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Care Inspectorate praise Gairloch Gaelic Nursery during latest visit and give it 'very good' ratings, but also raise points for action


By Louise Glen

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General news.
General news.

AFTER an inspection, a Highland nursery has been told to have two members of staff on the premises at all times, despite only having three children in the class.

Gairloch Gaelic Nursery, based at Auchtercairn, received top marks in two areas the Care Inspectorate officers looked at, yet it made two recommendations to improve the service.

Inspectors graded the service as “very good” for both quality of care and support, and quality of environment. While quality of staffing was graded as “good” and the quality of management and leadership in the nursery was described a “adequate”.

Inspectors praised the nursery, they said: “As a small service, the staff knew the children and their families well. We were able to observe very good interaction between the staff and children in attendance. There was a great deal of laughter and fun.

However inspectors found that the staff member, who had worked in the setting for two years as was the only early years practitioner, had yet to start her Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) training.

Inspectors made two requirements of the provider, the first was to “adhere to their conditions of registration in relation to staffing ratios”.

The report said: “On Mondays to Thursdays there was only one member of staff present throughout the whole session with occasional input from other staff from the Gaelic medium classes within the primary school.” Current rules state that at least two staff members are required to be present at all times. Inspectors said this requirement needed to be implemented immediately.

The second recommendation was to make sure there was an “effective system of quality assurance to monitor and improve all areas of practice and improve outcomes for children”.

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