Bright Starts Day Nursery

Bright Starts Day Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): 2767136
Address: 39, Chichester Road, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 2XH
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 09/02/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Bright Starts Day Nursery Ltd
Inspection report: 23 March 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Needs attention
Safeguarding standards not met
Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture of safeguarding that
adequately protects children from harm. Leaders do not demonstrate sufficient urgency of
which to report safeguarding concerns about the unsafe practice of staff. As a result, they
have not followed the compulsory procedures to report allegations, which compromises the
safety of children. Furthermore, leaders have failed to provide adequate support, training
and monitoring of staff's safeguarding knowledge to ensure that safeguarding is robust. This
leads to staff lacking confidence to follow whistleblowing procedures. This poses a barrier
for staff reporting concerns.
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 Needs attention
The weaknesses in staff's practice and the delivery of the curriculum negatively impact
children's achievements, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities
and those who face other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. For example, on occasion,
when children move through to other rooms of the nursery, they do not experience nurturing
support and care from some staff to help them settle. This does not support children's
personal, social and emotional development well enough, which impacts their readiness to
learn.
Children do not consistently secure new learning over time. Their learning is not consistently
built on for them to deepen their knowledge and practise the skills they have learned.
Children are able to take part in some activities which they enjoy, such as mark making.
They are keen to share what they have drawn with staff. Children engage in circle time,
where they enjoy joining in with singing familiar songs. They learn about number names and
what numbers look like when written as digits. At these times, children learn some important
concepts.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention
Leaders' and staff's practice in supporting children's behaviour is inconsistent. At times, this
does not help children's understanding of the rules and boundaries of the setting. Several
children are distressed, disengaged and not having their needs met consistently well. As a

result, where teaching is less effective, some children do not behave well and throw toys.
Other children climb on furniture and are not swiftly redirected or moved to a place of safety.
While some staff support children to recognise how they are feeling and to learn right from
wrong, other staff do not have the confidence to support children's behaviour. Therefore, on
occasion, some staff ignore behaviours, which at times escalates children's negative
feelings.
Leaders ensure that they know the reason for all children's absence. Information about
children's absence is passed from staff to leaders without delay. Staff put in place a
supportive routine which helps children to have an understanding of what will happen next.
Children respond well to this routine. For example, they go over to the mat ready for group
time. Children form good relationships with each other and enjoy playing games together.
They also seek out familiar staff to share their experiences with.
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Leaders do not provide staff with enough support and guidance to help them provide
effective teaching and learning for all children. This leads to inconsistencies in staff's skills
and knowledge, resulting in occasions where the curriculum is not delivered well enough.
Children's social and emotional needs are not consistently met. This results in some children
not engaging in learning activities and therefore not achieving as well as they could. While
staff offer positive interactions that support and encourage children to play and learn, this is
not the case for all children. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or
others who face barriers to their learning, who are settling into their new rooms do not
benefit fully from this.
Leaders plan a varied curriculum that focuses on supporting children's communication and
language skills and independence. Where teaching is effective, children benefit particularly
through activities that support speaking and listening. Some children benefit from and
engage in activities that follow their interests, and are supported well by staff to take part in
these. For example, children engage in construction activities, where they take turns and
socialise well together. Leaders understand where elements of the curriculum and teaching
are not yet secure. However, their actions to correct these are in their infancy and it is too
soon to see the impact.
Inclusion Needs attention
While leaders have invested in training for staff to develop their confidence to support
children's individual needs, this does not have the intended impact for children with barriers
to their learning. Inconsistencies in staff's practice, skills and knowledge have a negative
impact on children. As a result, some staff do not have the skills to provide the right support
for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those with barriers to their
learning well enough. At times, this means that some children do not overcome obstacles to
their development as well as they could.
Staff have individual learning plans in place to help close any gaps that children may have in
their learning and development. Nevertheless, this is not beneficial for children who are not
yet emotionally secure. Staff do not act swiftly enough to make changes and adaptations to

Urgent improvement
their teaching and the learning environment to help meet children's individual needs as well
as they could. Therefore, some children face delays in the support they receive.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement
Leaders' arrangements for the key-person system are ineffective. Poorly thought-through
changes to key persons do not help children well enough to transition through the setting.
Some children in the babies' and toddlers' room wander around the room distressed and
crying. Staff try to soothe them; however, there are times where children are left crying with
no support. While children's key persons are present, staff do not effectively meet children's
emotional needs. Children do not develop warm and trusting bonds with their key person,
which impacts on their feelings of safety and security.
Leaders fail to ensure that staff follow safer eating practices. Some of the youngest children
are not fully supported during mealtimes as staff walk away from the table when children are
sitting eating. This means that these children are not adequately supervised when eating.
Meanwhile, older children are supported well during mealtimes. This inconsistent practice
highlights that safer eating practices are not fully known and followed by all staff, which
places some children at risk during mealtimes.
Fire safety standards are not met. Leaders do not have sufficient oversight of what must be
in place to ensure children's and staff's safety while in the setting. For example, leaders are
not aware of outcomes of their fire safety reports and have not identified that fire
extinguishers are out of date. Risk assessments across the setting are poor. Leaders and
staff do not take appropriate action to remove or reduce risks in the environment. There
have been 2 incidents of rat and mice infestation that leaders have not taken sufficient
action to resolve, and have not notified Ofsted of either incident. Staff have not followed
procedures to store medication in a secure area away from children. For instance, staff and
leaders do not effectively risk assess the environment to ensure items such as medication
are stored appropriately. This demonstrates staff's lack of knowledge about keeping children
safe. Leaders' risk assessments are not fit for purpose, which compromises children's
safety.
Leadership and governance Urgent improvement
Leaders have not ensured that they have robust oversight of the setting. There are several
breaches of statutory safeguarding and welfare requirements. The lack of oversight has
resulted in many inconsistencies, including arrangements for safeguarding children,
maintaining health and safety standards, supporting children's behaviour and implementing
an effective curriculum. All of these have a negative impact on children's safety and their
ability to thrive.
Leaders have not consistently shared information with parents, carers and other
professionals as appropriate to ensure all children's needs can be met. For example, when
children have been involved in accidents or incidents these are not always shared. This,

