A CHILDCARE provider has addressed the problems which saw it slip from ‘outstanding’ to requiring improvement.

Grandpont Daycare, which operates from Grandpont Nursery School in south Oxford, has tackled the issues, according to an Ofsted report published earlier this month.

In December 2019, an Ofsted inspection judged that the daycare facility required improvement.

Last month however, an interim phone call found that safeguarding and welfare actions raised at the inspection had been met.

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Ofsted’s latest report read: “On October 26, 2020, while routine inspections were suspended, we carried out an interim phone call.

“The focus of the call was to check whether the provider had met the safeguarding and welfare actions raised at their last inspection.

“We found that there had been a change of management since the last inspection and that arrangements to support and mentor staff had been reviewed and improved.

“We are satisfied the provider has met the safeguarding and welfare actions raised.”

Lisa Fern, headteacher at the nursery school, said: “This is fantastic news, Karen Hopkins has made a number of changes to improve the management processes without losing the caring, nurturing ethos that embodies all we do.

“We have also created a new two-year-old base which has expanded our provision and we have changed our registration to take children from 10 months so we now have spaces to offer.”

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The daycare, which opened in 2001, is for one to four-year-olds.

The December 2019 inspection found that staff were not ambitious enough for children.

The report said that staff ‘did not make good use of children’s initial enthusiasm for play experiences in order to help ensure these also provide consistently meaningful learning’.

The report continued: “Children, although generally happy and busy, engage in low-level play for much of the day.

“This does not consistently help them build further on existing skills.”

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Despite this, the report did highlight a series of positives.

It said that children benefitted from ‘lots of fresh air and exercise’ and that staff were ‘good role models for children and show that they enjoy being outside whatever the weather’.

The report added that parents spoke very highly of the staff and appreciated the regular feedback about their child’s day.

Parents found staff ‘approachable and helpful’ and reported that their children ‘love attending and sometimes are sad on the days they cannot do so’.

The Whitehouse Road daycare was rated ‘outstanding’, Ofsted’s top rating, in 2015. Grandpont Nursery School itself was separately inspected in 2017, and awarded a ‘good’ rating.