Little Rayes Daycare boss Lorraine Martin says changes have been made after inspectors raised concerns over SEND support, teaching standards and hygiene
The boss of a Croydon daycare centre rated as requiring “urgent improvement” in two key areas by Ofsted has defended the nursery, saying inspectors focused too heavily on children with SEND.
Lorraine Martin, Manager and Director of Little Rayes Daycare in Tamworth Road, West Croydon, said: “We recognise that we weren’t exceptional on the day but we have put things in place and reassured the parents that we will tighten up.”
The nursery, based at Praise House, was inspected by Ofsted on July 3, with its report published on August 21. It provides full-day care for up to 39 children aged between two and five.
The report rated the nursery as requiring “urgent improvement” in ‘Curriculum and teaching’, and in the section titled ‘Inclusion’, with inspectors raising concerns about support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
Two other assessment areas were rated as ‘Needs attention’ including ‘Leadership and governance’. However two other assessment areas were rated ‘Expected standard’. This includes ‘Children’s welfare and wellbeing’.
Inspector Jenny Selvakumaran wrote: “When children with SEND do not make progress in their communication, staff do not persevere to support them because they do not think they will make a difference.”
Ms Martin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she was “disappointed” by the report, but felt one aspect focused too heavily on the difficulties of one child who is completely non-verbal. “I thought one [of the ratings] was unfair as it was mainly focused on SEN children,” she said.
She said the nursery had been unable to obtain information from the child’s speech and language therapist (SALT), so staff used strategies that had worked for other children.
Ms Martin said she challenged the inspector on this and that the nursery has since secured an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for the child. However, there was no SALT report available at the time of the inspection.
“It is a tickbox; what may work for them may not necessarily work for us and the children we have,” she told the LDRS.
The Ofsted report also found that agreed methods to help children manage routines and transitions were not always used. It stated: “At times, children become distressed when strategies that support them to manage change are not in place.”
Inspectors also criticised staff for completing creative activities themselves rather than allowing children to take the lead. The report said this left children as “passive participants”, limiting their opportunities to explore and experiment.
Ms Martin said one of the apprentices had panicked during the inspection and completed an activity for a child. “Sometimes these things happen, especially when you have staff that have not experienced Ofsted before. They get overzealous,” she said.
Inspectors added that only some staff had received communication training and that this knowledge was not consistently shared across the wider staff team. As a result, children with SEND “do not always receive the support that they should” to overcome barriers to communication.
Staff ‘didn’t wash hands after wiping noses’
Hygiene was another concern. While children were taught to wash their hands before eating, inspectors found that “staff do not model good hygiene practices consistently”. The report specifically noted that staff did not always wash their hands after wiping children’s noses.
Leadership and governance were judged as “needs attention”, with inspectors criticising how staff failed to quickly identify the necessary improvements and act on them.
Following the inspection, Ofsted required the nursery to review how it supports children who are not making expected progress and seek professional advice when needed. Management were also told to ensure agreed support strategies, particularly for children with SEND, are understood and consistently followed by staff.
Ofsted also required the nursery to improve its curriculum and teaching by making clear what children should learn from activities and adapting them to support their development.
Ms Martin said the nursery had acted on the requirements “straight away”. She also acknowledged that staff needed additional training and said the local team had since provided further support.
She said the nursery had a high number of children with SEND last year and staff had not been sufficiently trained to support them. A SEND coordinator visits the nursery once a month to provide training, she added.
‘Open and protective culture’
Ofsted also identified strengths at the nursery. Statutory safeguarding requirements were met, and inspectors said the setting had an open and protective culture in which safeguarding was treated as everyone’s responsibility.
Children’s behaviour was also praised, with inspectors noting that they responded positively to guidance and formed secure relationships with staff. However, less confident children were not always encouraged sufficiently to take part in group activities.
Referring to parents’ response to the report, Ms Martin said: “Parents have come back and said that is not what they see – the love and care and how we are with their children.”
She added that they had “very, very happy” parents at the graduation of their recent cohort.
“It is our priority that when children leave, they leave school-ready,” she added.
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