A NURSERY in Rhyl has an action plan in place after a report found that it had made “insufficient progress” in relation to the recommendations set out following its previous inspection.

Early Learners Day Nursery, on Dyserth Road, was inspected on July 5, 2022 by Care Inspectorate Wales and Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales.

Following this inspection, the nursery was issued with six recommendations:

  • Develop children's numeracy and Welsh language skills.
  • Improve staff interaction with children to ensure that they support children's learning and development during play activities.
  • Develop systems for planning, observation and assessment to identify and plan next steps for all children, including those with additional learning needs.
  • Ensure that leaders and staff know and follow nursery policies.
  • Strengthen processes for self-evaluation and improvement planning to ensure a clear impact on learning and development.
  • Address the areas of non-compliance found during the inspection.

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But after a follow-up review this month, the nursery has been told it has made enough progress overall in the above six areas.

As a result, the level of follow-up activity will be increased, which will include an Estyn inspector re-visiting the nursery in approximately six months’ time.

The follow-up report made the following findings:

  • Most children have made suitable progress in developing an understanding of numeracy.
  • Since the last monitoring visit, all members of staff have attended an online Welsh course to improve their skills.
  • Children are beginning to learn and sing a wider range of Welsh songs, and to respond with “thank you”.
  • Staff interact well with children, playing alongside them in the outdoor area, but do not always respond well enough to children’s needs as they play.
  • On occasions, staff are not good language role models, often missing key opportunities themselves to develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills.
  • Staff all contribute to planning activities and think about what the children would like to do, and how activities link to a theme or book.
  • The nursery does not currently have specific plans for children with additional needs; for example, those who need support with their speech and language skills.
  • Staff are now aware of how to deal with any child protection concerns, but the nursery does not ensure that all staff understand its behaviour policy thoroughly, in terms of the expectation for them to always treat children with respect.
  • Leaders have produced a useful self-evaluation report that identifies some strengths and areas for improvement suitably, but these formal aspects of the self-evaluation process do not always reflect the current situation accurately enough.
  • Staff targets are not specific enough to drive improvement and do not link closely enough with the nursery’s improvement priorities.
  • The nursery’s improvement plan does not make clear what is expected of staff in relation to the use of some of the new approaches, or the expected impact on the children.
  • It also does not make clear what leaders expect children to be able to do because of the steps taken, and by when.

The nursery was also subject to a Care Inspectorate Wales visit in March.

This resulted in its wellbeing being rated “good” and its care and development, environment, and leadership and management all found to be “adequate”.

Following publication of the monitoring report, Rachel Wood, a registered person at the nursery, said: “The managers and staff at Early Learners have been working hard towards recommendations and working with support services to make improvements.

“We currently have an action plan in place to address improvements, and the latest monitoring report gives examples of ongoing improvements.

“Following the COVID-19 pandemic, childcare providers have faced several changes with the ALN Transformation, New Curriculum for Wales 2022 for funded non-maintained settings, and updates to the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare Providers, which we continue to strive to implement effectively.

“Early Learners ensure the children’s wellbeing is at the heart of all that we do, and staff strive to provide the best early opportunities for the children within our care.”