Watchdog seeks improvements at new Jedburgh nursery

EXCLUSIVE by LESTER CROSS

Scottish Borders Council has been given until the end of August to implement a list of requirements aimed at improving nursery education facilities at the new £32 million Jedburgh school campus.

An unannounced inspection in June by the Care Inspectorate - the national watchdog - resulted in the Jedburgh nursery which can accommodate over 120 children being marked with a 3 (adequate) in all categories, namely Quality of Care and Support, Quality of Environment, Quality of Staffing and Quality of Management and Leadership. It was the first time the new nursery had been inspected.

The inspectors' report which was published on the watchdog's website this week shows the grades awarded to the campus facility are lower than the previous three inspection evaluations for the now demolished Parkside Primary School nursery close by although it only catered for 30 pupils.

The report says: "Requirement: By August 31 2022, the provider must ensure that the premises are suitable to provide a high quality care environment, which meets the aims and objectives of the service. In order to do this the provider must, at a minimum: - Provide access to the outdoor area that is safe and suitable for children to use - Increase storage facilities in the nursery to take account of the number of children attending the service - Improve the food storage facilities - Ensure that indoor and outdoor areas used by children are safe and suitable for use.

 "Recommendation: Children should have access to an environment which is suitable to meet their individual needs. Managers and staff should assess the current environment and adapt it to ensure that the environment provides well arranged, welcoming, safe and rich play spaces."

Care Inspectorate reports rank facilities on a scale from 1-6 with 6 meaning 'excellent', 5 is 'very good', 4 equals 'good', 3 equals adequate and 2 indicates 'weak'. The definition of 'adequate' is given as "strengths just outweigh weaknesses".

The section of the report headed Quality of Care and Support includes the following: "While the strengths had a positive impact, key areas needed to improve. 

"Staff had collected information about each child to help meet their care and support needs. Information was reviewed and updated regularly. Staff had started to complete online chronologies for children, which outlined significant events. There was a range of evidence of the partnership working with external agencies and professionals to support children. 

"For some children clearer support strategies needed to be developed and monitored. Several parents told us that they had not received enough information about their child's learning. The quality and quantity of information about children's learning varied across the nursery. Senior staff were aware that some changes needed to be made to the methods used to assess children's progress and share this more effectively with parents."

There were positive conclusions drawn from the inspection too.

"Most children were confident in their surroundings. They took pride in showing us their nursery and telling us what they did during their time there. Some children had formed positive relationships. We saw them helping each other climb, and lots of collaborative play during building and problem solving with some of the outdoor resources. 

"Staff were kind and caring, but the number of children present in the nursery impacted on the quality of interactions with children. To ensure children's wellbeing staff had become task orientated and had taken up a supervisory role. It resulted in staff not taking the opportunity to pick up on some children who needed additional help or support learning opportunities effectively. Frequently a member of staff would start to support children at an activity only to have to leave to support another child. As an area for improvement the senior team should continue to look at staff deployment."

And the report had this to say: "Provision for learning in the small area sectioned off for the children under three provided a rich, age-appropriate environment for these children. Work was continuing with the early years teacher from the local authority to adapt and improve the processes for planning play, providing rich play environments and recording learning outcomes.

"The outdoor area was used extensively throughout the day. Children could choose to play outside or inside. They told us that they go outside 'All the time!' The outdoor area provided some opportunities for risk and physical development. However, we noticed that children started off excited and engaged but throughout the day lost interest and began to wander. The nursery improvement plan identified that outdoor experiences needed to be included in planning. This work needs to be progressed to ensure engagement in the outdoor environment."

The 'Quality of Environment' section of the report noted: "Senior staff and staff working in the playrooms had identified a number of areas around the environment which were impacting on the outcomes for children. 

"These included: - The door to the outdoor area could not be used by children as it was heavy and unable to be left open as the wind came straight into the playroom. Therefore the door leading from the toilet area was being used. This resulted in issues around infection prevention and control and privacy and dignity - There were not enough refrigeration facilities to ensure that packed lunches and other foods could be stored safely - There was no storage in one of the toilet areas for clothes, nappies and cleaning resources. - There was no gate on the large space dedicated as a kitchen area - Some area in the outdoor play space needed to be reassessed to ensure that children's safety was promoted. For example we observed children standing on the raised beds and trying to climb the perimeter fence."

The inspectors commented: "Parents were using the gate in the outdoor area to drop off and pick up rather than the main entrance. This had been implemented as a Covid-19 risk minimisation. Some parents commented that the area was very congested at pick up times making the supervision of children a challenge. 

"We have asked that this procedure is re-evaluated. We acknowledge that the Care Inspectorate registered this service for 127 children to include a maximum of 15 children under the age of three years. However, there needed to be an assessment of how the spaces were working, laid out and the impact of the environment upon children. For example the area for children under the age of three years was not suitable in position or size. 

"The area was being used to keep children safe in the larger group rather than making sure the larger group was safe for younger children or children with additional needs. There were no suitable sleeping areas for children and the noise level indoors was significant. Two parents commented that their children told them the indoor play space was very noisy and this impacted on their children's enjoyment in nursery."

Archived inspection reports show the following results for nursery provision at the town's Parkside PS Nursery: November 2016 – Quality of Care and Support graded 5 (very good); Quality of Environment graded 4 (good). Other categories were not inspected.

November Nov 2013: Care and support 5 - Very good; Environment 4 - Good; Staffing 5 - Very good; Management and leadership 5 - Very good. January 2009:  Care and support 5 - Very good; Environment 4 - Good; Staffing 5 - Very good; Management and leadership 5 - Very good.