along with failing to notify Ofsted of notifiable events, highlights concerns around leaders'
integrity.
Leaders have already identified areas of improvement within the curriculum, teaching and
supporting children's behaviour. However, they have not upskilled their staff through
coaching and mentoring to improve those areas identified, and therefore this is not having a
positive impact on the achievements children can make.
Staff feel supported by leaders and have attended regular training, including first aid, to
keep their qualifications and skills up to date. They can ask for help when required and feel
their workload is usually manageable.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are not cared for in a safe and secure environment. Significant weaknesses in
leadership and governance impact the quality of provision that children receive. Leaders do
not have sufficient oversight to ensure all of the early years foundation stage requirements
are met. There are several health and safety breaches, meaning that children's safety and
welfare are not assured. For example, leaders fail to properly address pest control
measures, fire safety standards and general risk assessments of the premises. Leaders and
staff do not fully understand what constitutes a potential risk and, therefore, do not identify
or remove hazards to ensure children's safety. For instance, children have access to adult
medication, which is kept in the playroom. Children are left unsupervised while eating. Bins
are broken and left in the playroom. Fire extinguishers are out of date. There have been
several significant events that should have been notified to Ofsted; however, the provider
has not done so, which is a requirement of their registration.
Children's safety is compromised by a weak safeguarding culture. Leaders do not take
appropriate action when allegations are made against staff members. They do not report
safeguarding concerns in a timely manner. Staff lack understanding of the setting's
whistleblowing procedures. Children do not build warm relationships with their key person.
While some children engage well and are happy, others are distressed, disengaged and do
not have a trusting bond with their key person. This directly impacts children's ability to feel
safe and secure and be in the right place to learn.
Children's behaviour is not consistently supported well enough by staff. This means that, at
times, children's understanding of the rules and boundaries of how to behave sensibly is
limited. Some weaknesses in the delivery of the curriculum have a negative impact on
children. This does not ensure that all children, particularly those who face barriers to their

learning, achieve as well as they could. At times, children's needs are not sufficiently met
due to leaders lack of proactive information-sharing with parents and other professionals.
Some children enjoy spending time playing indoors and outdoors. They have flexibility to
choose where they play, enabling them to engage well during some activities. Children show
an interest in playing together in the nursery's role-play mud kitchen. Others take part in
circle times, where they sing familiar songs. Children show a keen interest in practising their
balance as they navigate balance beams, showing perseverance.
Next steps
The provider is not meeting the requirements of the Early years foundation stage 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 safeguarding concerns raised are acted on and
reported to external professionals in line with local
safeguarding partnership (LSP), with particular regard
to managing allegations against staff members
07/05/2026
ensure all staff have a robust knowledge of what action
they must take in the event of a safeguarding concern,
in line with the setting's safeguarding policies and
procedures, with particular regard to whistleblowing
07/05/2026
ensure staff medication is securely stored, and out of
reach of children, at all times
07/05/2026
ensure a consistent and effective key-person system is
implemented for all children to enable them to feel safe,
secure and settled
07/05/2026
ensure babies and children are supervised effectively
while eating
07/05/2026
improve staff's knowledge, understanding and
implementation of supporting children's behaviour so
that children's emotional wellbeing is fully supported
07/05/2026
ensure appropriate fire detection and control
equipment, such as fire extinguishers, is available and
in working order
07/05/2026

Inspectors:
Emma Dean
Hayley Doncom
About this setting
Action Completion Date
ensure risk assessments are fit for purpose and
understood by leaders and staff, including being able to
identify aspects of the environment that need to be
checked and how risks will be removed or minimised to
ensure the environment is safe for children
07/05/2026
leaders must share relevant information with parents,
carers and other professionals as appropriate to ensure
all children's needs can be met
07/05/2026
To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the
following action by the assigned date:
Action Completion Date
leaders should review the support that is in place for all
children, particularly those with special educational
needs and/or disabilities or those who face barriers to
their learning, so that they have the right support at the
right time to improve their outcomes
05/06/2026
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, staff 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.
The inspection started on 23 March 2026. Inspectors returned on 23 April 2026 to gather
additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and
gathering additional evidence policy.

Unique reference number (URN): 2767136
Address:
39
Chichester Road
Bognor Regis
West Sussex
PO21 2XH
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 09/02/2024
Registered person: Bright Starts Day Nursery Ltd
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Local authority: West Sussex
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 23 March 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
1 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.
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