Cockburnspath Nursery Day Care of Children
Cockburnspath Primary School Callander Place Cockburnspath TD13 5XY
Telephone: 01368 830 333
Type of inspection: Unannounced
Completed on: 11 June 2021
Service provided by: Service provider number: Scottish Borders Council SP2003001976
Service no: CS2015340684 Inspection report
About the service
Cockburnspath Nursery is an integrated part of Cockburnspath Primary School. The nursery is registered with the Care Inspectorate with the following conditions:
To provide a care service to a maximum of 20 children at any one time aged from three years to entry into primary school.
The manager of the service is also the manager of Coldstream Primary School Nursery and Coldingham Primary School Nursery.
The nursery is in the rural Scottish Borders village of Cockburnspath. The accommodation consists of a playroom with small kitchen, toilets and nappy changing facilities. The children have access to a dedicated nursery outdoor space and daily use of the school playground.
At the time of our visit the nursery was operating four and a half days per week to provide children with their funded places. Children attended nursery for a full day session and they used the school dining hall for meals.
Aims and objectives for the nursery had been developed and were clearly displayed throughout the premises. Aims included: 'Develop as a person to succeed High quality learning and teaching Achieve the very best we can be.'
This was a focussed inspection to evaluate how well children were being supported during the Covid-19 pandemic. We evaluated the service based on key areas that are vital to the support and wellbeing of children experiencing care during the pandemic. The inspection process was was carried out by two inspectors from the Care Inspectorate.
We check services are meeting the principles of Getting it Right for Every Child (also known as 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 the services that can help them. There are eight wellbeing indicators at the heart of Getting it Right for Every Child: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, and included.
Inspection report for Cockburnspath Nursery page 2 of 10 Inspection report
What people told us
We spoke with most of the children during our visit to the nursery. We observed that children were generally busy with their play and learning and having fun. They went very easily to staff for support, comfort or just to have a chat. Some children told us about their nursery and what they liked to do. These children said they liked coming to nursery because it was fun and they got to 'run about'.
We asked the nursery to issue an e-mail to parents on our behalf to help us gather their views and comments. Two parents using the nursery responded to our request. These parents spoke highly of the efforts of staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. One parent was very much looking forward to seeing what the environment in the playroom had to offer and getting the opportunity to talk in more depth about their child's learning.
From this inspection we evaluated this service as:
In evaluating quality, we use a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent
How good is our care and support during the 2 - Weak COVID-19 pandemic?
Further details on the particular areas inspected are provided at the end of this report.
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How good is our care and support during the 2 - Weak COVID-19 pandemic? Quality indicator 5.1: Children's health and wellbeing are supported and safeguarded during Covid-19. Staff in the nursery had created positive relationships with children and were skilled at providing a nurturing environment to support children's emotional wellbeing. The use of resources and puppets to help children talk about their feelings and fears had been used to good effect as had staff training on nurture principles and practice.
The staff working in the nursery had good relationships with parents which helped them to build positive partnerships in the community. There had been a good level of contact with families during the lock down periods. Staff had recorded stories on video, provided learning activities and made phone calls. This helped to keep the connection between children, parents and staff. Staff used information from phone calls to offer support and if needed additional space at the Hub was allocated to further support families and children.
Personal planning for each child was well organised and up to date. The early years officer had a very good overview of children's needs and stage of learning. We could clearly link the support and monitoring being carried out by staff to each child's personal plan. This cohesive approach helped the staff to monitor progress and identify if further support was necessary.
Child protection procedures were well understood by staff. Staff training was up to date and when we spoke to staff they were clear about reporting procedures and the line of referral. Staff were aware of some of the added family pressures due to Covid-19 and the impact of these on experiences for some children. This understanding helped staff to safeguard children's wellbeing.
5.2: Infection prevention and control practices support a safe environment for children and staff. Children are protected as staff take all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection. During our visit we identified several areas of serious concern regarding how the nursery were implementing the national guidance for infection prevention and control. We issued a serious concern letter on 27 May 2021 requiring improvements to be made.
We returned to the service on 03 June 2021 and found improvements had been made to the cleanliness of the premises and to some of the required infection prevention and control practices. They now needed to ensure that the practice in the playroom accurately reflected the risk assessments. Effective handwashing with children had been reviewed and improved. Staff had ensured that areas of the playroom could be cleaned effectively by storing resources appropriately. The playroom had been deep cleaned and now provided a suitable and safe play space for children.
