Keith Play Centre in Moray failing to keep kids ‘safe and protected’, Care Inspectorate says
A nursery has been given several deadlines to improve after an inspection found that its staff were failing in their duty to keep children “safe and protected”.
Keith Play Centre Nursery and Rising 3’s Group was the subject of an unannounced Care Inspectorate inspection in March.
The setting cares for a maximum of 35 children and operates from two rooms within Keith Sports and Community Centre.
Inspectors graded the quality of the nursery’s care, play and learning as “weak”.
Discussions with parents found that staff were “friendly and welcoming” and showed “genuine interest” in their wellbeing.
However, a report on the inspection, published this week, added that children experienced “inconsistent interactions throughout the day” while staff did not always pick up on cues for help and support due to being busy with other tasks such as cleaning.
While mealtimes were generally positive in the ‘Rising 3’s’ room, inspectors found that those in the 3-5 playroom had to wait for “considerable lengths of time” before they were served.
Concerns were flagged regarding an incident at an outdoor lunch where there was no space for staff to sit with the children.
That left them unsupervised for a period of time while staff were again busy with other tasks which inspectors feared increased the potential risk of children choking.
The report details how “children were not kept safe and protected” due to staff not having a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in terms of safeguarding them.
While staff members had been trained in core aspects of care including child protection, they did not demonstrate confidence in this.
That included confidence in identifying when a child had made a disclosure and escalating this to a child protection officer.
Inspectors added that due to this finding “children’s safety and wellbeing was not being promoted”.
The nursery has been given until June 16 to make improvements to the quality of its care, play and learning.
Leadership, another of the areas assessed by inspectors, was also graded as “weak”.
The report details how “improvement planning” was not being used consistently at the nursery which was hampering self evaluation.
Staff did not have regular opportunities to share or reflect on their practice or to collaborate on improvements.
Inspectors added: “Overall, quality assurance and self-evaluation processes were not leading to improved outcomes for children.”
A deadline to improve on this area has been set for September 1.
Elsewhere, the nursery’s staff and the setting were both graded as “adequate”.
Keith Play Centre has been contacted for comment.
