Our lovely nursery has been open for nearly 15 years now and back in March this year we had an Ofsted inspection that did not go as well as we hoped, there were particular reasons behind that which you can read about below alongside letters and emails of support from some of our current families for you to get a real sense of our nursery!
We have since had our re-inspection in July and are happy to say we have our “Good” rating back in place where it belongs!
Everyone was particularly nervous on the re-inspection day after the previous experience in March however despite a few things being forgotten (such as our older room forgetting to split their group times as they normally do and staff forgetting how to explain to the inspector how the next steps are tracked) the day went well and we know these small points are actually in place day to day.
We hope you will come and visit, have a look around and see for yourself what a lovely educational and nurturing nursey we have!
A small snapshot of what our current families have to say…
I know I speak for our whole family when I say we are sorry you’ve had to experience this Ofsted outcome. Having had G and then S under your care for the past 6+ years, it does not reflect our experience or that of G and S. We are so gutted for you all. You have always been so so brilliant in all aspects of our children’s care and communication/support with/for us as parents. We have ZERO concerns about this report, bar those of the impact on you all.
All the best,
Alex, Sally, G and S x
Dear Ofsted
I wanted to take the opportunity to write to you about my experience with Little Earthworms over the last 5 years as I was shocked and upset to see their Ofsted report. It is certainly not a reflection of my experience of this wonderful, loving nursery that has served my two girls so well since 2019.
To start, my eldest daughter, Evie joined in 2019 at the age of 3, after we moved to Brighton from London. I was pregnant with my second daughter, Orla at the time.
Evie settled in well and enjoyed going to nursery however early on Little Earthworms (LE) approached us and said they felt Evie would benefit from a review by BHISS (Brighton and Hove Inclusion Services) as well as a speech and language review. This is because they felt Evie became overly upset and required more support from staff during group activities.
They talked this through with us and sent off referrals in a timely manner. Recommendations were implemented at nursery to help calm Evie down when she became upset as well as tools to assist with her speech and language. We had meetings with senior staff and felt supported with Evie’s transition to school.
Subsequently, Evie was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and we applied for an EHCP. LE again supported us (3 years after Evie had left!) by writing a report of their key findings and actions taken. We are enormously grateful to them for the SEN provision they provided and the continued help even after Evie had left which helped us secure the EHCP that has made a marked difference to her schooling.
During Covid 19 crisis LE again pulled out all the stops by staying open to key worker children. I am a nurse and felt compelled to return to work despite having a 7 month old baby. LE took both my girls and were very accommodating with my constant shift changes. Nothing was a problem, I only had to email Sylvia and she would sort it out for me. I always felt totally confident about dropping off my girls as LE took the government guidance very seriously. I still have the ‘wash wash wash your hands’ song stuck in my head!
While Orla was only 7 months when she started, we had no issues with separation anxiety and she settled into a good routine with her naps etc. She was well looked after and cared for which meant even as a very young baby she was happy to arrive at nursery. LE were also strategic when moving her to the Rainbow room and made sure she moved up with friends to help minimise upset and ensure a smooth transition.
This continued through the dreaded ‘pingdemic’ when the nation was asked to get PCR’s every time they had the smallest symptom. While frustrating because of time off work to get PCR tests when children had fevers etc. LE were very firm that they needed to keep everyone safe. The protocols they had in place were of a high quality and they did not deviate from the recommended official advice.
In calmer times since the pandemic I have found the staff to be kind and friendly. I cannot believe how tidy and in control the nursery looks when I collect Orla considering they have all those little people running around. I have always thought it has such a warm cosy atmosphere and the children look like they are having a ball.
I love that they spend so much time in the garden and have a chicken called ASDA.
I enjoy getting updates on Famly and the activities they do are so creative and fresh- never see the same old post. Really brightens up a day at work to see Orla having fun and enjoying her ‘get ready for school’ sessions. They are always doing something fun and different. More recently LE have been sending daily updates of activities/lunch etc which are enjoyable and informative.
