Ofsted say nursery where children 'lose focus and wander away' requires improvement

A nursery has been rated “requires improvement” across all criteria in their latest Ofsted inspection.

Spire View Nursery, inspected on May 14, 2024, by Marie Swindells, cares for 45 children up to the age of four years old.

The previous inspection, in February 2023, rated the day care setting as “good” but prior to this, they had been rated “inadequate”.

The most recent report commends nursery leaders, who “care deeply about the children and families who attend the setting”.

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However, it is said that weaknesses in the delivery of the curriculum “do not help children develop a positive attitude to learning”. Children are also said to sometimes show “unwanted behaviour” when activities are not well organised.

Older children are said to become restless “and this impacts their well-being” due to waiting for extended periods of time for staff to carry out tasks due to other children still eating.

Spire View Nursery (Image: Salisbury Journal)

The report found that staff “do not fully engage older children in meaningful learning and play”. An example is used, where during a play dough making activity, children lost interested and became distracted – but staff continued without encouraging the children to focus. It is added that some children “lose focus and wander away”.

Generally, children are said to be well-behaved, but “staff do not provide older children with the skills they need to understand the impact their behaviours have on others” as older children are not always supported in listening or following instructions.

The nursery is told they need to improve quality of interactions to support children’s engagement and language development further. In the report, it is said that most interactions are “warm and energetic” but lack varied words that help to “expand children's knowledge”, such as using basic words, like “wow” and “well done”.

This report comes after a complaint was raised in March regarding safeguarding. In May, Ofsted concluded that they were “satisfied the provider has met the safeguarding and welfare action raised”.

Spire View has been contacted for comment.