IN A report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) released last week, the appalling condition of Campbeltown Nursery’s building was not commented on, although the staff at the nursery have been highly commended for their work.
The inspection which was carried out in December 2007 does not mention the condition of the building which is usually a main point highlighted in HMIE reports.
The key strengths were ‘supportive relationships between staff, children and families’ and ‘the hardworking and dedicated staff team’.
Parents raised concerns about the building through pre-inspection questionnaires.
Councillor Donald Kelly has written to HMIE regarding this. He said: ‘Given the condition of the building I have written to HMIE to ask why there was no reference to the various problems which have been identified by the council.
‘Normally in any HMIE report, one of the key concerns is the condition of the building, so naturally I am concerned that there has been no reference made to the building in this case.’
This inspection was part of the integrated inspection programme by the Care Commission and HM Inspectorate of Education.
In the guidelines for the inspection of a pre-school it does not state whether the condition of the accommodation would be taken into consideration, but it is something that Campbeltown Grammar School fell down on when they were inspected in March last year, and was described as ‘unsatisfactory’.
At the time of inspection the total roll was 44 children, although the nursery is only registered for 40 children attending at any one session.
The recommendations for improvement made by the inspectorates were ‘the head of centre and staff should ensure all children are appropriately challenged in all aspects of their learning’, as well as recommending that the head of centre should also continue to improve systems for monitoring the work of the nursery.
Fortunately the crumbling building does not seem to be affecting the children’s learning; ‘meeting children’s needs within the nursery was good’ states the report, although many parents and councillors have expressed their fear for the children and staff’s safety over the past few weeks.
Parent Carolyn Renton said: ‘The parents are all quite disappointed that the HMIE report failed to comment on the nursery building’s condition even though they picked up on the fact that parents had mentioned their concerns about the building in the questionnaires that they had been given out prior to the inspection.
‘There seems to be a lack of consistency in these reports as apparently the report done for Campbeltown Grammar School criticised the condition of their building.’
Isobel Strong, spokesperson from education and lifelong learning said: ‘I am aware of the problems of the Nursery building at Campbeltown. While a new building might be desirable, in my opinion it would take too long.
‘The council is looking at other options so that Nursery education can still be provided in the town in the short and medium term.’
