Wishaw Family Learning Centre Day Care of Children
Greenside Road Greenhead Wishaw ML2 8DF
Telephone: 01698 522708
Type of inspection: Unannounced
Completed on: 4 December 2018
Service provided by: Service provider number: North Lanarkshire Council SP2003000237
Service no: CS2003015411 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.
The service was previously registered with the Care Commission and transferred its registration to the Care Inspectorate on 1 April 2011.
Wishaw Family Learning Centre is provided by North Lanarkshire Council and is based in the town of Wishaw. The service is provided from a purpose built single storey property. The premises have spacious playrooms which are very well resourced and children have direct access to well-established outdoor spaces. There are appropriate changing and toilet facilities for children and the premises also benefits from office space and meeting ooms.r
The service is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 55 children aged from two years to those not yet attending primary school, of whom no more than 15 are under three years.
The service's aims are clearly shared with parents/carers and visitors. Their aims confirm their commitment to: "Provide a safe, nurturing and inclusive learning environment."
The Care Inspectorate is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all children receiving a care service. We want to ensure that 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 (GIRFEC), Scotland's national approach to improving outcomes and wellbeing for children by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It supports them and their parent(s) to work with services that can help them. There are eight wellbeing indicators at the heart of GIRFEC: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, and included, also known as the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators.
We compiled this report following an unannounced inspection which took place on Tuesday, 04 December 2018. We gave feedback to the depute head at the end of the inspection. This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
During the inspection we spoke with many of the children, parents/carers, staff and management team.
We asked the service to distribute 18 care standards questionnaires to parents/carers on our behalf. Seven were completed and returned to us prior to the inspection taking place. We also received four completed questionnaires from staff.
We assessed the quality of care and support and how self-evaluation was used to support improvements at this inspection.
What people told us
Children attending on the day of inspection were observed as happy, busy and engaged.
Positive, nurturing relationships had developed between staff and the children as well as with the children themselves. We found the whole staff team were very kind and caring with respectful approaches observed.
We spoke with a group of seven parents/carers during our visit.
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They shared specific examples of the personal support they had eceivedr from management and staff. They felt fully involved in the life of the centre and told us about the positive impact of participating in the centres programmes/initiatives on their family life. The group were very confident in the care provided by "very supportive" and "knowledgeable" staff.
Parents/carers who completed the care standards questionnaires strongly agreed/agreed with all statements. These related to the quality of care and support, environment, staffing and management and leadership.
Their comments included:
"The staff are very friendly and helpful. My four children have attended the nursery. I would highly recommend it to anyone."
"I don't have anything negative to say about the nursery at all. My child attended for three years and has loved every minute of it. The staff are always approachable and supportive. The manager has also made a huge difference as she always makes time for parents and children and my child adores her. My child's key worker really helped, by consistently supporting them through potty training and also developing their language skills. I just love that my child is excited every morning about going to nursery and has been encouraged to develop many friendships that I am sure they will continue through their life. I would recommend this nursery to anyone. It's also an amazing nursery for working families who need to use extra hours."
Self assessment
The service had not been asked to complete a self-assessment in advance of the inspection. We discussed their own improvement plans and quality assurance procedures to determine their priorities for development and how they were monitoring the quality of provision in the service.
From this inspection we graded this service as:
Quality of care and support 6 - Excellent Quality of environment not assessed Quality of staffing not assessed Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good
What the service does well
Children received a very high quality of care and support in this service. Management and staff had created a very positive, inclusive, nurturing ethos with children and families placed at the heart of everything they do.
We observed children who were having fun, engaged in a range of play experiences inside and outdoors and making choices about their own learning. This included: making up paint, imaginative play in hairdressers and making Santa's sleigh. The younger children were very creative when painting and exploring the story/song box.
Devoted and caring staff valued and respected children and families and knew them extremely well. Meaningful and trusting relationships had been established with parents/carers.
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Children's wellbeing was supported through the effective use of their personal plan and little learning story, which was personalised to meet their individual needs. Where children required additional support, staff worked effectively with partner agencies. This ensured children benefited from the right support at the right time to achieve their potential.
Staff used highly effective ways, to involve parents/carers in their child's care and keep them informed of their child's learning and progress. This was further supported by high quality opportunities, to help parents/carers support and extend their children's learning at home.
Staff demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the policies and procedures in place to ensure care and welfare of children including child protection. All staff received regular professional learning in safeguarding and told us they were confident in dealing with child protection concerns.
The manager provided strong leadership and was a very positive role model for staff. She was hard working and focused with a clear vision of the future of the centre. She was extremely well respected by staff and they reported feeling supported personally and professionally.
Management leadership skills had impacted particularly well on fostering the ability of staff as reflective practitioners. As a team, they reflect very well together and used these eflectionsr to bring about positive change to children and families.
The staff team confidently shared with us examples of how their training, reflective practice and opportunities to take forward meaningful initiatives, supported positive outcomes for children and families. These practices assisted them to plan high quality experiences with strong connections between the needs, interests and abilities of individual children. These approaches ensured children had opportunities to build relationships, develop social skills, confidence and self-esteem through a balance of organised and freely chosen play experiences.
The service provided children and parents/carers with very good opportunities to provide feedback on the centre. Throughout our visit staff were responsive to children's ideas and suggestions and we could see from consultations how their views had influenced how they spend their time at centre.
What the service could do better
There were no significant areas for improvement identified during this inspection visit. Through our discussions with the depute head, we feel management and staff are well placed to make further progress on the areas they had identified in their improvement plan.
Requirements Number of requirements: 0
Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0
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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 29 Sep 2016 Unannounced Care and support 6 - Excellent Environment 5 - Very good Staffing Not assessed Management and leadership Not assessed
4 Aug 2014 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - Good
6 Sep 2012 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good
25 Nov 2010 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing Not assessed Management and leadership Not assessed
12 Feb 2009 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 4 - Good Staffing 4 - Good Management and leadership 4 - 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
Contact us
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0345 600 9527
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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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