URN 2652521 · Inspected 2026-01-14 · Published 2026-03-04 · Inspector: Nicole Atkinson
Sticky Fingers Worthing Limited Unique reference number (URN): 2652521 Address: Sticky Fingers Nursery, Unit 1 67 Victoria Road, Worthing, BN11 1UN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 21/09/2021 Registers: EYR, CCR Registered person: Sticky Fingers Worthing Limited Inspection report: 14 January 2026 Exceptional Strong standard Expected standard Needs attention Urgent improvement Safeguarding standards met The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe. 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. Needs attention Achievement Needs attention Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning and/or wellbeing, make some progress from their starting points. They begin to gain some of the skills they will need for their eventual move on to school, such as independently using the toilet and using cutlery at mealtimes. However, children are not achieving as quickly as they could because staff do not always have the right expectations for their learning and development. For example, babies and children of all ages are provided with similar activities with no variation for their age and stage of development. This leads to some children becoming disengaged and wandering from one activity to another without staff considering how to help them engage. This does not support children to build on what they already know and can do. Children enjoy joining in with familiar songs and games and develop the use of a widening range of words. Most older children are developing in confidence and gradually learning to express their ideas and communicate their wants and needs more clearly. Babies enjoy staff singing to them and develop their knowledge of language, rhythm and rhyme. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention Children enjoy being part of the setting and playing with their friends. Babies are content and move around the room with confidence. However, the interactions with staff do not consistently engage babies to explore and build on their natural curiosity. Children talk confidently about their experiences, take turns and share resources. However, sometimes, including during transition times, children become restless. This is while waiting for activities to be prepared, waiting for lunch and when they lose interest in what they are playing with. As a result, children become disengaged and, at times, disruptive. This impacts other children's enjoyment and play. During these times, staff do not always apply expectations consistently. This means that some instances of unwanted behaviour go unchallenged. This does not help children to consistently understand how to behave well or to develop positive attitudes towards their learning. Leaders promote the importance of regular attendance and understand how attending regularly benefits each child's developmental progress. They have clear attendance procedures in place, which they share with families and provide flexibility to accommodate families' different circumstances. Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention The key-person approach is not fully effective in practice. Although staff develop secure and positive relationships with children, they do not actually understand and fulfil the entirety of the key-person role. For instance, staff do not fully tailor the curriculum to meet children's individual needs and promote their welfare. Furthermore, leaders do not consistently support parents to know who their child's key person is, especially when there are changes to staff. Leaders and staff have created a calm environment, where children form positive relationships with staff and their friends and start to develop an understanding about how to manage their emotions. Older children understand daily routines and know what is expected of them, such as to wash their hands before mealtimes and help tidy up. However, at times, staff do not support younger children to understand good hygiene practices within the routine. For instance, when children drink from other children's drinks, staff do not address this. Children are supported to learn about being active and healthy. For example, they excitedly take part in regular music and movement sessions. They are offered healthy snacks and meals, and leaders work in partnership with parents to encourage healthy lunch box options. Staff sit with children at mealtimes and talk to children about the food they eat and how it promotes their good health. Babies are comforted sensitively, and staff notice when children need reassurance or a quieter space to settle. Leaders have improved the nappy changing procedures to ensure they are clean and hygienic and provide children with privacy. Staff meet children's individual care needs well. For instance, when staff change nappies, they ask the children if they can do this and guide them gently to the bathroom to offer privacy and dignity. This helps them to feel settled and secure in the setting. Curriculum and teaching Needs attention The curriculum is not ambitious enough. The design and delivery of the curriculum, alongside continual changes to staffing, mean that children's learning and development are not consistently supported. This includes for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those that face barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. Leaders have not ensured that staff have a clear understanding of the curriculum. Planning is not well targeted, and some staff are unsure of how to support children's learning and development effectively. Consequently, the teaching is variable and lacks consistency to support the children to learn as they play. Some staff use opportunities as they arise during play to build on children's mathematical skills. For example, they encourage children to count in sequence during activities, support them to recognise colours and shapes, and to learn some mathematical language. Staff support children's language skills while providing explanations as children play. Children happily engage in conversations during adult-led activities and when enjoying stories. Staff offer children a range of activities to ensure they can play and have fun. They provide children with opportunities to develop their physical skills. For instance, children show developing hand–eye coordination as they use various tools when playing with play dough and other sensory materials. Inclusion Needs attention Leaders make informed decisions on the use of additional funding, ensuring that support is purposeful. They work in partnership with, and respond to recommendations from, external professionals. However, leaders do not always share these