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Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales
Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010
Child Minding and Day Care (Inspection and Information for Local
Authorities) (Wales) Regulations 2010
The Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010
Inspection Report
Pinocchio Playgroup
Friends Meeting House
Priory Road
Milford Haven
SA73 2DS
Type of Inspection – Focused
Date(s) of inspection – Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Date of publication – Thursday, 29 January 2015
Summary
About the service
Pinocchio Playgroup provides sessional day care for up to 25 children under the age of
five years. The privately owned setting is located in two rooms in a church in the town of
Milford Haven. Natalie Hewett is the registered person and also the person in charge on a
day to day basis but at the time of the inspection the acting up person in charge was Nina
Thomas.
English is the main language of care. The service provides funded places to three year
olds and is inspected by Estyn. It is a member of a recognised provider association.
What type of inspection was carried out?
This was a scheduled, unannounced focused inspection. The focus of the inspection was,
“The Quality Of Life” for children using the service.
During the visit the following methodologies were used:
Direct observation of interaction between staff and children.
Discussion with staff on duty.
Inspection of documentation at the setting.
Observation of one child who was two years of age using the Short Observational
Framework for Inspection (SOFI 2) tool. The SOFI 2 tool enables inspectors to
observe and record life from a child’s perspective; how they spend their time,
activities, interactions with others and the type of support received.
Discussions with parents
Further information for this report was gathered from:
The history of the registered setting held by CSSIW.
The previous inspection report.
What does the service do well?
It receives 3 year old funding and therefore follows the Foundation Phase and is
Estyn inspected.
What has improved since the last inspection?
The service is in the process of changing their registered person and the person in
charge and as a result no significant improvements had been made on this
occasion.
What needs to be done to improve the service?
At the time of the inspection visit we found the service to be non-compliant with the
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following regulations from “The Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010”
Regulation 15: Statement of Purpose to be written and made available at the
service for staff and service users to view, as well as to CSSIW. The person in
charge has confirmed that she will forward this to CSSIW and prior to writing this
report this has been achieved and the service is now compliant with this regulation.
Mrs Thomas has applied to become the new person in charge and to become the
new registered person. Mrs Thomas was advised to make herself and her staff
familiar with “The Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the
“National Minimum Standards for Regulated Child Care” (revised 2012), both
documents being available on the CSSIW’s website. Mrs Thomas confirmed that
she would do this as soon as possible.
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Quality Of Life
Overall we (CSSIW) found that children are cared for in a welcoming, friendly and happy
atmosphere where they can engage in a range of activities that help them grow and
develop.
Children are encouraged to express their views and exercise choice because free play
was an integral part of the session and their views were taken into account when
planning activities. The service is Estyn inspected. All children had access to a large
range of varied activities suited to the age and development of the children. The older
children and younger children were in two different rooms at the time of the inspection.
Displays of the children’s own work were seen and photographs sequencing the day’s
activities were also displayed .We observed the younger children confidently choosing
their own toys and activities and instigating their own play. Children were also seen to be
selecting and taking books and toys to play with, listening to stories and singing. The
older children had constructed a floor puzzle and were enthusiastically discussing their
experiences of fairs and were keen to express their likes and dislikes. Children were
reminded to use “gentle hands” whilst putting the jigsaw puzzle away so as not to
damage the pieces.
Children are cared for in a warm and caring environment because we saw that positive
relationships had developed between the children and the staff.
The interactions
between the staff and the children were relaxed and affectionate. The children were at
ease in the setting and we saw plenty of teasing and laughing. The children were seen to
be involved in singing nursery rhymes, listening to stories, dressing up, playing with small
world activities and construction toys. All of the children were spoken to politely, calmly
and offered praise and encouragement throughout the inspection. All of the children
looked happy and were keen to partake in the activities of the service and had good
interactions with the staff and the other children.
