Strathallan Primary School Out of School Club Day Care of Children Strathallan Primary School Strathallan Drive Kirkcaldy KY2 5YP Telephone: 07850 950504 Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 20 January 2017 Service provided by: Fife Council Service provider number: SP2004005267 Care service number: CS2006140833
About the service Fife Council is registered to provide a daycare of children service to school age children at Strathallan Primary School, during out of school hours and holidays. The overall management of the club lies within Fife Child Care & Early Years Services and is part of their network of out of school clubs. A designated manager has overall responsibility for a number of clubs, including this service. The service is currently registered with the following conditions: The service is registered to provide out of school care to a maximum of 30 children aged from 4 years to 18 years. During school holidays the maximum number of children may be 48. During the operating times the service has the exclusive use of the premises as designated by the headteacher. The service aims to offer a high quality, affordable, accessible out of school care. We compiled the report following an unannounced inspection, which took place between 15:00 pm and 17:30 pm on 12 January 2017. Feedback was given on 20 January 2017. The inspection was carried out by one Care Inspectorate Inspector. As requested by us, the service sent us an annual return and a self-assessment. We issued 20 questionnaires to parents of children who used the service. Seven questionnaires were returned prior to us writing the report. In this inspection, we gathered evidence from various sources, including the relevant sections of policies, procedures, records and other documents: - Evidence from the service's most recent self-assessment - Observing how staff worked - Discussions with staff about their Continuous Professional Development - Observation of the environment inside and out - Observation of the equipment - Questionnaires that had been returned to the Care Inspectorate - Medication forms - Discussions with the manager and the Senior Childcare Practitioners and the Childcare Practitioners page 2 of 7
What people told us Comments we received from parents and carers on the Care Inspectorate questionnaires: "My child thoroughly enjoys attending the Out of School Club during the holidays. He meets new friends and gets the opportunity to try new activities. The staff are always polite and very accommodating." "I am happy that my child is in a safe environment. I don't think they are stimulated much or have much structure. My child describes table and board games and putting on nail varnish whilst the staff sit and chat. My child is in the infant school and often comes home having learnt words from older pupils which I would discourage using. I would like to see more staff interaction and planned group play and structure to my child's time at out of school club." "Not enough variety of toys/activities especially for boys." (The service had addressed this prior to the inspection having fundraised at the Christmas Fair and spent all the money raised on toys which the children chose themselves.) "Strathallan out of school club is very well recommended within the school. My child loves attending both term time and school holidays. She is always telling me the exciting things that the staff do with her." Comments from parents during the inspection included: "I think it's great. The main thing is that it is handy within the school. There's lots of variety. You text staff and they get back to you straight away." "She plays with her school friends and I like it being on school premises. I get regular updates and they've helped me greatly with her diet encouraging her to try new foods." Children's views. "I like coming but I miss when my friend isn't here." "We like drawing." "We barely have any writing pencils. Well we have lots but they aren't sharpened. We've only one sharpener. More sharpened coloured pencils would be good. Staff should sharpen them for us." "We like crackers for snack and healthy foods like fruit and veg. We only get sweeties on parties." "Sometimes we get to choose snacks - however many (people) chooses the same thing is what we get." "We can stay here till 6pm. They (staff) tidy up at 5pm and between 5 and 6pm we go to the lounge and we can play lots of games and draw and it's fun there." "The staff are great cos they are always really nice to us." "They only get us into trouble if we're really bad. They just tell us to tidy up or go back inside." "We play outside in a massive field where we can run around. We get to have water fights and go in the forest and dress up in the Summer holidays and snow ball fights in the Winter." "We get to go outside unless it's all rainy and stuff." "We mainly have the same staff." page 3 of 7
Self assessment We received a detailed self assessment which described how the staff met the children's needs. The assessment provided valuable information which supported our inspection processes. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of environment Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good not assessed not assessed What the service does well The Out of School Club was led by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable team. They were fully committed to the children and the families who used the service. Throughout the inspection we noted respectful interactions between staff and children. There were very good relationships between the parents and the staff and we saw good verbal communication between them at the end of the day. Children chose what they wanted to do and we saw that the activities on offer met their needs. Staff ensured that holiday activities were varied and interesting and made sure that no one got bored whatever their age. The children had some very good experiences for outdoor play including baking on open fires and raft building for the older children. During the inspection we looked at the improvement plan for the service. We agreed that the areas for development identified would further improve the quality of experience for the children. All staff were involved in evaluating the holiday club and this contributed to improving the experiences and outcomes for the children. What the service could do better We looked at a medication protocol and saw that it was not clear to staff. Neither a photo of the child nor the protocol nor amount of medication to be administered was stored with the medication. The service agreed to improve their storage and administration process. See recommendation 1 In discussion with the service it became clear that they had not been notifying the Care Inspectorate or Public Health in line with current legislation when two children or more were suffering from sickness and diarrhoea or notifiable diseases. See Requirement 1 page 4 of 7
We saw that information for parents was not up to date and that some was not accessible to them. In the lounge we saw a "Parents/Carers folder" but the information was not current. For example the latest holiday evaluation related to 2014. The notice board did not show the correct staff on duty and had not been brought into the room being used by the children, so was not being seen by parents. Information was not up to date. Staff on duty that day was incorrectly completed on the notice board. The snack menu had last been completed and displayed on the notice board in the lounge were for w.c. 12.12.16 and activities were on display for w.c. 29.8.16 - five months prior to the date of the inspection. No newsletter had been sent to parents since last Summer. This meant that parents were not being kept informed or included in what was going on in the club. Requirements Number of requirements: 1 1. The provider must ensure that they are fully aware of requirements relating to notifications to the Care Inspectorate, and should be aware of the procedure for doing so. Reference: The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011 - Scottish Statutory Instrument 2011/210 - Regulation 9(1)&(2)(b) - Fitness of employees. Recommendations Number of recommendations: 1 1. It is recommended that the service updates the protocols for the administration of medication and ensures that it improves the storage and administration of medication to protect the safety of the children. National Care Standards early education and childcare up to the age of 16. Standard 2: A safe environment. Standard 3 - Health and Wellbeing and Standard 14 - Well- Managed Service. Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. page 5 of 7
Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 16 Dec 2013 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good 5 - Very good 5 - Very good Management and leadership 6 Nov 2012 Unannounced Care and support 3 - Adequate Management and leadership 30 Jan 2012 Unannounced Care and support 2 - Weak 3 - Adequate Not assessed Management and leadership 3 - Adequate 28 Jul 2011 Unannounced Care and support 2 - Weak 2 - Weak Not assessed Management and leadership 2 - Weak 11 Jan 2011 Unannounced Care and support 3 - Adequate 3 - Adequate Not assessed Management and leadership Not assessed 30 Mar 2010 Unannounced Care and support 3 - Adequate Management and leadership 31 Mar 2009 Unannounced Care and support 3 - Adequate Management and leadership page 6 of 7
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 7 of 7