Big Country Care Inspectorate Report (16/17) by Crieff Hydro

Big Country Children's Club Day Care of Children

Crieff Hydro Hotel Ferntower Road Crieff PH7 3LQ Telephone: 01764 651663 Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 4 April 2017

Service provided by: Crieff Hydro Childrens Club Care service number: CS2003010102

Service provider number: SP2003002156

Inspection report About the service Big Country Children's Club operates within modern, purpose built childcare premises. The facility is based within Crieff Hydro Hotel and is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 140 children from nought up to 16 years of age with the following use of rooms: - A maximum of nine children aged nought to under two years to be cared for in the Creche Room. - A maximum of seven children aged two up to 16 years to be cared for in the Den. - A maximum of 109 children aged two up to 16 years to be cared for in the Open Plan Area. - A maximum of 15 children aged two up to 16 years to be cared for in the Adventure Play Area. It is acknowledged that on occasion, when circumstances dictate, flexible use of the rooms identified above can be allowed, to ensure that the needs of individual children are met whilst ensuring that the recommended level of staffing is in place. The staff:child ratio will be: - 1:3 for children aged nought to under two years. - 1:5 for children aged two to under three years. - 1:8 for children aged three years and over. - 1:10 if all children are aged eight years or over. Following the development of the service we advised the manager to submit a variation to the Care Inspectorate to request some alterations to the conditions of their registration. The children have access to a large play spaces, divided into areas to meet the needs of children of different ages. The creche room is separate from the play area and has its own secure outdoor areas. In addition to the indoor space there is an adjoining garden with an overhanging roof providing a covered play area where the children can enjoy the outdoors in all weathers. Big Country also makes use of the facilities in the hotel grounds and the outdoor activity centre to further enhance outdoor experiences for children. Most of the children who attend are hotel guests who can visit Big Country for two sessions each day during their stay. A small number of children who live locally use the creche room for whole day or part day care. The aims of the service are to provide: - a quality group childcare for all children - a safe secure environment for children - happy, confident and well trained team members. We check services are meeting the principles of Getting It Right For Every Child (also known as GIRFEC), Scotland's national approach to improving outcomes and wellbeing for children by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It supports them and their parent(s) to work with the services that can help them. There are eight wellbeing indicators at the heart of Getting It Right For Every Child: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included.

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Inspection report

What people told us During the inspection we spoke to a number of children who were enjoying their visit to Big Country. They were very happy to tell us the things that they enjoyed doing. They told us: "I like playing in the castle best." "Sometimes they put out an obstacle course for us." "We need to brush our teeth or they will fall out." "We are planting daffodils so they can grow in the sun." "I like to play minecraft on the computer." "It's really cool in here. I like it a lot." "I am making a card for my family." "This art stuff is really good. It's my best thing to do." In advance of the inspection we received eight completed questionnaires from parents. They all agreed or strongly agreed that they were happy with the quality of care received by their child while in the service. We spoke to a further six parents during the inspection. Parents told us: "I get a good feeling about this place. They are very welcoming." "I like how we have a card for when we come to collect her." "The handover is safe. We have never had any concerns. She loves it there is lots to do." "Sometimes the communication between staff could be better." "My child loves the new gaming zone. It is right up his street." "The knowledge, care and facilities are second to none. My child thrives here." "I have no worries leaving my child here and I know she will be well looked after." "I feel safe and confident in the staff."

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Inspection report Self assessment The service had not been asked to complete a self-assessment in advance of the inspection. We looked at their own improvement plan and quality assurance paperwork. These demonstrated their priorities for development and how they were monitoring of the quality of the provision within the service.

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 5 - Very Good not assessed

What the service does well Big Country provided a very good service to children who used the service while visiting Crieff Hydro as well as to younger children who regularly attended the creche room. Information was recorded for each child. Staff had all of the necessary information to meet their care needs. The staff were friendly and approachable. We saw that they welcomed children into each session and shared information with parents at the end. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to understand and share medical information and allergies to keep children safe and healthy. The children who were cared for in the creche room had a very good experience. The staff formed strong relationships with them and knew them very well. The children's routines were regularly updated by parents and were respected by staff. The children had individual scrapbooks where text and photographs showed that they were having a good range of indoor and outdoor experiences. Their health and wellbeing was promoted through healthy snacks, safe sleeping and toothbrushing. The play facilities were large, bright and welcoming. They offered easy access to the outdoor area from all of the rooms where children could enjoy active play in the fresh air. Recent changes to the playroom had resulted in a very good variety of activities which were well matched to the ages of the children attending. The older children were seen to be enjoying the computer games but staff were monitoring this and encouraged them to have a balance of activities. Staff completed risk assessments for each of the activities and used their training on risky play to encourage children to be involved in assessing risk for themselves. The service had a very good approach to staff training, supporting staff to undertake relevant qualifications. This had a positive impact on staff skills and knowledge. It allowed them to work effectively with children and to provide a positive and enjoyable experience. The staff worked together as a strong and motivated team. They were fully involved in making suggestions and decisions about the improvement and development of the service. We saw that they had regular meetings which promoted team work and learning. The service was well managed. There was a strong culture of quality assurance and regular monitoring activities which ensured continuous service improvement.

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Inspection report We saw that there had been a good range of opportunities for parents and children to give feedback on their visit to Big Country. Their suggestions had been used to make changes and improvements to the environment. Comments from parents showed that the staff team were highly regarded.

What the service could do better During the inspection we discussed some areas where we considered that the service could improve. We suggested that staff could begin to make use of the Scottish Government document Building the Ambition to support staff to plan activities in the creche room and to better record the experiences of the younger children. They should make sure that all entries in children's individual scrapbooks were dated and their information checked with parents and updated at least every six months. We identified a need for further discussion with staff on being able to evaluate rather than describe children's experiences. The service recorded medication details for children who used Big Country. We asked that the manager refer to the most recent best practice guidance to ensure that this was being followed: www.hub@careinspectorate.com - Management of medication in daycare of children and childminding services HCR-0514-087. This is to protect the health and wellbeing of the children attending. We referred the service to the most recent guidance on infection prevention and control in childcare settings (September 2015). They should use this information to review their nappy changing guidance for staff and being more vigilant about handwashing before snack time. We were confident that with the continued positive approach from the manager and the staff that all the suggested areas for improvement would be addressed and the service will continue to improve.

Requirements Number of requirements: 0

Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0

Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com.

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Inspection report Inspection and grading history Date

Type

Gradings

3 Apr 2015

Unannounced