All posts by Sharon McKenna

Wonderful Care Inspectorate Report

We are pleased to share with you our most recent Care Inspection Report which has now gone live on the Care Inspectorate’s website.

The entire team here in the centre are delighted that the inspection went so well and that the inspectors got a real sense of our family centre.  Thank you to all of our parents and carers who completed questionnaires and spoke to the inspectors when they were here.

The grades we were awarded are:

The Excellent grade for the quality of our environment is extra special to us as we place such a high value on children learning outdoors and in the forest.  This is what the inspectors said

“The service were committed to providing children with valuable outdoor experiences both within the nursery garden and in the wider community. All of the children had continual access to the nursery garden and we observed them moving freely between the two areas. Outdoor clothing was available for all the children which meant they were not restricted by poor weather. We were impressed by how the children aged two to three moved confidently between the two areas.

They were supported by enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff who planned for and extended their interest, curiosity and supported them in taking appropriate risks. Children had grown vegetables to make soup and during our visit they were making crumble from rhubarb grown in the garden. Towards the end of the day several children toasted croissants on the fire pit.

The head teacher was a qualified Forest School leader and led a programme of woodland visits to local woods. She was supported by staff who shared her enthusiasm. All children were part of a programme of visits to a local woods, some had the opportunity to spend a day in the woodland. We saw that the staff team were skilled in leading learning outdoors and the benefit to all children of engaging in natural settings was clearly evident.”

Please click on the link below to access the full inspection report.

CI Inspection Report 2019