Wick daycare service manager 'delighted' with recognition for staff team
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The manager of a children's daycare service in Wick has spoken of her delight after a follow-up inspection revealed considerable improvement to its staff team, care, playing and learning activities.
PPP Childcare Service, a full-time daycare service provided by Pulteneytown People's Project in Wick, welcomed the new report, highlighting the notable progression the centre is making.
Care inspectors had rated the staff team as "weak" after an unannounced inspection in March, citing failings in staffing provision. The centre was left with a number of improvements to make.
With several changes now in place, a further unannounced visit on July 7 has revealed that measures taken by the facility had resulted in significant improvement.
Using a six point scale, where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent, the new report found most areas to be of a good standard, while the staff team were evaluated as very good.
Key messages from the inspection noted that children experienced "warm, caring and nurturing approaches to support their wellbeing". It also stated that children received "good quality play experiences" and that interactions with staff were "carefully considered and were respectful of children's rights, wishes and choices".
Julianne Mackillop, registered manager of PPP ELC, said: "I welcome this report from the Care Inspectorate. It gives us an independent assessment of how well we are progressing on our learning journey here in the nursery at the Early Learning Centre of the PPP.
"I am delighted that the service improvement that we have worked on with such diligence is acknowledged and that our children are recognised formally as receiving such good care. Our nursery is a place where children are supported to learn and thrive in a nurturing environment. We are all about the children.
"I am particularly pleased that our fantastic staff team has merited a rating of a ‘5’ which is “very good”. They want the best for our children, love what they do and enjoy seeing the children benefit from their time in the nursery.
"I’m also pleased that we maintained our grade of a “good” for our “setting” while advancing the remaining grades to level ‘4’ which is “good”. We shared the report with our parents, and how delighted we are with it."
Addressing previous areas for improvement, inspectors noted that "positive changes had been made to improve snack and mealtime experiences" and that "staff deployment had been reviewed to ensure children's safety".
The visit also revealed that children were now benefitting from "a wide variety of staff training" and staff showing "commitment to enhancing their learning".
It was also noted that since the last inspection, "extensive and robust quality assurance processes" had been developed.
Ms Mackillop added: "Looking forward, we enjoy and we will carry on our improvement work, everyone can always learn and improve, and the benefits to the children are significant, including our children with additional support needs.
"We will have a number of new children starting with us this year as well as all the children who are returning. A great staff team, who have lots of indoor and outdoor learning and laughter planned for them, will welcome them.
