URN 2773017 · Inspected 2026-08-19 · Published 2026-09-24 · Inspector: Jenny Cowton
Hopscotch Nursery Unique reference number (URN): 2773017 Address: B H F Priory Centre, Pontefract Road, Barnsley, S71 5PN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 29/02/2024 Registers: EYR, CCR Registered person: Hopscotch Early Years Ltd Inspection report: 19 August 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. They do not know and understand their safeguarding referral policies and procedures for when they have concerns about a child. In addition, child absences are not followed up by leaders. Injuries that have occurred at home are not typically reviewed or recorded to enable leaders to review if children are at potential risk. Staff routinely use their personal mobile phones where children are present, and there are no risk assessments in place. These failings significantly compromise children's safety and wellbeing. 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 do not progress well from their starting points across all areas of learning. Some children make typical progress in the prime areas of learning. For example, children develop physical skills through daily outdoor activities. They ride bikes, climb, scoop mud and leaves and run around. However, children do not develop the skills and knowledge that build on previous learning. Staff are often unaware of children's individual next steps. This means there is insufficient support for children. They do not receive experiences that build on what they already know and can do to help them become confident learners. Children spend much of their time outside choosing their own activities and playing independently. This means opportunities for children to extend their learning and develop new skills are often overlooked. Gaps in learning, especially for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are not addressed promptly. This means that not all children make the progress they are capable of. This does not prepare children well enough for their future learning and their eventual move to school. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Urgent improvement Leaders lack a strategic approach to promoting regular attendance. Not all children benefit from regular attendance, which limits their opportunities to develop secure routines and positive attitudes to their learning. Leaders do not provide staff with support and guidance to promote positive behaviour and attitudes. The busy layout of the outdoor environment, where children spend most of their day, means staff often focus on the supervision of children and care routines rather than supporting children's engagement and learning behaviours. Children generally behave well and respond positively to staff. Most children develop positive relationships with staff and other children and appear settled during familiar routines. However, children do not always have opportunities to engage in purposeful play, sustain attention and persevere with activities. This limits their opportunities to develop positive attitudes to their learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not receive support that meets their individual needs. Although the setting has a designated sensory room, this is often used as a sleep room instead. This means children do not always benefit from access to a quiet and calm space when they need support to self-regulate their emotions. This limits their ability to engage fully in the experiences available. Children's welfare and wellbeing Urgent improvement Children's welfare and wellbeing are not prioritised by leaders. Children are not supervised effectively at all times, and poor staffing arrangements do not meet children's needs. For example, when children move inside during free-flow play, they are not always in sight and hearing of staff. This does not promote children's wellbeing or safety effectively and is a breach of requirements. Overall, children develop positive relationships with key staff. Babies receive reassurance and emotional support from familiar staff when needed. However, children do not receive care that consistently meets their individual needs. For instance, when key persons are absent, other staff do not have sufficient knowledge of children's individual needs to fully support them. This means children do not always experience the secure and responsive relationships they need to support their emotional wellbeing. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not receive consistent care that is sufficiently adapted to their individual needs. Children benefit from regular opportunities to develop their physical skills and learn about healthy lifestyles. Food provided by the setting is healthy and well balanced. Overall, when present, key persons implement effective sleeping and feeding routines and respond to children's individual preferences. Children receive support to develop independence through everyday routines. Staff encourage children to wash their hands before eating, feed themselves and pour their own drinks. Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement The quality of teaching is inconsistent, and children do not make the progress they are capable of. Leaders do not ensure that the curriculum is sequenced to build on what children already know and can do. Oversight of staff's interactions and quality of teaching is ineffective. Staff do not always understand the purpose of planned activities or how to support individual learning. Overall, staff know their key children's next steps. For example, children learn about capacity during water play, supporting mathematical development. However, weaknesses in the key-person system mean staff are not always aware of children's existing skills or next steps. The weak oversight by leaders has not ensured that those working with younger children when their familiar adult is absent have the knowledge and skills to support their next steps in learning. The quality of teaching is variable, and in some cases poor. Staff do not match their interactions closely enough to children's ages and stages of development. For instance, staff encourage younger children to write letters from their name when they cannot yet hold a pencil. Overall, children receive support to develop independence through everyday routines. They pour their own drinks and clear away their plates after eating. However, staff do not use all interactions to extend and support children's learning. They spend much of their time supervising children rather than engaging them in purposeful learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not receive teaching that is sufficiently adapted to meet their individual needs. Leaders do not ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to adapt interactions and teaching approaches to support children with SEND. This means children with SEND do not have the same opportunities to participate and make progress alongside their peers. Inclusion Urgent improvement Leaders fail to implement an effective system to identify, assess and meet the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pre-school children typically benefit from effective support from experienced staff who understand their individual needs. However, leaders have not ensured that those with responsibilities for SEND have time in rooms to identify younger children's needs promptly and to provide appropriate support for them. In addition, when key persons are absent, staff do not have sufficient knowledge of children's individual needs to provide appropriate support. These weaknesses and inconsistencies mean children with SEND do not receive the targeted support they need. Adaptations to reduce barriers to children's learning are ineffective. Staff request additional resources to support children with SEND. However, leaders do not respond to these requests promptly. This means children do not have the resources and adaptations they need to participate fully in learning