Gapa Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

Children are exposed to hazards in the setting that have an impact on their safety and well-being.

Risk assessments are not always effective, and staff fail to identify emerging risks or take prompt action to maintain children's safety. In addition, staff do not consistently promote children's health and hygiene, which puts children at risk from cross infection. Children do not develop good attitudes to learning.

They regularly push others, snatch toys, throw resources on the floor and refuse to let their friends join in games. Staff struggle to manage children who demonstrate unwanted behaviour. As a result, the... environment is frequently chaotic.

Some children seek safe refuge with staff as they become distressed at the rising noise levels, and other children become tearful when they get hurt by their friends' boisterous play. Children are offered a poorly implemented curriculum. Staff do not provide interesting or challenging activities that link to children's individual needs.

Children flit between activities, rarely staying focused for long. This is because purposeful staff interactions are minimal. For example, children who are quieter or less confident, often play with little or no interaction from staff.

Staff focus more on talking to children who are more articulate and confident. To this end, children's learning is incidental rather than being purposefully planned to build on their knowledge and skills over time. This does not help children make good progress.

Nevertheless, children are learning to be independent. At lunchtime, children are supported to open their own food packets, pour their own drinks, put their left-over food in the bin and put their dirty dishes in the sink. This helps children develop their early independence skills.

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

Staff do not do enough to support children's good health and hygiene. The changing mat used to change children's nappies is damaged and internal foam is exposed. While staff wash their own hands after changing nappies, they do not clean the mat after each use.

In addition, some children play in open bins. When staff notice, children are asked to return to their lunch, but they are not reminded to wash their hands. As a result, children are exposed to germs and cross infection.

Staff do not recognise emerging risks or take prompt enough action to maintain a safe environment at all times. Children go unnoticed as they sit flicking electrical plug sockets on and off, and other children are able to leave the snack table while their mouths are still full of food. They walk around the room, continuing to eat and drink which presents a risk of choking.

Managers recognise that multiple changes in the staff team have resulted in variable staff practice across the setting. While regular team meetings and dedicated time for individual supervision occurs, this has not yet focused on identifying individual areas for development. To this end, some staff are not fully effective in supporting children's learning outcomes.

Staff do not manage children's behaviour well. Children frequently ignore staff requests to help tidy up and play nicely with others. Staff repeatedly tell children, 'no thank you' when they demonstrate unwanted behaviour, however, they do not explain why.

Rules and boundaries are not reinforced as staff busily flit back and forth trying to deal with constantly emerging situations. This does not help children to understand what is expected of their behaviour.Managers have an overview of the curriculum and know what they want children to achieve.

However, staff are not clear about how to implement this. Many activities planned by staff are not accessed as they do not engage children's interests. Other activities have limited resources available, which sees children frequently squabble over who can take part.

Children become upset and others quickly disengage. This is because staff's planning is not robust enough to meet children's needs and, as a result, the quality of education is poor.Overall, staff interactions and engagement with children are poor, especially for children who are quieter and for those children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

These children receive minimal interaction from staff unless they are distressed or need specific support. Once distressed children are settled again, staff leave them to continue playing alone. Staff do not interact purposefully, and this means children learn from each other or seek interaction from visitors.

Children enjoy outdoor play. Staff hold children's hand to help them gain confidence as they walk across balance beams. Other children use their muscles as they pull their friends around in wagons, as staff help them to safely navigate their way around the large outdoor equipment.

Staff notice that ice has formed on a chair, which they use as a learning opportunity. Children feel the ice with their fingers and say it is cold and hard. Staff demonstrate how to use a spoon to crack the ice and they encourage children to listen as the ice breaks up.

This helps children learn about the world around them.Leaders and managers work hard to build positive relationships with parents in the local community. They invite parents and children to attend stay and play sessions, and they provide access to food parcels.

Parents are positive and state their children enjoy attending the setting and they have made early friendships. However, leaders and managers recognise they do not yet provide support, advice and ideas to help parents enhance their child's learning at home.

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?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date ensure children's health and hygiene are promoted at all times and staff take all necessary steps to prevent cross infection, with particular regard to nappy changing facilities 06/02/2025 ensure staff have a secure understanding of how to identify and minimise all risks to children, so that children's safety and well-being are maintained at all times 06/02/2025 ensure that there is effective oversight of the setting and support for staff through supervision, support and coaching so that they can fulfil their roles and responsibilities 06/02/2025 implement behaviour management strategies, which support staff to be consistent in their approach, and that build on children's understanding of behaviour expectations 06/02/2025 implement a curriculum that clearly identifies the intentions for children's learning, so all children are offered appropriately challenging and engaging activities and experiences 06/02/2025 ensure that all children benefit from high-quality interactions with staff and receive meaningful and purposeful learning experiences that build on what they already know and can do.06/02/2025 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nimprove information sharing with parents so they understand how to support their children's ongoing learning at home.