URN 2832033 · Inspected 2026-01-15 · Published 2026-04-13 · Inspector: Jemma Honey Alanda Phillips
Kingwood Children @ Muddifords Court Unique reference number (URN): 2832033 Address: Muddifords Court, Willand, Cullompton, EX15 2QG Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 22/01/2025 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Kingwood Children Ltd Inspection report: 15 January 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 around safeguarding. This puts children at significant risk of harm. Leaders do not manage safeguarding concerns in relation to allegations adequately. They do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding about what an allegation is. This means that leaders fail to recognise a concern as an allegation and subsequently do not follow their own safeguarding policy. Leaders fail to discuss all allegations with the local authority designated officer. This means they do not work effectively with other agencies or take appropriate action in line with local safeguarding procedures to ensure children's safety and welfare. 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 Children are not all sufficiently prepared for their next stage of learning. Some children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not make sufficient progress from their starting points. Children do not all benefit from suitable adaptations to enhance their attitude to learning or ensure their readiness for school. Babies make progress in their listening and attention skills. They watch staff in awe as they sing songs to them. Babies clap along and begin to formulate some words. Toddlers improve their speaking skills and engage in back-and-forth exchanges with staff. They listen and repeat words back to staff. This strengthens and builds on toddlers' vocabulary. Some pre-school- age children develop a broader understanding of their own feelings and how to regulate their emotions. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention At times, staff do not encourage older children to focus, and they disengage from activities. These children are not consistently supported to develop positive attitudes to their learning or understand the expectations of the setting. Typically, behaviour is managed effectively and consistently across the setting. Staff help toddlers to overcome frustrations positively. They remind children about being respectful to one another and to use their good manners. Children show they understand and generally play cooperatively with each other. Older children have positive relationships with each other. They smile and wave at each other from across the table while they eat snack. Staff are kind and act as positive role models. Leaders and staff monitor all children's attendance and punctuality, so they are alert to any patterns of irregular attendance. They follow procedures to contact families if children do not attend as planned and support children to establish routines to prepare them for future learning. Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention Some staff have insufficient knowledge about the children they are caring for. This negatively impacts on children's attachments. Staff are not consistently responsive to all children's needs, including those who face barriers to their learning needs. This lessens some children's sense of belonging. Children are sometimes unsettled on arrival and do not show that they feel secure. Staff take into account the member of staff that babies have bonded with the most when allocating individual key persons. This supports babies' attachments to staff and strengthens their wellbeing. Staff are beginning to support all children how to manage and express their feelings. They look at visual representations of emotions together. Staff share these with some parents so they can continue this learning at home. Staff teach children about how to keep themselves safe when outdoors exploring the grounds. They remind children about the rules, such as sitting on an allocated tree stump and not going too close to the fire. Children know this routine and remind their friends of the rules regularly. Children learn about good hygiene and know to wash their hands with soap before they eat. Staff support all children to make healthy food choices, and all children enjoy daily fresh air. Curriculum and teaching Needs attention Leaders are aware that the curriculum is not ambitious for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The standard of teaching is variable. The curriculum is not well designed to ensure all children are engaged and motivated to learn. At times, staff interaction with pre-school-age children is limited. Staff do not consistently seize opportunities to extend children's learning or adapt their interactions to meet children's needs, particularly those with SEND. Pre-school-age children become bored and wander off. There is a sequenced communication and language curriculum in place for babies. Leaders ensure that babies have the opportunity to develop their early speaking skills and expand their vocabulary. Staff sing songs to expose babies to new language, rhythm and rhyme. Babies join in and babble. Staff talk about numbers and count with toddlers. Toddlers listen and begin to refer to numbers in their play. Staff prioritise children's physical, personal, social and emotional development. Older children play running games and develop their spatial awareness and coordination. Staff encourage older children to persevere and achieve tasks, such as putting on and taking off their shoes. Inclusion Needs attention Leaders identify children that may require additional support; however, the implementation of this support is inconsistent. Leaders do not have sufficient oversight to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are monitored and receive targeted support. Urgent improvement Although leaders have begun to improve systems to monitor and support all children, these are not currently effective. Leaders do not ensure information about what some children require is available or shared between staff working directly with these children. This means staff do not know all children's individual needs or provide appropriate adaptations. For example, staff do not consistently use the intended visual aids, which limits some