Victoria Park Kindergarten Day Care of Children
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Victoria Park Kindergarten Day Care of Children 1228 Dumbarton Road Whiteinch Glasgow G14 9QB Telephone: 01419 596 642 Type of inspection: Unannounced Completed on: 25 March 2021 Service provided by: Service provider number: Victoria Park Kindergarten Ltd SP2013012046 Service no: CS2013316501 Inspection report About the service This service registered with the Care Inspectorate on 8 July 2013. Victoria Park Kindergarten is situated in the Whiteinch area of Glasgow. It is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 42 children aged 0 to under two years; 38 children aged 2 to under 3 years; 60 children aged 3 years to those not yet attending primary school. The service is in partnership with Glasgow City Council to provide early learning and childcare to children aged between three and five years. The service is accommodated in a converted church and has separate playrooms for each age group over two floors. Children can access a secure garden area to the side of the building as well as an internal courtyard. The service is close to local amenities such as shops, library and parks. The aims of the service include to: - provide a welcoming, safe, happy, caring and stimulating environment - engage our children in high quality learning experiences to maximise success for all - promote wellbeing and respect - monitor and evaluate our practice for continual improvement - encourage imagination and creativity - value each child as an individual so we can support each child in developing and extending their own interests, goals and dreams - meet the individual needs of all children - foster the children's self-esteem and confidence through encouragement and positive feedback, and so becoming increasingly independent as learners. A full statement of vision, aims and objectives is available from the service on request. We started the inspection of Victoria Park Kindergarten with an unannounced visit on Monday 22 March 2021. We continued the inspection virtually using Teams technology and concluded the inspection by giving feedback on Thursday 24 March 2021. 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 was carried out by two inspectors. Our methodology for the inspection included: - Observations of children's routines and staff interactions with children. - Observations of infection prevention and control practice. - Telephone discussions and email exchanges with the manager. - Telephone conversations or emails with five parents. - Virtual discussions with seven members of staff. - Reviewing key records, policies, and written procedures relative to COVID-19. Inspection report for Victoria Park Kindergarten page 2 of 11 Inspection report What people told us The manager had collected views of parents as part of the self-evaluation we requested. Their comments demonstrated that everyone was happy with the quality of care and support their child received. We spoke with five parents during the inspection process, most were very reassured by the systems the setting had put in place to keep everyone safe. However it was highlighted to us that physical distancing between parents at children's drop off times was not always reinforced. Physical distancing can help reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Parents had mixed views on communication from the nursery both during periods of lockdown and once their children returned to nursery "At the beginning of the first lockdown there was no contact from management. However the playroom has a Facebook page and staff uploaded activities and websites that might be helpful." "Staff are great at keeping us updated with events using the private Facebook groups so we can see photos of that day, and see what the children have been doing." "At the first lockdown there were standard emails that were basically copy and paste from the government website. There was no personal touch like supporting your child through lockdown. Since the second lockdown there is a new team leader who goes out of her way and cares about the kids. Off her own back she did zoom calls, reading to children on Tuesdays." "I have found them to be responsive and sensitive to the challenges of the pandemic and they have never failed to focus on the best interests of the children." Meaningful communication between the setting and families can help children feel included and enable them to maintain relationships with their friends and staff. 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. Inspection report for Victoria Park Kindergarten page 3 of 11 Inspection report 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. • Children are nurtured and supported throughout their changed experience in their early learning and childcare setting. • Effective communication with families enables responsive care to support children through changing circumstances. We found the service to be operating to a good level under this indicator. We observed that babies aged under two received warmth and physical contact from staff that was appropriate to their personal care needs, in particular when they were supported with their breakfast, or when they needed comfort and reassurance. In each of the playrooms, children were engaged in play of their choice. Staff were familiar with children's interests and had set out some appropriate activities and resources. Staff also shared an example of where they had consulted with the speech and language therapists to ensure the right support was in place for one child. Parents confirmed that they were reassured by the effort made by staff to settle their children back after periods of lockdown. This had helped children to settle and feel safe and secure in their changed experience of nursery. Management of groups of children in 'cohorts' reflected the circumstances of the setting and national guidance. The three playrooms for children aged under two years represented three separate cohorts. The playroom for two to three year olds was divided into two cohorts and for three to five year olds into three cohorts. Consideration had been given to maintaining friendship and sibling groups when establishing membership of cohorts. Consistency of cohorts is beneficial as it enables adults to physically distance from each other and supports the work of Test & Protect should there be a COVID-19 outbreak. Staff told us that in the two to three playroom there was a child who moved between the two cohorts. We advised that ideally efforts should be made to keep children within the same groups for the duration of the session. This is to minimise the number of close contacts and potential transmission of COVID-19. We sampled children's personal plans and found there to be a mixed understanding among staff of how information should be recorded and used to support children's health and wellbeing. This meant that staff did not always have access to the information that would enable them to support children according to their needs, wishes and choices. We acknowledged that staff often knew children's individual needs well but the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted on how information was shared with parents and recorded. Personal plans had not been monitored by management, which would have helped highlight inconsistencies in practice and where staff required support. We have repeated an area for improvement given at the last inspection regarding children's personal plans (see area for improvement one). Child protection training was carried out just before the pandemic took hold, which meant staff understood their responsibilities to protect children in their usual day to day practice. However updates, particularly in relation to the challenges of COVID-19, had been delayed due to staff being furloughed. The manager was not familiar with the Scottish Government supplementary guidance for child protection during COVID-19. This meant there was potential for child protection and safeguarding concerns not to be identified or acted upon. The manager agreed to explore the supplementary guidance with staff in their forthcoming child protection training (see area for improvement two). Inspection report for Victoria Park Kindergarten page 4 of 11 Inspection report Quality Indicator 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. We found the service to be operating to a weak level under this indicator and improvements were required to maintain a safe and hygienic environment for children. The previous inspection report asked the manager to monitor the measures that were in place to prevent the spread of infection within the service. The specific examples were procedures for formula feeding and the availability of individual cloths for children. These two areas had been addressed. However more stringent national guidance initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic meant the service had to implement enhanced infection control measures. The manager shared the service COVID-19 risk assessment and sample cleaning schedules within their self-evaluation. The setting had COVID-19 Policy & Guidance that operated in conjunction with the COVID-19 risk assessment. Implicitly all of these documents were in keeping with current Scottish Government and public health guidance although these had not been referenced. The manager agreed that it would be beneficial to include hyperlinks so that staff and parents could quickly access the most recent version of guidance.