A Glasgow nursery and after school care service has been rated weak in two areas after an inspection noticed some children were “unnecessarily stressed.”
Balmore Kindergarten in the north of the city was described as “weak” for ‘care, play and learning’ as well as its ‘setting" by the Care Inspectorate.
Issues raised included children’s toilets being out of order, no kids’ emergency medication onsite and water play trays being too high for those in the baby room to access and too low for youngsters in the three to five year-old room.
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Inspectors who visited unannounced in June also said “there are not enough staff to meet the needs of individual children.”
The leadership team and staff were said to be 'adequate' by the Care Inspectorate.
The facility has been ordered to carry out six requirements with specific actions including improving the process of handling children’s personal plans, how medication is dealt with and staff having to revisit infection prevention and control training.
The Glentanar Road nursery was also told to “ensure that there is sufficient staff deployed in each of the nursery playrooms to meet the individual needs of all children.”
The nursery said it has already met the requirements and further investments have been made in recruitment and staff training.
The Care Inspectorate report, which was published this month, said : “We observed a few instances where staff did not respond to children's emotional cues and as a result, children became unnecessarily distressed. Staff did not consistently plan to support children's individual needs.”
But the facility was also praised with the inspectors adding: “Most children experienced warm, kind, and caring interactions from staff. We saw some staff offer praise, encouragement and comfort when needed.”
The report said although children had fun playing outdoors - inside some were “not engaged.”
It said: “We observed children who were not engaged, wandering about unnoticed by staff. Some children were independent enough to lead their own learning, but others required support and direction that they did not always get. This limited children's opportunity to explore, solve problems and be curious about their world.”
Balmore Kindergarten said: “We are working in line with our action plan that has been sent to the care inspectorate and Glasgow city council who are working with us to improve the areas that the care inspectorate deemed weak.
“All requirements within the report have already been met and the Care Inspectorate are not coming out to reinspect us for another year.
“We have made further investments into recruitment of staff and staff training.”
A requirement put forward in a previous inspection telling the provider to ensure that children’s needs are being met by enough staff who have the experience and skill to care for them by July 30 last year saw little progress. As a result the Care Inspectorate ordered the requirement to be carried out again - giving a deadline for August 1.
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