Children’s health is promoted as the play group offered healthy snacks and drinks. In
addition, children were encouraged to develop an awareness of a healthy lifestyle,
including personal hygiene and safety, because of the way in which good health was
promoted at the setting. We saw children being encouraged to act appropriately and,
where possible, independently e.g., tidying away their toys, helping to lay the table and
being encouraged to use good manners, saying please and thank you at snack time.
Children are encouraged to manage their behaviour in a positive way, and we were told
that appropriate systems were in place to manage behaviour. On the day of the
inspection the behaviour of all of the children was seen to be very good, and we saw that
they responded positively to reminders from staff about safety issues. There was a
behaviour policy in place and we saw that staff remained calm and patient with all of the
children. Children were encouraged to have “gentle hands” and to share and take turns.
There was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and children played well together.
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Quality Of Staffing
The inspection focused on the experience of children using the service and their quality
of life at the service. CSSIW did not consider it necessary to look at the quality of staffing
on this occasion because:The service has been compliant and no issues of concern have been raised since
the previous inspection;
Staff have attended relevant training courses and more are to be planned for
2015.
This enabled the inspector to spend time observing the care and their relationships with
the staff. However, this theme will be considered during the future inspections.
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Quality Of Leadership and Management
The inspection focused on the experience of children using the service and their quality
of life at the service. CSSIW did not consider it necessary to look at the quality of
leadership and management on this occasion because:The service has been compliant and no issues of concern have been raised since
the previous inspection.
However, the most recent Statement of Purpose was not available for us to see
during the inspection visit. The acting person in charge, Mrs Thomas, explained
that the report would be sent to us as soon as possible.
Mrs Thomas has applied to become the new person in charge and to become the
new registered person. Mrs Thomas was advised to make herself and her staff
familiar with “The Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the
“National Minimum Standards for Regulated Child Care” (revised 2012), both
documents being available on the CSSIW’s website. Mrs Thomas confirmed that
she would do this as soon as possible.
This enabled the inspector to spend time observing the care and their relationships with
the staff. However, this theme will be considered during the future inspections.
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Quality Of The Environment
The inspection focused on the experience of children using the service and their quality
of life at the service. CSSIW did not consider it necessary to look at the quality of
environment on this occasion because:No issues of concern have been raised since the previous inspection.
The service is situated within the building and grounds of “The friends Meeting
house” and therefore benefits from regular and effective maintenance, the rooms
used were warm, bright and well equipped.
This enabled the inspector to spend time observing the care and their relationships with
the staff. However, this theme will be considered during the future inspections.
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How we inspect and report on services
We conduct two types of inspection; baseline and focussed. Both consider the experience
of people using services.
Baseline inspections assess whether the registration of a service is justified and
whether the conditions of registration are appropriate. For most services, we carry out
these inspections every three years. Exceptions are registered child minders, out of
school care, sessional care, crèches and open access provision, which are every four
years.
At these inspections we check whether the service has a clear, effective Statement of
Purpose and whether the service delivers on the commitments set out in its Statement
of Purpose. In assessing whether registration is justified inspectors check that the
service can demonstrate a history of compliance with regulations.
Focused inspections consider the experience of people using services and we will
look at compliance with regulations when poor outcomes for people using services are
identified. We carry out these inspections in between baseline inspections. Focussed
inspections will always consider the quality of life of people using services and may look
at other areas.
Baseline and focused inspections may be scheduled or carried out in response to concerns.
Inspectors use a variety of methods to gather information during inspections. These may
include;
Talking with people who use services and their representatives
Talking to staff and the manager
Looking at documentation
Observation of staff interactions with people and of the environment
Comments made within questionnaires returned from people who use services, staff
and health and social care professionals
We inspect and report our findings under ‘Quality Themes’. Those relevant to each type of
service are referred to within our inspection reports.
Further information about what we do can be found in our leaflet ‘Improving Care and
Social Services in Wales’. You can download this from our website, Improving Care and
Social Services in Wales or ask us to send you a copy by telephoning your local CSSIW
regional office.
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