Mini Adventures Preschool Ltd

Inclusion: Urgent improvement

Leaders are not ambitious for children, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Small achievements are often seen as significant, with staff failing to recognise what more children could be capable of with better support. In addition, leaders do not make sure that staff accurately assess children's needs well enough. As a result, staff are overly focused on the elements of children's development that have been achieved, while failing to recognise and prioritise where extra support is needed.

Leaders use additional funding to provide one-to-one support for children to include them within the setting, however this support is ineffective. Leaders have not checked that staff provide effective individual support. Because of this, staff take on a supervisory role and follow children around and do not engage them in purposeful learning and play. For children who need support to socialise with others, this hinders their progress.

While staff have regular communication with parents and carers about children's needs, they do not share this information well enough to ensure that children are given appropriate support throughout the session. For example, when it is known that some children are upset as they arrive staff do not plan ahead to help them settle calmly. Instead, they only respond after children have already become distressed. Children struggle to manage their emotions which can disrupt others play. Leaders do understand the importance of working in partnership with parents, carers and other professionals to review children's needs.

Curriculum and teaching: Urgent improvement

The quality of teaching for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, is poor. This is because leaders checks on how well the curriculum is delivered by staff are weak. They do not ensure that staff know what they want children to learn from activities or how they will deliver this. Although leaders recognise that some routine activities do not work effectively, they have not taken appropriate steps to address this. For example, large-group activities lack focus and quickly become chaotic. As a result, the curriculum does not support children to make progress in their learning.

Staff have undertaken training in how to support children's communication skills but are not using the knowledge gained. They have limited conversations with children and when they do converse they often ask numerous questions without pause, therefore not giving children the opportunities to practise their communication skills.

Other aspects of the curriculum are also ineffective. For example, staff do not extend children's prior knowledge, such as when talking about mathematical concepts. During circle time, staff ask children to hold up the correct number of fingers to represent a number, but then hold up the incorrect number of fingers themselves. As a result, children are left confused about basic number concepts and develop insecure early mathematical understanding.

Achievement: Urgent improvement

A key focus of the setting's curriculum is to support children to develop the skills they need for school. Leaders do not ensure that staff implement this which impacts significantly on children's achievement. Children struggle to focus, listen or contribute to group activities due to the noise levels and continual disruptions. Similarly, during free play when children initiate play with others, it is frequently interrupted. Although children persevere with attempting to use cutlery at mealtimes, the lack of support from staff means that some eventually give up and use their hands.

Children with additional barriers to learning are not supported to participate in the activities. All children are capable of making more progress in their learning and development and are not supported by staff to achieve this. As a result, children are not well prepared for their next stage in learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Urgent improvement

Leaders do not set appropriate expectations for children's behaviour or routines. They do not help children to understand what is expected of them, such as taking turns in group conversations or putting the toys away rather than discarding them on the floor. Tidy-up time subsequently becomes a huge task, which is disorganised and hectic. A few children try and help to tidy away the toys despite the lack of guidance from staff. This becomes almost impossible as they struggle to establish where the toys should be stored or to find particular toys amongst those strewn across the floor. Leaders do not ensure that staff give proper thought to how to conclude learning activities. This negatively affects children's behaviour, as when activities finish, they stampede across the classroom.

Staff do not provide consistent support for children with barriers to their learning, for example children who struggle with their emotions. On some occasions, staff make sure children have access to the resources that have been purchased specifically for supporting children with expressing or managing feelings. At other times, they leave children to wander and have to then manage disruptions rather than de-escalating situations before they arise. Leaders consult with parents and carers to agree what they will spend additional funding on, which includes supporting children's regular attendance.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Urgent improvement

Leaders and staff do not promote children's welfare. They do not consistently follow the setting's procedures for hygiene, for example they instruct children to wash their hands in dirty paint water and dry their hands on a dirty towel. Furthermore, staff give cutlery that has been dropped on the floor back to the children at mealtimes. These poor practices go unchecked by leaders, creating an unhygienic environment that places children's health and wellbeing at unnecessary risk. In addition, children do not have daily access to outdoor learning and instead they only access the outdoors once a week due to leaders' poor organisation.

Staff are caring towards the children. Parents and carers comment that their children settle quickly when they start at the setting and look forward to seeing the staff. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities form attachments with staff and receive comfort when they are tired or ill. Children enjoy healthy options at mealtimes. At snack time, staff encourage children to peel their own fruit and pour their own drinks. Staff make effective use of additional funding to purchase resources that help children with their personal skills, such as the transition from nappies to using a toilet.

Leadership and governance: Urgent improvement

Leaders do not maintain oversight of the setting. As a result, several breaches of the requirements were identified at this inspection. They do not follow the setting's procedures when there are concerns about children's safety. Staff, including those in leadership positions, do not have sufficient understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of an allegation against a colleague. Additionally, staff report that their heavy workload is affecting their ability to have the time to reflect on practice.

Leaders' assessment of staff interactions is at times overly generous and fails to recognise the significant weaknesses in teaching, which hinders all children's learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Supervision for staff, although regular, is ineffective. Leaders lack the confidence and professional clarity to provide constructive feedback for staff. This means that difficult conversations are avoided. This allows underperformance to persist unchecked.

While staff attend training, leaders do not ensure they use this learning to positively impact on the quality of the provision. In addition, a lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities means that without frequent, direct guidance, staff are uncertain about how to manage routines and activities.

Leaders place importance on building relationships with parents and carers. Leaders share information at drop off and hold regular meetings to update parents on their child's development. Parents comment that they find this information useful as well as the reminders about forthcoming activities.