An Ayrshire children’s nursery has received the thumbs-up from the Care Inspectorate.
Busy Bees, on Dalmellington Road, Ayr, received four ‘good’ ratings and one ‘very good’ rating across four quality indicators.
The findings come in the wake of a recent unannounced inspection by the Care Inspectorate.
Busy Bees, based in the grounds of Ayr Hospital, is registered to provide a service to a maximum of 72 children aged from birth upwards.
Their services are provided in partnership with South Ayrshire Council to deliver funded part time educational places for children aged three to those not yet attending Primary School.
In their report the Care Inspectorate said: “This was a themed inspection where we evaluated the Quality of Care and Support, Quality of Environment, Quality of Staffing and Quality of Management and Leadership.”
The Care Inspectorate also said they witnessed “positive relationships between staff and children,” children were “playing and having fun” and that staff were “warm, affectionate and caring towards the children.”
It was also noted that children were “engaged and busy” and they “enjoyed the range of experiences available” with “lots of opportunities” to engage in fun, open ended play experiences- including creative experiences and nurture play.
The scrutiny body also noted the strengths of the nursery during periods of lockdown with the report stating: “During lockdown, the management and staff team engaged parents in telephone calls, and updates on nursery news and developments on the nursery’s Facebook page.
“The service had displayed ideas and activities for the children on this page.
“This encouraged two-way communication between the service and parents.
“And the transition back to nursery was done in a very nurturing way.”
Hygiene and infection prevention were also put in the spotlight with the report saying: “We saw safe handwashing routines from both staff and children, social distancing rules adhered to and appropriate signage. We observed that the environment was clean and well maintained, and windows and doors were opened to increase natural ventilation.
“And arrangements had been put in place to enable enhanced cleaning activities to be carried out. This meant that children, families and staff benefitted from areas which were safe and naturally well ventilated.”
The report goes on: “The staff had received training on infection prevention and control which adheres to COVID-19 guidance.
“In order to support children’s safety, risk assessments, in keeping with national Covid-19 guidance, had been undertaken both by the service provider and the service. This included procedures for the arrival and departure of children and families.
“There are clear policies and procedures implemented to ensure consistent infection control approaches across the setting.”
The resources at Busy Bees were also of “very good quality,” the report adds.
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