Black Isle out-of-school club praised for staff and care but also told to make improvements by Care Inspectorate following surprise inspection of Highland site
A child day care facility on the Black Isle has received a slightly mixed response from inspectors following their latest visit.
The North Kessock Out of School Club, which is located within the village primary school, was rated as good in two out of four assessment areas - for its "care, play and learning" as well as for its staff team - and received an "adequate" for its setting, but was handed a "weak" for its leadership.
The scores were issued by the Care Inspectorate following an unannounced inspection in March. They are issued on a sliding scale out of six, with six being "excellent" and one being "unsatisfactory". A score of four is "good", with "adequate" at three, and "weak" representing a two. A "good" is awarded when strengths and positives "clearly outweighed areas for improvement".
Praising the staff, the inspectors said: "Children experienced warm, nurturing interactions from staff who knew them well. Children described staff as 'fun' and shared that staff often asked them what they would like to do.
"We observed positive interactions between staff and children which were fun and playful. This demonstrated the positive relationships they had developed. Almost all families were happy with the care and support their children received"
They added that these positive relationships "helped children feel valued and secure", and continued: "Children were able to follow their own interests and had choice and independence within the play activities available.
"Children benefited from play experiences which supported their creativity."
But elsewhere, the report highlighted some areas for improvement: "Infection prevention and control procedures were inconsistent."
And they continued: "Children's safety was significantly compromised as actions to address ineffective [child] collection procedures were not implemented effectively."
They recommended that: "robust quality assurance processes should be developed to support the improvement of the service".
Two requirements for improvement were made.
The first of these was to implement "effective systems to prevent children leaving the service unaccompanied", which includes "ensuring robust procedures are in place for the collection of all children".
Explaining this, inspectors said: "Following a serious incident where a child had previously failed to arrive at the service at collection time, the service had taken some action to minimise risks and keep children safe. This included reviewing the collection procedures between the school and out-of-school club.
"However, the changes implemented were not always effective. There was a lack of understanding from staff members around implementing effective collection procedures for children.
"During the inspection, one child did not arrive at a designated collection point and another child failed to arrive at the service. This had the potential to compromise children's safety."
A second requirement was also made for "clear and effective plans" to be put in place "for maintaining and improving the service" and for the service to ensure the manager, who also runs two other out-of-school clubs, "effectively monitors the work of each member of staff and the service as a whole".
Despite this, inspectors also added that “staff told us they felt supported by the manager and were confident to share ideas and make suggestions for improvements”. They also noted that the staff team were good despite issues within the wider out-of-school care sector as a whole when it came to recruitment and retention.
