures because soap and paper towels are not always available to them.

Some children leave bathroom areas alone without any reminders to wash their hands. This increases the risks of cross infection.The key-person system does not promote children's individual needs.

There are inconsistencies in the information that is shared with parents about children's care, learning and development. Some children are left to cry for long periods, such as when they have become injured or are unsettled. They do not receive the comfort they need to form settled relationships.

Leaders fail to ensure that effective or regular supervision is provided to all staff. Weaknesses in teaching and practice are not being addressed swiftly enough. Training and professional development opportunities for staff are sparse.

Some training that is made available is not focused on tackling the poor quality of care and education that children receive in order to bring about improvement.The curriculum does not provide children with enough experiences to support their learning and development. Children access very few quality activities and learning opportunities.

Some activities that are planned are not made available to all children. Many children spend their day wandering aimlessly or trying to initiate their own play. As a result, children are not supported to make the progress that they are capable of.

The support for children when moving between rooms does not meet their individual needs. Where one room is over occupied, children are sent on visits to the next age group. Children are not deployed with their existing or new key person to help them to feel settled and build secure relationships in their new environment.

Room visits are cancelled at short notice when they are no longer required due to staffing and ratio levels, which does not provide consistency for children.There is effective support in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Partnership working with parents, external agencies and other settings where children may move on to is successful.

This helps in supporting a smooth transition for children as they progress to the next stage of their education.

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 provide all staff with training that enables them to identify signs of possible abuse and neglect and understand the procedures to follow to respond to any concerns in a timely way 06/09/2024 ensure that all staff understand how to identify and respond to inappropriate behaviour or conduct from staff or any other person working with children 06/09/2024 ensure that there is a named lead practitioner for safeguarding who can identify, understand and respond appropriately to signs of abuse and neglect 06/09/2024 implement an effective policy and procedure that ensures that any child protection issues or concerns, including allegations made against a member of staff, are managed appropriately and in line with the guidance of the local safeguarding partners 06/09/2024 ensure that staff are deployed appropriately at all times to supervise children and meet their needs 06/09/2024 ensure that all staff understand how to manage children's behaviour in an appropriate way 06/09/2024 ensure that hygiene practices and procedures promote the good health of all children 06/09/2024 implement an effective key-person system that supports children's emotional needs 06/09/2024 ensure that the supervision and monitoring of staff's teaching and practice is robust in order to identify any weaknesses and promptly take action to address these 06/09/2024 provide all staff with training and professional development opportunities that ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities and provide children with quality learning and development opportunities that continually improve.06/09/2024 To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date implement an ambitious and varied curriculum that provides children with a breadth of experiences, knowledge and skills to prepare them for the next stage in their learning 27/09/2024 ensure that staff plan and provide interesting and challenging activities and experiences for children that support them to make progress in their learning and development 27/09/2024 ensure that children receive appropriate support through the key-person system when transitioning between rooms.

27/09/2024