I have been part of the LE family for 5 years now and was recommended to join by two of my oldest friends, who both send their children to LE. Together we have a combine 17 years’ worth of time at LE and only have good things to say about this lovely little nursery. I would recommended it without question.
I feel an inadequate rating is unfair when I consider all they have been doing over the 5 years both for my family personally and during an unprecedented and difficult time with the pandemic.
I would be happy to speak to any inspectors personally and hope that the Little Earthworms staff know that they are doing a wonderful job and not to be too disheartened by a snapshot that is not reflective of the excellent work they all do at nursery.
Yours sincerely
Kirsten Bell
My two sons both attend Little Earthworms and are very happy there. I love hearing about the fun activities that are organised every day alongside lots of free play in their beautiful garden (complete with chickens, a vegetable patch and a pirate ship). The staff are lovely and are always included in my 3 years olds list of “best friends”. If you are considering Little Earthworms for your little one I advise you go and see it for yourselves.
Please rest assured that we know that their judgement is not representative of what the nursery is like. We really appreciate all of the hard work and kindness that goes into making our boys happy.
Best wishes,
Henry
We are both very confident you will get your rating back in no time. Little Earthworms has a great reputation especially in the SEND parent community, I always see it come up as recommendations for children with additional needs. Best of luck and thank you as always for your communication about this. K
I’m heartbroken for you that this is the outcome from the inspection. It does not reflect how incredible the nursery is for our children. I can imagine sending this email was so tough for you both and I feel quite emotional after reading it.
It is obvious how much you care about the children and all the provision you offer for them. I know the fear will be people losing faith after reading the report- which is why I wanted to email my support.
As someone who works in education (and experienced an inspection last April), Ofsted feels so unfit for purpose now.
I really hope the staff are doing ok after the ordeal. I can imagine it’s been incredibly stressful for everyone, and yet, our children have still be cared for and prioritised- because that’s what always happens at Little Earthworms.
We are sending you lots of empathy and love. You all do an amazing job. This too shall pass!
Charlotte
Hello Sylvia and team,
We are very sorry about the outcome of the Ofsted inspection.
Thank you very much for providing clarity and transparency about what happened.
For what it’s worth, we felt very sad for you and the team. Our experience with Little Earthworms has been and still is incredibly positive. Me and Emma want to express our gratitude and support into this phase that without any doubt is stressful and challenging.
Best, Edo
Hi Sylvia,
I’m so sorry to hear this!
Please be assured this does not alter my opinion of how brilliant Little Earthworms is in the slightest. These sound like really unfortunate occurrences and your management sounds really good, much better than what I’ve experienced.
I have no doubt that the next inspection will be absolutely fine and back to ‘good’, but understand this will be a stressful period for you, and I’m very sorry the timing of all this has happened at a difficult time in your life personally. What is so important, is that all the children seem so happy and settled, which is a reflection of the nurturing environment. E loves coming to nursery everyday.
We wholly support you and think you are an excellent nursery.
Jess and Jim
This is honestly unbelievable and I really feel it is unfair as it is categorically not what we have seen over the years! We have always had such fantastic care of B through all the SEND process, you have supported us at every turn. Please do not be disheartened! We all LOVE Earthworms and we know this is not a correct picture of your lovely nursery. T
Little earthworms is a fantastic nursery. My friend and I viewed about 6 nurseries in the area when choosing for our eldest children (5 years ago), and we both loved Little Earthworms because of how homely it felt, and the caring way the staff interacted with the children.
The setting felt the right size for the kids not to feel overwhelmed, and I liked that in the spaces everyone is together and can be seen easily- no children getting lost in amongst it all! Also, the baby room being on the ground floor so it’s a quick route to the garden to play outside felt so much nicer than being tucked away upstairs as we’d seen everywhere else.
