Daycarecentreforchildren orderedtomakeimprovements

A day care service for kids has been given a list of improvements to make.

Prestwick Day Care of Children, in the town’s Caerlaverock Road, must meet a range of requirements after a visit from the Care Inspectorate. The service, based in two rooms at Prestwick Community Centre, provides care to a maximum of 40 children aged three years and above and 32 children aged four years and above in Glenburn Primary School.

A service is offered during term time, before school, in Glenburn Primary School’s dining hall. The Inspectorate received five reponses from parents and two from children.

Among the positive comments, the scrutiny body was told there were “loads of things to do” and staff were “nice.”

One parent said the service was “fabulous” and staff were described as “friendly and warm.”

A drawback was the service’s current personal plans for children and youngsters didn’t have access to drinking water.

The Care Inspectorate said: “Personal plans were in place for children; however, these plans had not been reviewed within the appropriate timescales.”

Snack time behaviour was also a concern with the report saying: “During our visit, children were not consistently encouraged to eat at the table. A few children were eating crisps whilst sitting on the floor and continuing to play. This did not provide children with the opportunity to have a quality experience during snack time.”

Among the requirements to be met, the service should: “further develop children’s personal plans”, ensure fresh drinking water “is available for children to access independently”, “increase opportunities” for children to have fun and be involved in planning for their play and learning experiences and establish a “continuous and well judged” programme of change - linked to strong self-evaluation for improvement.

The service must also ensure staff undertake “professional development” and use current best practice guidance.