Clermiston Primary School Nursery Day Care of Children
18 Parkgrove Place Edinburgh EH4 7NP
Telephone: 0131 336 3361
Type of inspection: Unannounced
Completed on: 30 April 2018
Service provided by: Service provider number: City of Edinburgh Council SP2003002576
Service no: CS2003017017 Inspection report
About the service
The Care Inspectorate regulates care services in Scotland. Information about all care services is available on our website at www.careinspectorate.com.
Clermiston Primary School Nursery is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 40 children aged between three years and primary school entry. Until 30 June 2018, the service may be provided to 55 children at any one time between three years and primary school entry of whom 15 children will be cared for from Lauriston Castle grounds, 2 Cramond Road South, Edinburgh, EH4 6AD.
The children cared for from Lauriston Castle grounds were taking part in the City of Edinburgh Council's Nursery Forest Kindergarten Pilot. As part of the inspection, we also visited Lauriston Castle grounds to observe the children's experiences.
The nursery is located in the North West area of Edinburgh and is located in a separate building within the grounds of Clermiston Primary School. The accommodation includes entrance foyer, main playroom with direct access to a fully enclosed garden area, toilets, kitchen area, office space and a parent's room.
The Care Inspectorate is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all children receiving a care service. We want to ensure they have the best start in life, are ready to succeed and live longer, healthier lives. We check services are meeting the principles of Getting it right for every child (also known as GIRFEC). Set up by Scottish Government, GIRFEC is a national approach to working in a consistent way with all children and young people. It is underpinned by the principles of prevention and early intervention. The approach helps services focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people - and what they can do to improve. GIRFEC is being woven into all policy, practice, strategy and legislation that affect children, young people and their families.
There are eight wellbeing indicators at the heart of Getting it right for every child. They are: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, and included. They are often referred to as the SHANARRI indicators. We use these indicators at inspection, to assess how services are making a positive difference for children.
Information on SHANARRI can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/ gettingitright
What people told us
We saw that children were confident in the nursery and were able to independently access their chosen play resources and activities including outdoor play. They approached staff for support when needed or to seek further resources. Some children talked to us about what they liked to do at nursery and proudly showed us around their nursery. They told us where to find the paper orf the painting easel and the routine to follow when you were having your snack. Some children told us about what they had to wear and take with them when they went to the Forest Kindergarten Pilot at Lauriston Castle.
We sent 20 care standards questionnaires to the service for them to give to parents to complete and four of these were returned to us. Those parents confirmed that they were happy with the quality of care that their child received in the service.
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We spoke to several parents during the inspection and they were complimentary about the service. Through our discussions and observations of the foyer, we saw that information was shared with parents on a regular basis to keep them up to date with what was happening in the nursery and upcoming events.
One comment we received from a parent in a questionnaire included:-
'Clermiston nursery is a place where my child can explore a very wide variety of experiences. The staff regularly change the activities available and have themes throughout the year to allow the children to play and learn different things'.
Self assessment
The service had not been asked to complete a self assessment in advance of the inspection. We looked at their improvement plan and quality assurance paperwork. These demonstrated their identified priorities orf development and how they were monitoring the quality of the provision within the service.
From this inspection we graded this service as:
Quality of care and support 5 - Very Good Quality of environment not assessed Quality of staffing not assessed Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good
What the service does well
The service provided children and their families with a welcoming, professional and caring environment. Staff were respectful and nurturing in their interaction with the children. They gave praise and encouragement to children during their play and their achievements were recognised. These strategies helped develop children's self esteem and confidence. taffS were aware of the child protection policy and were knowledgeable about how to help keep children safe including how to seek support from other agencies as appropriate.
Staff demonstrated that they knew children in their care well. This was achieved through regular communication and consultation with parents. Children were consulted routinely for their ideas and feedback and this was demonstrated through the floor books, responsive planning sheets and information displayed in the foyer. Online learning journals enabled staff to communicate information directly to parents about their child's learning and development progress. Planning outlined children's learning experiences planned for, outcomes expected and activities to be provided. Information was shared with parents through displays such as the 'Learning Journey', photographs and the nursery handbook. Where individual children had identified care and support needs, staff clearly knew how to support those children and were confident about any actions they may need to take. This information was recorded in a consistent way and this was reviewed with parents.
Children could choose from a variety of learning opportunities and resources both indoors and outdoors. Children were encouraged to be independent and to learn new life skills such as serving themselves at snack time. Children routinely had access to outdoor play and fresh air throughout the session. Changes had been made to the garden to provide planting areas, further literacy and numeracy opportunities. Further natural resources had been provided along with the development of 'Loose parts' play outdoors. This supported open ended play to develop children's curiosity, creativity and imaginative play. Some children also took part in the
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Forest Kindergarten Pilot based from the grounds of Lauriston Castle, where they enjoyed outdoor crafts, climbing and nature trails. These experiences helped children to learn to assess and manage hazards and challenges in a variety of environments.
Quality assurance processes helped the manager and staff team to assess and identify areas to support continuous improvement of the service and positive outcomes for children. Regular staff meetings, training opportunities, peer to peer reviews and the use of best practice documents further assisted with the evaluation of the nursery and practice. There had been recent changes to the staff team and we saw that staff worked well together to ensure the consistency and continuity of care for children attending. The manager and staff team were reflective of their practice and committed to the continued improvement of the service to support positive outcomes for children.
What the service could do better
Further systems were to be developed to demonstrate that all personal plan information for children was reviewed every six months in consultation with parents. This would help ensure that up to date information was in place and taken into account when planning for children's individual care needs.
Whilst there were no concerns about children's experiences of the Forest Kindergarten, the learning and evaluation from the pilot was to be used to inform future practice, procedures and risk assessment information. This was to include ensuring mobile phones and walkie talkies are always available to staff.
Requirements Number of requirements: 0
Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0
Complaints
There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com.
Inspection and grading history
Date Type Gradings 19 May 2015 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good
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Date Type Gradings Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good
29 May 2014 Announced Care and support 3 - Adequate Environment 4 - Good Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership 3 - Adequate
7 Nov 2011 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good Environment Not assessed Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership Not assessed
13 Oct 2009 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good
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To find out more
This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website.
Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough.
Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service.
You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com
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Other languages and formats
This report is available in other languages and formats on request.
Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas.
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