My son had a fantastic time at the nursery from age 1 to school age, and still remembers the lovely teachers, and chats to them on the odd occasion he’s with me to drop off his sister. My daughter has been at the nursery since 1 too and is now 3 and in the older room. She absolutely loves it. The staff really made/ make it for both the kids. My son once cried all the way home from nursery because he wanted to stay longer, and he wanted another cuddle from Nancy who was his key worker! Anything new my daughter gets or learns to do at home, she says she’ll tell Karen (who’s her key worker) next time she’s in, and she tells me that Karen will say “Wow!” The team are so invested in all the children, and I really can’t recommend the nursery enough to anyone looking for a caring and vibrant setting for their child. Kate
Our previous inspection and what happened:
We are devastated by the outcome of our latest Ofsted report, this is genuinely not a true picture of our beautiful nursery and we have already put in place robust protocols to ensure these mistakes do not happen again.
Unvetted staff:
Unvetted means no police check (DBS) in place.
Just to clarify; at no time was any unvetted member of staff left unsupervised with any children. At no time are any staff who do not have a current DBS left alone with the children, these staff are always supervised. This has been fully investigated and checked against all our records and staff witness statements.
The reason Ofsted use the word unsupervised is because someone was not standing directly beside the person looking over their shoulder while they were preparing to change a child’s clothes. The qualified, vetted member of staff overseeing the situation was there ready to oversee the changing of clothes but because they were not directly beside the member of staff this was considered by Ofsted to be unsupervised.
Our staff have always been supervised as there is always someone either in the nappy room helping another child or they have a good line of sight into the nappy room for supervision.
The reason this happened was due to a verbal miscommunication between management which led all the staff to believe that a member of staff had their Little Earthworms DBS check when they did not. The person had previously held a DBS check at their previous job but this was not on the update service (online checking system) so we were in the process of getting the new Little Earthworms DBS.
We have a 2 week system in place for new DBS holders where that person still isn’t allowed to be left alone and any care involving changing children’s clothes or nappies is overseen by qualified vetted staff during that 2 week period. On the day of inspection the person was asked to change a child and the inspector heard her being asked and knew the person didn’t have the Little Earthworms DBS in place yet as we were waiting for it to be returned. Due to that situation it means that all our areas that are being graded on the inspection day get downgraded and our overall rating is automatically marked as inadequate.
This type of miscommunication is no longer possible due to the process now being signed by 3 people to ensure this verbal miscommunication never happens again.
Our under twos care:
At the time of inspection our lovely Room Leader had only been in the job role for 3 weeks having moved from our older room (having worked for us for several years and has brilliant relationships with our under twos families). As we all know, it takes time when starting any new position to fully settle into all that a job entails. Some recent training we had had booked in for the new job role had also been cancelled by the trainers not long before our inspection. Ofsted does not take into consideration the length of service a staff member has had in a role; this means that they were questioned to the same level as an experienced Room Leader who had been with us for 5 years or more would be questioned. As you can imagine this caused a lot of anxiety, stress and upset for them and indeed the room as a whole. The children were naturally unsettled by having a stranger in their room and their closest nursery carers being upset and anxious impacted their usual emotional wellbeing for the time the inspector was in the room. Prior to that time the inspector was in the room the children had been happily playing in the garden and singing animal songs and making all the animal noises!
Special Educational Needs (SEND)
At Little Earthworms we pride ourselves on our SEND provision, we take great care to support both parents and children in regard to children needing additional support. We have always had high praise from outside agencies and families alike in this area of our practice. When dealing with children with potential additional needs we have many processes and procedures that we follow to ensure that children are monitored and action is taken at the right steps to help them be assessed and cared for in the best possible way.
While we do have these measures in place, due to extenuating circumstances there were insufficient written records of conversations and plans ahead for one particular child that had taken place over the course of a month which should be recorded every time any conversation is had so that you have a record of where you are with that child’s progress of being monitored so that all staff are aware of what stage that child is at.
