'Inadequate' Ofsted rating prompts swift action at North Ferriby kids club
A KIDS' club says swift action has been taken after Ofsted ruled standards were "inadequate" and legal requirements were being breached.
The Kids Club Cabin, in the grounds of North Ferriby CE Primary School, provides before and after-school care, as well as holiday club sessions.
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criticised: Kids Club Cabin, in the grounds of North Ferriby CE Primary School. Picture: Peter Harbour
But Ofsted found provision at the club, run by a voluntary management committee, was inadequate.
The club had not ensured the correct number of qualified staff were present to ensure young children were adequately supervised.
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This was a breach of a legal requirement of the early years foundation stage and of the compulsory part of the childcare register.
Ofsted also found the club had not yet implemented "a key person system" to ensure every young child's care and learning was tailored to their needs.
This was also a breach of a legal requirement.
Following the inspection, the committee says action was quickly taken to correct the breaches.
Rachel Robinson, chairman of the Kids Club Cabin Committee, said: "The corrective actions we needed to make were all completed quickly.
"We have reviewed all of our working practices and we are now looking forward to our next inspection so that we can gain a rating we can be proud of.
"The parents of children who attend Kids Club Cabin have been very supportive and are satisfied with the level of care we provide for their children."
Parents Louise and Gareth Bennett, whose son has been attending the club since September, did not think the Ofsted report was a true reflection of the care provided by the club.
Mrs Bennett said: "My husband and I ultimately chose North Ferriby CE Primary School for the combination of excellent education and the opportunity of a place for our child at the Kids Club.
"We see the Ofsted report as a tick-box exercise and not a true reflection of the excellent care provided.
"Areas will be addressed as necessary, however, nothing in the report raised any concern for us as parents and, as such, I have offered my services on the committee to ensure the reputation and success of the club continues."
Parent Claire Hodgson, whose daughter has been attending the club for three years, said: "I don't agree with the Ofsted report as I feel happy and secure knowing my daughter is safe and happy.
"I am very happy with how she is looked after. She always enjoys coming and taking part in all activities."
Ofsted had rated the club as inadequate across the board – for the quality and standards of early years provision, the contribution of early years provision to the well being of children and the effectiveness of leadership and management.
Chairman Mrs Robinson said: "Although we received a very disappointing result, our Ofsted report had many positive aspects.
"The children at Kids Club Cabin enjoy a wide variety of activities – from colouring, word searches and crafts to sports, trips out and catwalk shows – in a safe and friendly environment."
2 Comments
by RichardofHull
Thursday, March 07 2013, 4:40PM
“Firstly, can I just point out that this is a pretty old news story. The staff at the cabin (of which our son attends) have been through a particularly painful time with the fallout from this and, while the parents of the kids have been universally supportive, this tardy reporting does nothing for a service working very hard to rectify the quite unfair criticisms levelled at it.
As mentioned our son attends the Kids Club Cabin and we were initially amazed when we heard there had been an Ofsted report. Without an in depth knowledge of the work of Ofsted, personally I considered them to look at educational provisions for children.
Whilst my understanding was incorrect (it surprised me that they also looked at childcare services too) I am not sure the way they inspect them should have ever been conducted in a similar manner.
Firstly Ofsted complained about the lack of structured educational support for the kids. As I understand every (and I do mean every) parent asked prior to this inspection about what they wanted the Cabin to provide agreed that the facility should be about fun and not learning.
Our son is in his first year of school, which for a four year old takes some getting used to. If his schooling hours were essentially extended by three hours every day (as he attends pre and post school) we would be seriously worried about him burning out, or becoming disenchanted with the idea of learning, and would worry that we were doing little more than punishing him as two parents who work full time.
I would have gone further than this and said that I would have been disappointed if they brought in educational measures for my son, but as a result of this report they are being forced to bring these in. Disappointing for them, disappointing for me, and my son but good for Ofsted. So who exactly wins here?
Secondly this facility is staffed by volunteers, and I know that we, as both parents and full time workers, are incredibly grateful for the service they provide. The harder Ofsted make it for them to operate, the more pressure they come under, and then what? From chatting with the staff they were initially heartbroken at the feedback they received, and then with the prospect of having to face us parents with this news.
I know that when we spoke to the staff we were incredibly supportive about the work they do, and were pleased that during that conversation we were joined by another parent who felt exactly the same.
Without the local childcare facilities provided by this enormously important community resource we would be looking to have to uproot our family to another school where we can get this or look at dropping our working hours (and - seriously - right now who can afford this luxury?)
I know from talking with the staff at the kids club that the remedial action that was recommended was implemented even before we received a copy of the report ourselves (and long before this article was published, which makes me wonder why this was published without any investigation into the truth behind the story. I desperately want to believe that the Hull Daily Mail wouldn't denigrate an important local resource for a cheap headline so I would be very interested to understand what value the Mail thought this poorly investigated article might have?)
However you look at it, the truth is pretty simple: Without this facility for our kids there are a lot of working parents who would be in an awful lot of trouble in terms of childcare.
And while our son tells us that he loves the Cabin we would be happy the cabin to carry on doing exactly what they have done successfully - without inspection or interference - so far.”
by Hull47
Wednesday, March 06 2013, 1:31AM
“Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt a kids club a place where kids go after school for a couple of hours until there hard working parents can get to them to pick them up? Isnt a kids club just that, a Kids club? a place where they can chill out a little bit, play with friends and wind down after a day at school? if so what on earth are OFSTED doing ? Is it just me that thinks this way? Hav'nt OFSTED got better things to do ???”