with staff, which does not support children to make continual progress. Leaders and staff have not accessed training to help them effectively support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. While leaders recognise the importance of identifying and responding to barriers to children's learning and/or wellbeing, the consistency of this work is still developing. All children are welcomed into this inclusive environment. Leaders and staff gather information from parents about their children as part of their induction. However, they do not use this information effectively enough to plan and implement support that meets each individual child's needs. Leaders and staff do not have a deep enough understanding of how different approaches are needed to reduce barriers that children may face in relation to their learning and/or wellbeing. For example, they have introduced some speech and language activities to support children's speech development, but this does not go far enough to meet individual needs. Leadership and governance Needs attention Leaders do not have an effective oversight of the curriculum, and there is little monitoring of the quality of teaching in the setting. They do not ensure that children's development and next steps in learning are shared with parents. This has led to inconsistent progress in children's development. Leaders recognise that improvements are needed to meet the learning and development needs of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those that face other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing, at all times. Leaders have acted on previous actions set by Ofsted and made improvements within the setting. They have updated their safeguarding policies and procedures so they are in line with local safeguarding partnership procedures. They have improved procedures for how they check staff's ongoing suitability to ensure that all those working with children remain suitable to do so. Leaders and staff have recently completed safeguarding training, which has supported them to improve their safeguarding knowledge and understanding, including procedures to follow if there are concerns about children or staff. They have improved nappy changing procedures and ensured that all staff are aware of and adhere to the new procedures. Leaders have improved the procedures for staff supervision, with all staff having regular supervision and support. Staff report that they feel supported and have recently had a supervision meeting, where they engaged in conversations about their workload and wellbeing. Leaders support staff to have access to training. However, they do not always identify specific training that staff need to support them to develop their practice and understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Compulsory Childcare Register requirements This setting has 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 Children enter the nursery happily. They settle quickly and enjoy playing with their friends. They have positive relationships with staff and approach them when they need reassurance, comfort and cuddles, which are regularly offered. Babies are reassured by staff's close contact as they play and settle to sleep. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Leaders broadly outline what they want children to learn. However, they struggle to articulate a clear and coherent curriculum that ensures progression for all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those that face barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. Staff, including those who are a key person, are uncertain of what children need to learn next and how they can support them. They plan activities, which children enjoy. However, at times, the content of what they are teaching is not pitched at an appropriate level for all children. This does not support children to make consistent progress. Leaders and staff provide daily feedback to parents when they collect their children. However, parents are not clear on who their child's key person is. Furthermore, children's progress and next steps are not always shared with parents. This does not consistently support children's wellbeing or development. Children behave well most of the time. Staff encourage children to use good manners. For instance, children say 'please' and 'thank you' as they ask staff for help when they need it. However, staff do not always address or manage children's behaviour well. For example, staff do not provide consistent support to help children understand how their behaviour impacts on their friends. Children develop their early communication and language skills through encouragement by staff to explore and take part in activities. For example, children and babies enjoy sitting in the cosy book areas together, where they relax as they listen to stories and talk about the pictures in the books. Furthermore, children enjoy playing with their friends as they care for and play with dolls. They have conversations about what they are doing as they pretend to be parents. Next steps 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 plan and deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum that is sequenced and understood by all staff so that teaching is consistent and builds on what children know and can do 13/02/2026 improve staff's knowledge and expertise in how to effectively support children's behaviour and provide effective daily routines so that all children understand what is expected of them 13/02/2026 improve the key-person system to ensure every child's care and learning are tailored to their needs and all staff are working effectively with parents and/or carers in this role 13/02/2026 improve leadership and governance to identify weaknesses in practice and ensure staff have sufficient training to enable them to support each individual child, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities 13/02/2026 About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator and parents 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. Inspector: Nicole Atkinson About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2652521 Address: Sticky Fingers Nursery Unit 1 67 Victoria Road Worthing BN11 1UN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 21/09/2021 Registered person: Sticky Fingers Worthing Limited Register(s): EYR, CCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 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 14 January 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 1 to 4 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. Total number of places 36 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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