Due to there being insufficient recorded evidence, this lead to a child being monitored for slightly longer than they should have been and the child was not moved on to the next stage of assessment and support. While some staff knew what stage the child was at and following the procedures (delayed as they were) not all staff were fully aware and that is what raised the cause for concern in this area.
We feel confident that our procedures we already had in place prior to the Ofsted inspection alongside the additional changes we have made will mean that these circumstances will not happen again.
I (Sylvia co-owner and manager) would like to take a moment to explain the extenuating circumstances I mentioned previously, my father passed away in January and my families mental health took a sharp decline. I have been struggling due to these personal circumstances alongside my back injury flaring up several times needing to be hospitalised in the few months leading up to the inspection. I believe these circumstances have contributed to the situation at hand, I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart, take responsibility for the mistakes and look forward now to the changes we have already put in place and those existing strong practices that we will continue to implement into our daily practice.
We hope you are able to see that these were genuine mistakes and misunderstandings and that this is not a true reflection of our overall practice and our amazing beautiful nursery.
Protecting and caring for your children at the highest standard is our utmost priority and we will continue to implement these changes going forward.
All our current nursery families have been so very supportive and we have put below just a few of the lovely messages from our them to give you a true picture of how our nursery is viewed, loved and supported.
If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Warm wishes
Sylvia, Rachel, and the Little Earthworms team.
The proprietors/ managers
A little info on ourselves (Rachel and Sylvia). We had both been working as nannies in the few years prior to opening the nursery, we had built up close relationships with families in the area earning us both fantastic reputations for good quality and fun childcare!
We had both worked in nursery settings for many years (Rachel for nearly 10 years) before our nanny careers took off. Rachel had worked in managing some nurseries and gained knowledge and skills to fully understand what children need to develop and grow into healthy individuals.
We have both always had the children’s best interests at heart and have always been very passionate about childcare.
We had both worked in many nurseries between us and always wanted to put our experience and ideas fully into practice to exceed nursery expectations but struggled to perfect these ideals when the nursery was not our own.
After meeting through childcare and becoming firm friends we put our ideas together and set about making our dreams come true!
We are both believers of positive thinking and as we began our journey looking for a property with D1 use, for our nursery; we soon found it was like finding gold dust in Brighton!
We had our criteria for our dream nursery which included a large garden for vegetable patches, sensory/herb garden, areas climbing frames and of course lots of grass.
We viewed a couple of properties but none of them met our expectations.
When we finally found our property on Ditchling road, we were so excited; it was perfect and ticked every box on our list.
We wanted to have a property all on ground level to really make our nursery feel like a home and for fire safety reasons too.
So converting this bungalow was perfect, the building is really spacious and airy inside for the children’s play rooms and the outside space is simply amazing.
The property also has a large kitchen for us to prepare nutritious organic meals. All diets and food preferences can be catered for.
The garden in the property is large enough for all the children to be outside playing together; we have large grass areas, a bike area with soft eco-friendly surfacing, a beautiful little sensory garden along with our quiet decked areas too. With plenty of space for our vegetable patches, mud kitchen and a lovely enclosed area for our chickens to peck around in! Not forgetting our pirate ship to have adventures a plenty on!
We also wanted a good staff room, so staff can relax and feel comfortable.
We always treat our staff with great respect and are grateful of their hard work and efforts; as we know how important continuity is to the children and want to keep our staff for as long as possible while always continuing to encourage them to strive for their dreams just as we did.
As we have both worked in nurseries for years ourselves we understand how hard staff work and sometimes do not get enough praise and encouragement therefor we ensure that feedback and praise is used to help staff achieve their full potential.
Both staff/parents/carers and children will all be treated fairly and equally, If you are a parent looking for a nursery that will fulfil all of its promises, a nursery where your children come first along with actually caring and learning about the environment. Then you have found it!