and to make secure progress. Leaders fail to monitor any support that is put in place for children effectively or assess its impact on their progress. Leaders do not always follow up promptly on referrals and recommendations from external professionals. Leaders do not typically respond effectively to children facing barriers to their learning and wellbeing. For example, prolonged absences of children known or previously known to social care are not followed up. This does not ensure that children who are particularly vulnerable receive the appropriate support and safeguarding response they need. Leaders understand some challenges faced by local families and use additional funding appropriately. However, overall, systems to identify and address barriers to children's learning and wellbeing are ineffective. Leadership and governance Urgent improvement Leaders fail to identify significant weaknesses in the provision or take effective action to address them. This has resulted in a number of breaches to the requirements. Leaders lack oversight of practice and have ineffective systems to safeguard children and maintain accurate records. They do not ensure staffing and deployment arrangements meet children's needs or support their safety. This has resulted in children being out of sight and hearing of staff. In addition, leaders unsuccessfully monitor practice and the implementation of mobile phone policies and procedures. For example, staff use personal mobile phones where children are present. This places children at risk of harm. Leaders demonstrate a poor ability to act in children's best interests, particularly those who may be vulnerable. Leaders fail to follow up on prolonged absences of children known or previously known to social care, and they do not successfully keep records. These weaknesses put children at risk of harm. Staff's wellbeing is not appropriately supported, and their workload is unsustainable. Leaders are often not present, leaving staff with limited support and guidance. Although supervision sessions take place, they do not identify development needs effectively or provide constructive feedback. Leaders do not provide feedback following informal staff observations to raise the quality of teaching and interactions. Professional development is largely limited to mandatory training and does not address weaknesses in staff practice. Since the last inspection, leaders have made some improvements. For example, communication with parents has been strengthened to share children's learning and next steps. However, actions to address other areas of development have not been effective. Significant weaknesses remain in leadership oversight of staff and the support they offer. 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 What it's like to be a child at this setting Breaches to several of the early years foundation stage requirements significantly put children at risk of harm as staff do not have the knowledge and skills to undertake their roles and responsibilities effectively. Leaders have failed to address previous weaknesses and do not show the ability to sustain and meet requirements. Children's safety and welfare are compromised due to weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements. Leaders do not follow safeguarding procedures when concerns about a child are reported to them. In addition, they do not maintain accurate records or follow up on children's absences in line with safeguarding procedures. During the inspection, ineffective staff deployment resulted in children being out of sight and hearing of staff for a period of time. These breaches of the requirements place children at significant risk of harm. Children do not receive the individual support they need to feel secure and develop positive relationships. The key-person system is ineffective when staff are absent. For example, staff do not know children's individual needs, next steps or additional support they may need. This means children do not receive the care and quality learning experiences that build on what they already know and can do when their key person is absent. Children do not receive quality learning experiences that promote their interests from a well- trained and supported staff team to help them to achieve well. However, children do enjoy daily outdoor play, where they have a large space to run about and explore. They enjoy having picnics outside where staff read stories to them, supporting their language development. Children generally develop positive social skills. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not typically receive the timely support they need to enable them to make the progress they are capable of. Staff identify that some children may have additional needs, but due to the lack of support at the setting, action is not promptly taken. Arrangements for the early identification of SEND are not effective. Children with SEND do not typically have effective support plans in place to meet their individual needs. At times, this limits their participation in learning. 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 demonstrate how you intend to ensure that deployment of staff remains effective to that children are adequately supervised and kept within sight and hearing of staff at all times 04/09/2026 Action Completion Date demonstrate how you intend to ensure that leaders and staff understand and adhere to the safeguarding children policy, with specific regard to the use of mobile phones 04/09/2026 demonstrate how you intend to ensure that any concerns about children's safety or welfare are reported without delay in line with local safeguarding children reporting procedures 04/09/2026 demonstrate how you intend to ensure procedures are in place to maintain records relating to any concerns about children's safety or welfare and that these are shared with other professionals, as appropriate, to meet children's needs 04/09/2026 demonstrate a clear understanding of procedures to follow in relation to children's absences 04/09/2026 demonstrate how you intend to implement an effective key-person system to ensure all children's needs are consistently met, particularly in the absence of their key person 04/09/2026 demonstrate how you will implement systems for the early identification of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that children's needs are promptly identified and the appropriate targeted support is put in place 04/09/2026 demonstrate how you will ensure supervision arrangements are effectively implemented so that staff receive support, coaching and training that promotes the interests of children and staff's continuous improvement 04/09/2026 provide staff with appropriate training and professional development opportunities to ensure they can meet children's needs and offer quality learning experiences for children 04/09/2026 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 Inspector: Jenny Cowton About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2773017 Address: B H F Priory Centre Pontefract Road Barnsley S71 5PN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 29/02/2024 Registered person: Hopscotch Early Years Ltd Action Completion Date strengthen the curriculum delivery to ensure all children achieve well in all areas of learning to prepare them for their next stage of learning 01/10/2026 About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, parents and the special educational needs 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 19 August 2026. It was paused in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. The inspector returned on 21 August 2026 to complete the inspection. Register(s): EYR, CCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00 Local authority: Barnsley Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 19 August 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 60 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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