Little Elms Daycare Greenwich

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

Significant weaknesses in leadership and management put children at risk of harm. Leaders do not ensure that staff fully understand and follow nursery policies and procedures to promote children's safety and welfare. For example, staff practice around medicines varies across the nursery and staff do not always check children's dietary requirements before they start settling in.

Staff welcome children into the nursery when they arrive, which helps children to separate from their parents and join their friends. Children occupy themselves with activities but there is no clear plan in place for their learning. When they get b...ored, children wander aimlessly.

Children learn to use polite language and use cutlery at mealtimes. Arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are weak. Leaders frequently deploy children's key persons elsewhere, which impacts on children's well-being and staff's ability to develop a deep understanding of their key children's individual needs.

Leaders frequently change the setting's curriculum. This means that staff do not have the time to implement the curriculum and assess the impact it has on children's learning. Some staff, particularly in the baby room, consider what children already know and can do and use this information to plan for children's needs.

Overall, however, children do not access well-planned activities and experiences throughout the day. This means that children do not make the rapid progress in their learning they are capable of.

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

Children are often disengaged from play, as staff do not plan challenging activities that respond to children's interests.

There are some toys and resources but no clear plan as to what staff want children to learn or how this can be achieved. This means that children do not get enough opportunities to follow their interests and fully challenge themselves.Children have access to an outdoor area but staff do not organise it in a way that supports children's learning and safety.

Children trip over resources and get frustrated as they try to use broken ride-on toys. Staff fail to provide clear messages to children about the rules in the garden. For example, staff instigate games where children have to run to participate.

When children run around, staff have to ask them not to, as it is unsafe in the limited, poorly organised space. This confuses children and inhibits their learning.Staff make use of museums, parks, playgrounds and the riverside when they take children on daily outings.

These trips give children a wide range of experiences and opportunities that broaden their understanding of the world. Children also get opportunities to extend their mobility and gain confidence in their physical abilities.The nursery's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) designs individual education plans with activities for children with SEND.

However, these plans lack detail, for example how often activities should take place and what the intention is. Furthermore, the SENCo does not provide enough support for staff tasked with implementing the plans. This means that children with SEND do not get the support required to access the learning opportunities they need to thrive.

Managers routinely deploy staff to provide support elsewhere, away from their key children. Leaders do not always consider children's needs when deciding staffing arrangements and the impact on children. Some children do not experience the benefit of a settled relationship with a key person who knows them well and plans precisely for their learning.

This means that children's care is not always tailored to meet their individual needs.Leaders do not have systems in place to ensure that they implement procedures for administering medication effectively. The processes used to record information about children's medical needs and medication storage vary across the setting.

Cabinets contain expired medication, medication belonging to children who have left, and unlabelled medication. This lack of oversight puts children's health and welfare at risk.Parents complete an admission form containing a wide range of information before their children start at the nursery.

However, staff do not always have the time to check this information in advance of children settling. This means that staff may not be aware of any dietary requirements, allergies or other aspects of children's health. This compromises staff's ability to fully promote children's health and welfare.

Leaders do not ensure that they obtain and record the information required to manage the setting efficiently and ensure that children's needs are met. Records related to children's progress that may be relevant to parents or other professionals working with children are incomplete. Discussions with parents do not take place in a timely manner, often due to staff deployment, which delays decisions about what support children need to make good progress in their learning.

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, the provider must: Due date consider the individual needs of all children and plan challenging activities to engage them in learning throughout the day 18/07/2024 ensure that the premises, both indoors and outdoors, are adequately assessed for risks to identify hazards and remove or minimise risk 18/07/2024 ensure that the identified SENCo can meet the requirements of the role to support children with SEND to make the best possible progress 18/07/2024 deploy staff effectively to ensure that children have opportunities to build relationships with their key person and ensure that key persons have a secure knowledge of the children in their care 18/07/2024 implement a medicines policy with robust systems that are fully understood by all staff to ensure that children's health and welfare are secure 18/07/2024 ensure that staff are aware of any dietary requirements before children are admitted to the nursery at the start of the settling process 18/06/2024 keep and maintain records of relevant information related to children's care and education to ensure effective information sharing with parents and other professionals.

18/07/2024