URN EY459369 · Inspected 2026-05-14 · Published 2026-07-06 · Inspector: Sue Heathcote Kayte Farrell
K8Z Cheeky Monkeyz Unique reference number (URN): EY459369 Address: Total Fitness Ltd, Northern Perimeter Road, BOOTLE, Merseyside, L30 7PT Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 14/02/2013 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: K8Z Cheeky Monkeyz Limited Inspection report: 14 May 2026 Exceptional Strong standard Expected standard Needs attention Urgent improvement Urgent improvement Safeguarding standards not met Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that adequately protects children from harm. Safer recruitment is not robust. Leaders do not ensure that references are reviewed thoroughly or that any concerns identified are followed up. The provider has not completed diligent pre-recruitment checks on staff. Not all new staff have complete references, there are inconsistencies in application forms and this has not been addressed. Gaps in employment have not been thoroughly explored. Adequate checks are not in place to ensure that people looking after children are suitable. This places children at risk of harm. How we evaluate safeguarding When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes: Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met. Achievement Urgent improvement Children are not able to make the progress they are capable of because the curriculum does not support their learning. Many children are unable to develop the language skills expected for their age, and they do not build the social skills they need for school. Because there is no purposeful curriculum, children do not routinely take part in meaningful play that helps them learn. For instance, outdoor play is unplanned and unfocused, leaving children to wander without direction. This sometimes results in destructive behaviour. Children receive inconsistent experiences across the setting. For instance, babies benefit from warm interactions with staff, babbling happily and taking part in song and rhyme times. In contrast, older children have limited opportunities to learn new skills. They are not guided or supported to prepare for the next stage of their education. For example, when children ignore requests to tidy up and continue with their own activities, they miss opportunities to practise routines and behaviours that prepare them for school. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are not able to make progress towards their individual learning goals because the curriculum and teaching are not adapted to meet their needs. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement Leaders have not recognised that staff do not have a secure understanding of their key children. For instance, they are not delivering plans developed by leaders to assist children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This means that some children spend a lot of time wandering around not engaged in purposeful play or learning. Staff do not understand and do not have appropriate expectations for children's behaviour and do not support children to develop positive attitudes to learning. When staff ask children to share they do not help them to understand what this means in practice. Additionally, staff request children to do something, but do not reinforce this when children ignore them. This leads to a disorderly environment and gives children mixed messages about what is expected. At times, children engage with activities of their own choosing and play alongside each other. Overall, attitudes to learning are poor, and due to weaknesses in practice, children do not develop the concentration skills needed to be motivated learners. Leaders recognise the importance of attendance and contact parents when children miss their scheduled sessions. This helps leaders to consider children's wellbeing and addresses any obstacles that might keep them from attending. Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement Leaders have failed to ensure that risk assessments are thorough enough to protect children from the risk of harm. This is a repeated failure. Staff are not effective in identifying risks in the environment and do not address them. This impacts on children's safety. For instance, when children are playing outdoors, staff have not undertaken a risk assessment to ensure that the area is safe, and to check that inappropriate objects have been thrown over from the public areas surrounding the garden. This puts children at risk of harm. The key-person system is not implemented effectively, and this continues to have a negative impact on children's learning and development. Staff do not have a secure understanding of children's next steps or how to plan meaningful learning experiences that help them progress. When a child's key person is absent, other staff are unable to identify what that child needs to learn next. As a result, children experience inconsistent support and gaps in their learning are not addressed. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not engage in some activities. Staff do not provide additional support or adapt these activities to engage all of the children. Staff identify that some children are delayed but do not take action to address this. There are no clear plans in place to support their development or remove barriers to their learning, and these children do not thrive. The ongoing failure to follow effective safer eating guidelines puts children at risk of choking. Poor staff deployment means children are not properly supervised during mealtimes, allowing them to walk around and climb while eating. This lack of vigilance compromises children's safety and represents a serious breach of the setting's duty of care. Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement Leaders do not have an effective oversight of the quality of the curriculum or how it is being delivered. Teaching practice is not monitored closely enough to ensure that staff consistently understand and implement planned learning intentions. This means that children do not always experience high-quality learning opportunities to build on previous knowledge and skills. The curriculum is not well planned or designed. Staff are not aware of the purpose of activities that they are doing with the children. For example, children join in with a painting activity and staff observe, but do not engage with children to build on their developing skills. The curriculum lacks ambition and is not well implemented. For example, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities spend the majority of their time wandering aimlessly around the room. They do not access a curriculum that is adapted for their stage of development. The majority of staff do not have an adequate understanding of child development. Staff do not use assessment to identify gaps in knowledge and skills to enable children to make progress. Statutory checks, such as the two-year progress checks are not implemented. As a result, delays in children's development are not identified and addressed swiftly. Inclusion Urgent improvement Robust procedures for identifying and supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not in place. Leaders do not ensure that all children who may need additional support are identified promptly. While some children have a learning plan in place this is not implemented. This leads to these children wandering without focus and making very little progress. Other