children's communication. Leaders do not ensure all staff have the knowledge and skills required to adequately support children with SEND, although they are taking steps to address this. Additional funding is used to provide resources for children. However, leaders and staff do not all know the difference this funding makes to children and therefore do not target gaps in children's learning effectively. Leaders and staff are beginning to engage more with all parents and external professionals to further support children's learning. Leadership and governance Urgent improvement Leaders have not ensured that staff have the safeguarding knowledge they need. There have been significant changes to staffing within the last year, which has created inconsistencies in practice and the day-to-day running of the setting. Since the last inspection, leaders have supported staff to implement consistent strategies that build on children's understanding of behaviour expectations. However, action to sustain improvement has been ineffective. Leaders have some understanding of the setting's strengths but do not independently identify or improve areas of weaknesses. Similar themes of poor practice are repeated and demonstrate that leaders do not act in the best interests of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Following a regulatory visit an enforcement notice was served. This was monitored at an inspection. Leaders have improved staffing arrangements to meet the needs of babies, improved safer eating practices and improved procedures to promote staff wellbeing and develop their personal effectiveness. However, the quality and impact of professional development is yet to be embedded. Leaders do not deliver sufficient training to all staff to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to offer all children high-quality teaching and learning. This was identified as a weakness at the last inspection. Leaders do not ensure all children, including those with SEND, are monitored and receive targeted support so they can make the best possible progress. Leaders do not keep a written record of all complaints and their outcome. Some parents state that they do not feel heard or that their concerns are fully acknowledged, investigated or taken seriously. 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 Leaders do not follow their safeguarding policies or procedures to ensure children's safety. They do not manage allegations or complaints appropriately. Leaders do not comply with the requirement to refer allegations to relevant outside agencies. This compromises children's welfare. Leaders do not identify and address weaknesses in staff knowledge and practice. This means children continue to receive insufficient levels of care and education. Although children are happy, they do not make the progress they are capable of. Ineffective procedures mean that some children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those in receipt of additional funding, do not receive targeted support. Leaders and staff do not provide an ambitious curriculum to ensure all children are well prepared for their next stage of learning. Leaders are aware of the measures needed to improve practice and have taken some steps to put these in place. However, these are not embedded and do not yet have a positive impact on children's learning and development. Children develop a love of the outdoors and learn about respect, nurture and nature. They take part in unique activities, such as building campfires. Children discover how to care for all living things. Staff help children to consider the needs of others, including animals. All children spend time with small animals each week and feel included in these experiences. Staff role model how to be gentle when handling them. Children feel a sense of achievement when they help to care for the animals, and they look forward to these experiences. Babies enjoy positive relationships with staff. They go on daily walks around the grounds. Babies listen to the birds and smell the flowers. Staff encourage other children to carry out age-appropriate jobs, such as feeding chickens and collecting their eggs. Leaders and staff recognise this supports children to become responsible and independent, in line with the setting's core values. 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 improve leaders' knowledge and understanding of what an allegation is, and how to respond appropriately in line with their policy and local safeguarding procedures to ensure all children's safety 28/01/2026 maintain a written record of all complaints and their outcome to ensure any concerns are acknowledged and investigated 28/01/2026 improve procedures to ensure all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are monitored and receive targeted support so they can make the best possible progress 10/02/2026 provide staff training to ensure all staff consistently deliver high-quality learning and development experiences for all children 10/02/2026 Inspectors: Jemma Honey Alanda Phillips About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2832033 Address: Muddifords Court Willand Cullompton EX15 2QG Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 22/01/2025 To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must take the following action by the assigned date: Action Completion Date implement a broad and varied curriculum to promote all areas of children's learning 27/03/2026 About this inspection The inspectors spoke with leaders, practitioners and the special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator 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 about this. The inspection started on 15 January 2026. An inspector returned on 27 January 2026 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. Registered person: Kingwood Children Ltd Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00 Local authority: Devon Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 15 January 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 11 Total number of places 126 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. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. This publication is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Interested in our work? 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