Pinkie St Peter’s Out of School Club told to improve

Pinkie St Peter’s Out of School Club, which has expanded from 30 to 80 places in the past few months, was evaluated as ‘weak’ for leadership and ‘adequate’ for care, play and learning, setting, and staff team.

A report from the Care Inspectorate said that “inadequate safer recruitment procedures compromised the safety of children” in a subsequent report.

Some staff had begun work at the club before essential checks, such as Disclosure Scotland checks, were completed to confirm their suitability, it was claimed.

“The manager was unaware that this posed a potential risk to children,” the report added.

The inspectors said: “We suggested as good practice that, as part of the recruitment process, the manager would benefit from having a recruitment checklist for each new employee’s file.

“The service must ensure that all staff are recruited in a way which has been informed by all aspects of safer recruitment practice.”

They added: “Staff were not clear about their roles and responsibilities in delivering care and support that promoted the vision, values and aims of the service.

“As part of the expansion the service would benefit from reviewing and updating their vision, values and aims, ensuring that the views, wishes and desires of children, families and staff are included.”

The inspectors reported that children and families were made to feel “welcome and included” in the service. Family feedback regarding leadership was positive, described as “fantastic”, “excellent”, “amazing” and “very responsive”.

But the report said: “Quality assurance and self-evaluation should be more robust. Systems and processes failed to identify significant gaps in key areas of practice. This impacted on the quality and safety for children and families.

“For example, we observed the need for improvements to medication management, risk assessment, maintenance protocols, and adherence to policies and procedures by both staff and management. ”

By October 30, the club must: develop and implement regular monitoring and robust quality assurance systems; analyse the results of audits to establish areas for improvement; and keep detailed records of all quality assurance activity.

It must also: ensure that effective, personalised arrangements are in place for inducting and developing new staff, as well as staff being promoted into new roles; ensure new staff are supported to develop the skills they need through professional learning, modelling of good practice, observation and supportive mentoring.

This call for action follows unannounced inspections of the club, at Pinkie St Peter’s Primary School, on June 24 and 25.

Pinkie Out of School Club provides wraparound care for primary age children in the area.

As a non-profit childcare provider, it aims to ensure the availability of high-quality facilities at a minimal cost to our end users.

The service, which is run by a voluntary committee and manager, was registered with the Care Inspectorate to provide a care service to a maximum of 80 children at any one time, aged from primary school entry up to and including second year in secondary school. The club was in the process of re-registering due to a change in legal identity.

The team manager at the out-of-school club told the Courier: “The published findings of the report have been disappointing for our team, who have been working hard to ensure our children continue to enjoy their time at the club whilst we go through the transition of an expansion.

“We were delighted to note that all the surveys sent to families as part of the inspection were extremely positive but acknowledge there are areas to improve upon.

“We don’t believe the report is a true representation of our club values but of course are working closely with the Care Inspectorate to improve certain administrative practices identified and look forward to their follow-up inspection due within the next few months, where we are confident our relatively new team will be able to showcase the caring and supportive environment we offer and aim to have a more favourable outcome.”

They added: “As for ‘inadequate safer recruitment procedures compromised the safety of children’, this is one of the points in the report that we simply do not agree with. Safety of our children is at the heart of the club.

“A member of staff was recruited following the safer recruitment guidance. They provided the manager with two previous employer references and a protection of vulnerable children certificate dated within six months from a previous employer.

“The team member started working at the club the day before their updated PVG check was received by the club. A risk assessment was carried out by the manager, who decided they were not allowed to be left on their own until the PVG was received. The whole team was made aware of this.

“The team member in question is an experienced and qualified practitioner, so the decision was made that there was no risk involved to the children and so they were fine to be at the club on that day.

“It was not a case of the manager not being aware but rather the manager taking the steps they felt were correct in managing a challenging situation.”