Bad Scores

[constantlytired]

My DS attends a nursery just now that we are not 100% happy with (nothing bad in terms of looking after DS, just things like not filling out daily book to find out what he has done today, overpriced, not providing lunches, losing payments, etc, more annoyances for us)...They are actually very good with the children though. We made decision to move DS in next couple of months and enrolled him at a more local nursery. We went for visit, very impressed. It was also cheaper, had hot lunches, etc. Anyway, i was just checking the inspection report for this nursery and was shocked to see that it had been given a score of 2/6 (weak) for staff issues...They had hired staff without following proper procedures (no follow up with referees or references), and not obtaining Disclosure Scotland clearance. I was a bit shocked by this and am now reconsidering moving DS, WWYD? My thoughts are that i don't want to take risk putting my son in nursery that dont follow proper security procedures. FYI, the current nursery received 4's and 5's which are good, and very good (although i did notice that for some areas they had dropped a level since last inspection - from 5 - 4)

I am a lawyer and am pretty familiar with the care commission reporting criteria, which I think is what you are referring to. Personally, I place quite high reliance on their scores. Our baby is due at the end of September, and will go to nursery part time from next february, and I based my nursery research on reading all the care commission reports for the nurseries near us in Edinburgh and only even visiting ones which got a minimum of 5 out of 6 for all of the criteria. I think you can rely on their scores as giving a general impression of the quality of the nursery as they are based on unannounced visits so they get an honest perception of the place. If I were you - I would think about moving your DC, or at least raise your worries with the nursery to see if they have a good explanation!

I agree with EmmaKate inspectors don't miss much, they are very good at weeding out the good, bad and downright ugly.

Although occasionally I think that some of the areas they pick up on arn't necessarily a big issue, such as more multicultural resources, developing play areas more etc, but some areas are vital and for me personally staff checks and safeguarding is the most important. You need to be assured that your child is safe and secure in the environment. A nursery that doesn't have fundamental and I have to say very basic to do, staff checks would be a non starter.