Inspectors found “serious failings” over the handling of child protection issues at an Angus childcare centre, it has emerged.
An unannounced visit to Wonderland Nursery in Arbroath also found procedures were not followed in relation to “a child absent from nursery” and “emergency intruders”, according to a Care Inspectorate report.
The Abbot Street centre was inspected by Sharon Malcolm and Donna Borek on November 25 and 27 and the body has published its findings.
The Care Inspectorate regulates care services in Scotland.
The quality of care and support was graded “unsatisfactory”, qualities of environment and management and leadership were “weak” and only the staffing was marked “adequate”.
Ms Malcolm said: “We found serious failings in the service’s child protection practices both the child protection officers were unaware of exactly which children were on the child protection register, or what their responsibilities were in relation to these children; they were unsure of their roles and responsibilities in relation to child protection and had not undertaken the recommended child protection training recommended within the previous inspection report; of the child protection documentation that was available to us, we found it to be unclear, with significant details missing.
“Staff were unable to identify who the children’s lead worker was.”
Members of staff were also unaware of which professionals were involved in the children’s care, there was a lack of information to identify which family members or adults were safe to have contact with the children, and there were no protocols to advise staff of who would be taking children to and from the nursery.
The report noted: “Our conversations with other nursery staff confirmed that they were not aware of any children with child protection status; this included one child’s key worker.”
Wonderland Nursery is registered to care for 61 children aged from birth to 12 years.
At the time of the inspection, the service was appropriately staffed and adhered to their conditions of registration.
The service is provided from a converted building near the town centre, and consists of three main playrooms with a shared “quiet” room, with access from each of the main playrooms to an enclosed outdoor play area.
Ms Malcolm said: “While some areas within the service had improved since the last inspection (in February last year), there were areas which gave us significant cause for concern.
“We were alarmed about the lack of information sharing and documentation in relation to child protection.
“The manager was advised of this at the time of the inspection and fully supported our guidance and acted on our advice.
“We also identified poor practice in relation to hand washing, nappy changing and storage of cleaning products.
“During the previous inspectionrecommendations and requirements were made some of the recommendations and requirements had not been met for the current inspection.”
However, the inspectors are “satisfied” that the service is “working hard” to provide high standards of care, and questionnaire comments from families indicated they are happy with the service.
A representative for Little Einstein’s Kindergarten Ltd declined to comment.
A website statement from the firm, which runs daycare centres in Glasgow, Dundee and Perth, reads: “Our staff are all qualified, highly professional and experienced and share the values of our organisation.”
The Care Inspectorate could not provide details over the “emergency intrusion” given reference to in its report.