“2025 is going to be our year,” says Denise Cameron, manager of Little Lighthouse Nursery in Tayport.
Until very recently that optimism was lacking at what was previously known as Tayport Playgroup.
After 40 years of serving Tayport families, the nursery had been told to make a series of improvements or face closure.
When she arrived at the nursery in 2022 Denise knew things had to change.
And change they have. A new name is just the tip of the iceberg.
Little Lighthouse Nursery has transformed from being rated as weak and adequate by the industry regulator, the Care Inspectorate, to very good and good.
It has “significantly improved” outcomes for its children according to inspectors.
And Denise is delighted.
She says: “We’re really proud to work here and the kids are really happy, you can see that when they come in in the morning.
“In a year, we’ve made a massive turnaround.”
How did Tayport Playgroup become Little Lighthouse Nursery?
So what went wrong at Tayport Playgroup? And how did it make things right?
Tayport Playgroup was previously a playgroup run by parents.
When early learning and childcare provision was expanded across Scotland in August 2021 it got funding from Fife Council to be a provider.
However, the greater emphasis on education and the increased number of hours – 1,140 – children were entitled to presented challenges.
Denise says: “I quickly noticed there were major problems. Things needed to change desperately.
“The difficulty was we weren’t set up to be a nursery
“We were governed as a charity by parents so it was parents basically running a nursery.
“The Care Inspectorate found it wasn’t running very well and we were under a closure order if we didn’t improve.”
Denise was appointed manager in October 2022 and set about making the changes the Care Inspectorate demanded.
“I halved the amount of children allowed to attend. It used to be 40, now it’s 16 to 18. That was in order to provide a really good, flexible family service.
“We now have a whole new staff team. We have employed people that are highly qualified, which was no easy task because we were termed still as a playgroup.
“We’re also a pack away setting and that has it’s challenges.”
Without its own premises, the nursery must stow away its equipment and resources in the Gregory Hall at the end of each day.
“Within the space of nine months we managed to get our [Care Inspectorate] grades from two, which was very poor, to a five.
‘We had to change in order to survive’
“We are really proud of that.”
Denise is a qualified social worker and her fellow staff members are both qualified early years practitioners, one with a background in teaching. The nursery also has its own cook.
“We have a good, multidisciplinary team mix of professionals so we can look at different things the children need.
“Every single staff member knows every family and child inside out.
“Because we are small we can get out and about in the community. So the children know the community and the people and organisations in it.
“Everyone knows us walking around, who we are and what we do.”
With its long association with Tayport, she says it is a shame the playgroup is no more.
“The playgroup ran for 40 years and was a huge thing for the community. The girls that work with me went to it themselves.
“But we had to change in order to survive.”
The nursery announced its new name two weeks ago.
“Changing the name was a milestone for us,” says Denise.
“The name Tayport Playgroup didn’t represent the work that we do and the service we offer.
“We are a fully-fledged nursery.
Why the Little Lighthouse Nursery?
“But new people coming into the community didn’t even look at us for early years education because we sounded like a toddle group.
“With the reputation we had from the earlier inspection we were looking at a really low number of children that were going to be coming in.
“Luckily, we pulled that back and we are up to full capacity.”
Denise wants the community to know that despite the new name, the nursery retains Tayport Playgroup’s ethos and place at the heart of the community.
“We chose the lighthouse as our name because we do a sponsored walk to the lighthouse every year to raise funds.
“We’ve done that for years.
“So the name represents the achievement of the children in keeping us going.”
Conversation