Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club Day Care of Children Stepps Cultural Centre 10 Blenheim Avenue Stepps Glasgow G33 6FH Telephone: 07941 624 869 / 07946 605 728 Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 22 September 2017 Service provided by: Service provider number: Cardowan and Stepps Out of School SP2005007450 Club Care service number: CS2003040540 Inspection report About the service Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club is registered to care for a maximum of 40 children attending school. It is provided from the Cultural Centre in Stepps and is available Monday to Friday between 7.50am-9am and 3pm-6pm school term and 8am-6pm during school holidays. This service is one of three services operated by Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club in North Lanarkshire. The service aims to provide: - high quality childcare for children aged 4-16 years. - children with an environment that is safe, supportive, encouraging and challenging. - a place to be with friends and make new ones, try out new activities, to relax, to have fun and enjoyment. - a service where children can help make the decisions on how the club is run. What people told us We issued 15 Care Standards Questionnaires to the service to distribute to parents. We received four completed questionnaires. All responses from parents were positive. Written comments included:- "We receive no formal feedback on how our child is developing or what individual education and support programme is in place, or not." We examined this as part of the inspection. Comments are included in Quality of Care and Support. "Both of my children use the after school service and holiday club. They have a wide range of activities, have lots of outdoor physical play and arts and crafts. Staff are always attentive, friendly and clearly enjoy spending the time with the children. I have recommended the service to my friends." We spoke with a parent who arrived to collect children. She stated that she was very happy with the service and had used it from the beginning. She could see improvements over the years. She stated that the manager was good at responding to suggestions/ideas and you can then see this happening in practice. There is continuity with a core group of staff. There is a very good range of trips and outings during holidays. Self assessment The service had not been asked to complete a self assessment in advance of the inspection. We looked at their own improvement plan and quality assurance paperwork. These demonstrated their priorities for development and how they were monitoring the quality of provision within the service. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support 4 - Good Quality of environment 4 - Good Quality of staffing 4 - Good Quality of management and leadership 4 - Good Inspection report for Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club page 2 of 10 Inspection report Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection At this inspection we considered Child Protection and staff knowledge of children's individual needs in relation to Scottish Government Guidance, Getting it Right for Every Child, (GIRFEC). Staff had a good understanding of how to protect and safeguard children. A child protection policy was in place which informed and supported staff in their roles. (See recommendation 1). Staff attended regular child protection training which kept them up-to-date with current best practice and refreshed their knowledge and understanding of child protection. There was a designated Child Protection Co-ordinator. We sampled children's care plans and also considered how information about children's learning and development was shared with parents. We found that each child had a personal development plan which was reviewed six monthly. This included records of discussions with parents about children's needs and progress. An 'All About Me' document was completed for younger children. We discussed how key staff gathered information about children's learning and development and next steps. We asked the manager to consider ways in which staff could record information obtained by observing children and use this to assess learning, development and next steps. (See recommendation 2). We looked at Big Books, recently developed by children and used to record their feedback, views and comments about the service. We found that the books were a very effective way of sharing information with parents about children's experiences in the service. Children had used the SHANNARI wellbeing indicators from GIRFEC to chart their discussions from children's meetings, monthly activities, achievements and photographs. The service had recently sought comments from children about the summer holiday programme. A very good response was achieved with children providing very positive comments about the trips, outings and activities. In sampling care plans we considered the service policy and procedure on medication. (See recommendation 3). Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 3 1. The manager and staff should review the service child protection policy to clarify when restraint may be used and provide specific examples of this. This information should also be reflected, where appropriate, in children's care plans, relevant consents should be in place and staff should be appropriately trained. National Care Standards, Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16, Standard 3, Health and wellbeing. 2. The manager and staff should review children's care plans to include records of observations to evidence children's learning and development and next steps. National Care Standards, Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16, Standard 6; Support and development. Inspection report for Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club page 3 of 10 Inspection report 3. The manager and staff should review the service medication policy. This should include a record of when a child spits out or refuses medication. National Care Standards, Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16, Standard 3; Health and wellbeing. Grade: 4 - good Quality of environment Findings from the inspection At this inspection we considered a safe environment and active, healthy lifestyles. We found that a safe environment was maintained for children and staff, both indoors and during trips and outings. Relevant risk assessments were developed and children were aware of safety following discussions with staff during children's meetings and when planning outings. New T-shirts had been purchased for children to wear on outings to assist with easy identification. taffS also had new T-shirts displaying their names to wear on a daily basis in the service. Children had recently completed the 'Glitter Challenge' to highlight safe hand washing procedures. Active, healthy lifestyles were promoted for children. Children who had attended the summer out of school club enjoyed a full range of daily trips and outings. This included visits to Wellfield Farm, Heads of yrA Farm, Five Sisters Zoo, Almond Valley, Kelvingrove Park, Soft Play, Fun Days at the local parks and Cinema. Children excitedly told us about these activities and it was obvious that the summer programme had impacted very positively on outcomes for children. Children had access to daily outdoor play at the service including the use of the school football pitches. They also enjoyed physical activity in the indoor gym where the service was accommodated. Recently, coaches had been employed on a weekly basis to engage with children in sports and dance. Experiences for children had been enhanced by the recent purchase of a range of new resources. We saw children enjoying using these and they told us that they were asked for suggestions for these. We asked the manager to continue to obtain feedback about the environment for children and to evaluate the new resources. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 4 - good Inspection report for Cardowan and Stepps Out of School Club page 4 of 10 Inspection report Quality of staffing Findings from the inspection At this inspection we considered staff training, knowledge and skills in supporting children and supervision/ appraisal and support to staff to meet Scottish Social Services Council conditions for registration. We found that staff had completed training since the last inspection. This included GIRFEC, Child Protection and First Aid. All staff employed in the service were now first aid trained. We observed staff to be motivated and professional. They engaged very well with children and used their skills to support children to achieve positive outcomes. Comments from parents about staff were very positive. Appraisals were conducted annually for staff with opportunities for supervision with the manager at regular intervals. We observed and sampled records relating to this process. We also observed the induction experience for a recently appointed staff member and found that a checklist and induction booklet was completed. New staff were supported by the manager and other staff to ensure a smooth transition into the service. Staff meetings were held monthly and minutes were recorded. The manager used the appraisal process to ensure that staff who were in process of obtaining relevant qualifications were on course to meet conditions for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council. We asked the manager to continue to support staff in their roles by providing regular support and training to ensure positive outcomes for children. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 4 - good Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection At this inspection we considered support provided to staff by the manager and the provider/manager's response to regulation. We found that a good level of support was provided to staff by the manager. This included induction, supervision, appraisal, team meetings, training opportunities and support to meet Scottish Social Services Council conditions for registration.