children who have been identified as delayed and needing support do not have any additional support in place. These children do not receive the targeted support that they need to help them achieve. Some children who have experienced delays in their learning for a significant period of time have not received any intervention which increases their developmental delay. As a result of this poor practice, children with differing abilities do not receive the support they need. This limits their progress. Staff do not have a good understanding of how to support children with SEND, they do not have the appropriate training. Children's progress is not monitored effectively, interventions are not completed and support strategies are not employed effectively. Leaders do ensure that all children who are eligible for EYPP receive this funding. They plan how to use this funding to support each child's individual needs. Leadership and governance Urgent improvement The leader does not have the capacity to improve the setting. Leaders do not have effective oversight of the setting. They have identified some areas for improvement; but these do not reflect the seriousness of the breaches. There have been repeated breaches highlighted in the 3 welfare requirements notices issued over the past month. As a result, any actions taken by leaders are insufficient and significant risks to children remain unaddressed. The arrangements for staff supervision are not implemented; staff are not equipped with the knowledge and skills that they need to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. In addition, the quality of practice is not monitored closely enough to create improvement. Subsequently, there are significant weaknesses in the quality of care and education that children receive. Although relationships with parents are friendly, partnership working with parents is ineffective. Parents do not all know who their child's key person is or what they are learning while they are in the setting. Information about children is not always shared with their parents, this does not promote their welfare or learning. Compulsory Childcare Register requirements This setting has not met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met Voluntary Childcare Register requirements This setting has not met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met What it's like to be a child at this setting Children's safety and welfare are not fully assured at this setting. Leaders do not undertake full suitability checks of all staff and references are not assured. Furthermore, children's welfare is compromised by poor staff deployment which leaves children at risk of choking during lunch and snack times. Inadequate risk assessment throughout the setting compromises children's safety. This results in a chaotic environment for most children as they are unable to find resources amongst objects strewn across the floor. Children do not receive a broad, ambitious curriculum because leaders lack effective oversight of its quality. Much of the learning in the older age rooms is incidental, meaning children do not develop the skills they need for the next stage of their education. For example, during story time, some children are unable to sustain attention and begin to disrupt others around them. Typically, children gravitate towards familiar activities but engage only superficially, as staff do not extend their learning. Staff do not have the training required to plan or deliver a high-quality curriculum with purposeful, high-level interactions. As a result, children engage in activities that lack clear intention or learning value. For instance, they play hide-and-seek around a sensory tent, rather than engage in experiences that build on their knowledge and skills in a structured way. Children's individual needs are not identified early or met consistently as the key-person system is ineffective. As a result, children do not receive timely support from external agencies, and some children do not get the help they need to reduce barriers to learning. This leads to widening developmental delays. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are particularly disadvantaged, as the curriculum does not reflect their individual needs and necessary adaptations are not made. They do not always receive the targeted support required to help them thrive and are placed at a significant disadvantage. In addition, parents are not always informed about what their child is learning, which limits their ability to continue learning at home and further slows children's progress. Next steps The provider is not meeting the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register and Ofsted intends to take enforcement action. We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to have taken the following actions by the assigned date: Action Completion Date ensure that concerns about children's development are discussed with parents at the earliest opportunity and additional support sought 28/05/2026 implement effective procedures to identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities early and ensure they receive appropriate, targeted support 28/05/2026 complete robust and diligent pre-recruitment checks to ensure that staff suitability is assured 28/05/2026 Action Completion Date ensure that all staff references are checked for accuracy and validity 28/05/2026 implement robust procedures for monitoring staff practice 28/05/2026 implement effective risk assessments that inform staff practice 28/05/2026 implement a robust key-person system that helps to meet children's individual needs and next steps 28/05/2026 implement robust procedures for safer eating to help prevent the risk of choking 28/05/2026 ensure staff are deployed effectively at mealtimes to ensure children's safety 28/05/2026 implement secure partnerships with parents to provide consistency and continuity in children's care and learning 28/05/2026 To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date: Action Completion Date ensure a 2-year-old progress check is completed for all children 28/05/2026 plan and implement a broad and ambitious curriculum for all children 28/05/2026 About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, parents and children during the inspection. We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage. We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information Inspectors: Sue Heathcote Kayte Farrell About this setting Unique reference number (URN): EY459369 Address: Total Fitness Ltd Northern Perimeter Road BOOTLE Merseyside L30 7PT Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 14/02/2013 Registered person: K8Z Cheeky Monkeyz Limited Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 18:00 Local authority: Sefton Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 14 May 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection about this. A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this inspection. 0 to 4 Total number of places 80 Our grades explained Exceptional Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it. Strong standard The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them. Expected standard The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them. Needs attention The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements. Urgent improvement The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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