Inverness Ness Castle Nursery branded ‘weak’ as safety fears are raised

An Inverness nursery has been branded “weak” across a range of areas following a two-day visit by inspectors.

Ness Castle Nursery received an unannounced visit from three members of the Care Inspectorate on December 4 and 5 and while they found that “children experienced warm and caring approaches from staff” and that parents were very complimentary of the team they also identified significant shortcomings in every area looked at.

These included “significant gaps” that “had potential to place children at risk of harm”.

They similarly found that “staffing arrangements did not effectively meet children's needs and ensure their safety”.

Ness Castle Nursery is registered to provide care for up to 110 children from the age of three up to primary school age.

Operated by Highland Council it is based within Ness Castle Primary School but has its own entrance.

Across the range of inspected areas: for care, play and learning; setting; leadership; and staff team, the nursery was rated as weak.

“Due to competing demands placed on staff, they did not always pick up on children's cues for support and interaction,” inspectors said. “For example, children in the nursery were playing in different areas of the playroom unsupervised for significant periods of time.

“As a result, children did not always receive the right support at the right time and their safety was compromised.”

And they added: “Children's individual wellbeing did not benefit from the effective use of personal planning. For example, there were no clear strategies of support in place for some children.

“Some of the information held for individuals had not been reviewed in a timely manner. This meant information was not current and accurate, negatively impacting on the quality of support children received.

“Where strategies had been identified these were not always followed by all staff, leading to inconsistency in the support children received.”

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Safety was again identified as an issue at snack and meal times where they felt “task driven” staff were not able to focus properly on children, meaning they “could not respond immediately in the event of an emergency such as choking.”

On setting, inspectors said the nursery “had a functional feel and lacked warmth”.

They quoted a parent who told them: "As the nursery is open planned it can be difficult for my child to relax and chill out due to the noise level."

There was praise for the nursery’s outdoor area but a requirement to improve several aspects of the indoor learning environment.

Inspectors also stated: “A significantly high number of accidents and incidents had been recorded within the service over the last few months and effective action had not been taken to address the issues which caused these.”

A number of requirements for change were set out in the report.

These include putting in place effective measures to identify and reduce risks and to ensure that staff are confident and competent in identifying and removing risks to children; and to ensure clear and effective plans are in place for maintaining and improving the service.

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The Highland Council is committed to providing quality ELC (early learning centre) learning environments, experiences and interactions for our pupils.

“The ELC is aware of the needs of all their children and take their health, safety and welfare extremely seriously.

“Improvements to the ELC in line with the Care Inspectorate timeframes will be implemented, with some improvements already under way.

“Action plans are already in place and officers are linking closely to work with the school in order to ensure that these are embedded and sustained.”

The full report is available to read on the Care Inspectorate website.

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