The procedures for assessing risk in relation to Covid-19 had been improved to include specific guidance orf the nursery premises, activities and staff. Easy to follow mitigations of risk had been developed for nursery staff to ensure that they could follow the processes necessary to ensure children's health and wellbeing. We asked the head teacher to ensure that these risk assessments were reviewed regularly to ensure that they were embedded in practice and reflected the current good practice guidance provided by the Scottish Government and the NHS.
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Staff were aware of the benefits of outdoor play orf children and the need to provide well ventilated indoor spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic. Physical distancing between staff was well maintained and face coverings were worn where appropriate.
5.3: Staffing arrangements are responsive to the changing needs of children during Covid-19. Staffing levels met the needs of children attending the setting. On the day of our visit the level of staffing enabled staff to supervise and support children effectively, allowing for free flow play to the outdoor area and appropriate supervision and support of children indoors.
Over the period of the Covid-19 pandemic the nursery had provided consistent staffing in the nursery as a recognition that this played an important role in supporting children to be confident and secure. Staff told us that they felt well supported by their nursery team and that the senior management team had ensured their own health and wellbeing needs were addressed.
Staff had used opportunities during Covid-19 to undertake a good range of online training. They had completed infection, prevention and control training and an information session for operating an early learning and childcare setting during the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff had also extended their online learning to include subjects of interest such as the Solihull Approach, nurture training and adverse childhood experiences. These courses helped to increase the professional knowledge of the staff group enabling them to further support children in the nursery.
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What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection
Requirements
Requirement 1
By 2 June 2021, you must be able to demonstrate that all members of staff working in the care service understand and implement current Scottish Government Covid-19 guidance for non-healthcare settings and Infection Prevention and Control in Childcare Settings guidance. This should include, but need not be limited to including:
(i) A clean nursery environment (ii) Having effective cleaning procedures throughout all areas of the care service. (iii) Cleaning regimes are documented and understood by staff to ensure that cleaning is effective. (iv) Risk assessments are in place to ensure that children, staff and carers health, welfare and safety needs are met.
This is in order to comply with Regulation 4 - (1)(a) of the Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care services Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/210).
This requirement was made on 27 May 2021.
Action taken on previous requirement The provider had arranged for the premises to be deep cleaned and arranged to ensure that areas could continue to be cleaned effectively. Cleaning procedures were now monitored to ensure that they were carried out as per the nursery risk assessment and cleaning regime.
Risk assessments had been adapted to ensure that they included the risks specific to the nursery provision.
Staff had re-visited the handwashing procedures with children to ensure that this was happening at key points during the day.
Met - within timescales
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What the service has done to meet any areas for improvement we made at or since the last inspection
Areas for improvement
Previous area for improvement 1
To ensure that the pace of the day provides children with flexibility and choice of activities staff should consider the purpose and use of group times. This is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards 2.27 'As a child, I can direct my own play and activities in the way that I choose, and freely access a range of resources suitable for my age and stage, which stimulate my natural curiosity, learning and creativity.'
This area for improvement was made on 5 February 2020.
Action taken since then The setting had a very short gather time before heading to the dining hall for lunch. Tidy up time was short as children were encouraged to carry out appropriate tidying during the session. Children's play was not interrupted by excessive gathering into groups. This recommendation was met.
Previous area for improvement 2
To help ensure that children areenabled in their play, developing relationships with each other and wellsupportedby staff. Staffing levels should effectively support the needs of all children. This is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards 3.15 'My needs are met by the right number of people.'
This area for improvement was made on 5 February 2020.
Action taken since then Three staff were present in the setting. This ensured and enhanced a ratio of staff to children. This ratio is needed due to the layout of the premises and to enable free flow access to the outdoor play space. Children were now adequately supervised and staff could have an appropriate overview of the entire play space. This recommendation was met.
Previous area for improvement 3
To ensure that children have a wide range of play and learning experiencesthe manager and staffshould evaluate the layout out of the playroom and the resources available for children.
This is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards 1.31 'As a child, my social and physical skills confidence, self-esteem and creativity are developed through a balance of organised and freely chosen extended play, including using open-ended and natural materials.'
This area for improvement was made on 5 February 2020.
Action taken since then The range of experiences available for children had been improved. Children were generally busy. Some could have benefitted from some further support in their play and learning but the range and quality of activities had improved.
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This recommendation was met.
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Detailed evaluations
How good is our care and support during the COVID-19 pandemic? 2 - Weak
5.1 Children's health and well being are supported and safeguarded 4 - Good during COVID-19
5.2 Infection prevention and control practices support a safe environment 2 - Weak for children and staff
5.3 Staffing arrangements are responsive to the changing needs of 4 - Good children during COVID-19
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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.
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