The boss at a Swadlincote nursery which saw its rating slip from good to 'requires improvement' during its latest inspection says staff are determined to turn things around for when inspectors next visit.
The Honey Pots Day Nursery, in Newhall Road, was visited by inspectors from education watchdog Ofsted. There are four ratings that they give out. The top is outstanding, followed by good, then requires improvement and then the lowest of inadequate.
At its last inspection in 2015 the day nursery was rated good. This time around through, inspectors raised issues, including about staff training.
Managing director Sharon Redfern said new procedures had already been introduced and they now eagerly awaited the return of Ofsted inspectors in November.
The latest report read: "The management team and owner do not make sure that staff covering for other staff absences in the pre-school room have a sufficient understanding of the children’s individual stages of development and interests.
"The management team and owner are not fully effective in how they support, coach and train staff to ensure the quality of teaching is consistently good.
"The management team and owner do not use self-evaluation effectively to quickly identify and address areas for development. They do not focus on raising the quality of teaching to improve the outcomes for children."
The report did note some of the nursery's strengths, such as the partnership between parents and teachers.
It said that parents were well informed about their child's progress and achievements, including providing suggestions to parents to help them continue their child's learning at home.
It also highlighted the general happiness of the children there. It mentioned how the children quickly settled into their play and were familiar with routines within their daily activities.
It said: "Staff in the toddler room use their observations of children's play to make secure assessments of the next steps in their learning.
"Toddlers make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared for the next stage in their learning. They explore a good range of interesting and stimulating activities. The quality of teaching in the toddler room is strong."
It said that to develop further, the nursery must develop self-evaluation processes and use the information gained to take targeted action to improve, paying particular regard to raising the quality of teaching.
The inspector, Judith Rayner although the staff were well qualified, they did not fully support some aspects of pre-school children's learning, such as challenging them enough during planned activities.
Ms Redfern said: "We feel that the recent Ofsted inspection was not a true reflection of the nursery. During the school holidays, as with most settings, we have a shortfall in children's attendance and this is reflected with by having half of the staff team. The practitioners, therefore, carry out their roles within the various rooms rather than their base room.
"During the summer holidays, we also use this time to prepare for the new school year and to welcome new children and their families. Moving forward, we will now ensure continuity for all children all year round with additional training for staff.
"During the inspection, the teaching and learning were scrutinised as the practitioners on duty were not in their base room. All practitioners are based in a group room which best suits their level of expertise but on the day of the inspection this was not the case for the reasons mentioned above.
"As a result, we have now introduced a new procedure for peer on peer observations in which staff are taken out and observed in rooms where they would not usually be based.
"This allowed management to quickly identify areas of strength as well as areas that require development so these can then be addressed quickly to support professional development. We have also undergone a staffing restructure to reflect this.
"The inspection took place 12 days after a new manager for the nursery had been appointed. The timing, therefore, was just unfortunate.
"Overall, despite the outcome of the report and the rating, we have taken this as a positive as it has highlighted minimal areas for improvement that have quickly been addressed. The report reads well and has lots of positive points surrounding under threes, partnership with parents, effective safeguarding, health and safety and happy, well cared for children that settle quickly into a routine.
"From the points that require improvement in the inspection, we are happy that the changes we have made to address the points raised and are eagerly awaiting Ofsted's return."
Ofsted inspectors will return to the nursery on November 3, 2017, to review improvements.
