February 20, 2023 11.49 am This story is over 23 months old

Lincoln nursery responds after damning Ofsted report

Ofsted said ‘Children’s well-being, safety and education are compromised’

Ofsted said “children’s well-being, safety and education are compromised” at a Lincoln nursery which was rated as ‘inadequate’ following an inspection earlier this year.

Ofsted visited Angels Childcare, which is located in Total Fitness on Kingsley Road in Lincoln, on January 17, 2023 and the findings were published in a report last week.

The quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management were all rated as ‘inadequate’.

Ofsted also said it intends to take enforcement action and will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice to the provider. This will set out the actions the provider must take by a certain date to meet the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage for childminders and childcare providers.

The nursery’s owner Kirstie Johnston said the “recent inspection came at a particularly bad time whilst we were still recovering from the effects of the COVID epidemic and after a year of various other challenges” and the team believes the “concerns raised by Ofsted have been more than addressed”.

Concerns highlighted by Ofsted

Safeguarding at the nursery was deemed to be “not effective” and the report said “managers have not ensured that staff understand how to escalate any concerns they may have about a child’s welfare”.

The report also says that staff are “slow to respond to incidents and accidents that occur, often not noticing for a prolonged period of time if a child has been injured.” It is also noted that “staff do not communicate clear boundaries to children”.

In terms of the quality of education, Ofsted said “staff display poor regard for children’s learning” and “do not engage children with purposeful interactions”. Ofsted added that staff do not understand curriculum.

It said some children wander around with their hands in their pockets, while others run around the room and wrestle their peers to the ground. It was also noted that children sit silently as they eat their breakfast “because staff do not engage in meaningful conversation”.

Ofsted added that “children feel compelled to approach visitors to attend to their needs” and that “staff do not notice when children need help”.

However, staff in the baby room show that they know the babies well, and provide comfort and cuddles when needed. Staff show that they adapt the environment to suit the babies’ development.

The provider has also not ensured that the environment is fit for purpose and maintained to a good standard, including worn and stained carpets and dirty and disorganised resources. Ofsted added that cleaning and monitoring routines are not robust or thorough enough to ensure the environment is hygienic and suitable for children’s play.

The report also notes that the provider does not ensure that sleeping arrangements for younger children are safe and suitable for the age of the child.

The examples given by Ofsted are that “babies ages 15 months are placed in baby bouncers for prolonged periods of time to sleep” and “young toddlers are left to sleep in an upright position on a sofa”, and it said this practice does not follow safe sleeping guidance.

Provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is also deemed to be “poor” and they give the “responsibility of supervising children with SEND to inexperienced young volunteers, who do not yet have the capacity to meet these children’s needs.”

The Ofsted report does note that parents are “generally happy with the care and education the nursery provides” and they feel it is “nuturing and friendly”. Parents also comment that the nursery provides them with updates on their child’s progress.

Meanwhile, on the page about the provider within Ofsted’s website there have been two complaints about childcare provision in 2019 and 2020.

In one dated August 9, 2019 it was found that the provider had breached requirements relating to medicines and failure to notify Ofsted of a significant event.

Ofsted did not take any further action. This is because the provider took action to comply with the requirements relating to medicines and was able to demonstrate a suitable understanding of when a notification needs to be made to Ofsted.

In another complaint dated January 31, 2020, it was found that the provider failed to notify Ofsted about a significant event. This was the second time the provider had breached this requirement.

However, it was noted that the provider was “clear about their responsibility to notify Ofsted of such events in the future.” As a result, Ofsted took no further action in respect of this breach.

Nursery says concerns “have been more than addressed”

Owner Kirstie Johnston and the Angels Team sent a statement of response to The Lincolnite, which said: “We have provided family orientated childcare for the past fifteen years with consistently good inspection ratings, and have had thousands of satisfied customers, many of whom keep in touch.

“Our recent inspection came at a particularly bad time whilst we were still recovering from the effects of the COVID epidemic and after a year of various other challenges. We had already begun a program of various improvements which had, unfortunately, not progressed far enough when the inspection took place.

“Our main priority has and always will be the children and families we care for. We have communicated with them throughout this process and will continue to do so.

“We have, before the inspection and to date, worked as a team on improving and will continue to do so. We believe all the concerns raised by Ofsted have been more than addressed and are looking forward to our next inspection.”


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