Worthing's Dolphins Day Nursery told by Ofsted it requires improvement

Dolphins Day Nursery in Chesswood Road, Worthing, was inspected last month.

The inspectors noticed that although children feel "safe and secure" at the nursery, there are a number of shortcomings in the curriculum and certain learning practices.

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The report noted that although leaders have developed a clear curriculum, it is not always taught well and learning aims are not always met.

The report read: "Staff do not consistently understand the curriculum and it is not always implemented successfully.

"When activities are set up, staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn from them, and so the learning aims are not met.

"For example, children do not have the opportunity to think or make predictions for themselves during a colour-mixing activity, as intended."

Inspectors also said that while children were keen on some activities and behaved well overall, staff did not build on what children were learning.

Certain practices such as sharing toys and equipment were also not monitored effectively, which means children do not receive consistent information on how to share.

It was also found that some of the children lose interest in certain activities when staff do not respond to them.

This was also found to be the case with healthy eating as inspectors found that although healthy food and snacks are offered to children, staff do not consistently help children understand the importance of this.

A spokesman for Ofsted said this means that children do not always make healthy choices and keep themselves safe as certain expectations are not reinforced.

Despite these shortcomings, Ofsted said that the nursery has a number of strengths including the fact that children have been able to develop early literacy and vocabulary skills.

It was also found that nursery staff give the children "support and plenty of praise for their accomplishments", for example when they are learning to ride a bike or climb small steps.

The nursery was also given advice on what it needs to improve on for its next inspection.

Ofsted inspectors told the nursery to develop the arrangements in place for sharing information with parents so they can help them support their child's learning at home.

Inspectors have also said that staff should make sure children understand how to keep themselves safe better and should raise teaching standards, including the curriculum for maths, so they can "provide all children with meaningful learning experiences".

A spokesman for the nursery said: "We were very disappointed with our overall outcome of our recent inspection report. We are happy that our inspector did observe that our children did feel safe and secure, that our children do build close relationships with our staff.

"We have put together a robust action plan addressing the areas raised by the inspector, and our team is working in partnership with our families to raise standards and continue to develop the best possible care and curriculum reflective of our children's needs and interests.

"I would like to thank our families for their input and support and my staff team for their hard work and the action already taken, and for their positive commitment to improving our next outcome. "