AN IRVINE nursery has shown signs of vast improvement following the latest Care Inspectorate visit to the premises.

Burnside House Nursery on Kilwinning road was rated weak across all inspected areas following another visit by the care sector watchdog in February of 2022.

The service is registered to provide care for a maximum of 140 children and is provided by Childcare Scotland Properties Limited from its own premises.

The weak rating was given for its quality of care and support, environment, staffing, as well as management and leadership.

The establishment was then given four requirements to meet to improve the care on offer at the nursery.

Another unannounced visit then followed in June of the same year with only one of these requirements - ensure children are cared for in an environment that is safe, with appropriate infection control procedures in place - met within this timescale.

Though upon the Care Inspectorate's latest visit in November, marked improvement was shown right across the board.

Following on from the two prior visits, Burnside Nursery was still required to ensure that children receive nurturing and respectful care and support that is right for them and meets their needs.

Though on this occasion, the watchdog was in a position to say this had now been met.

Their report added: "We saw staff that were kind and caring in their interactions with the children. Overall, they responded positively to children and provided appropriate support and encouragement."

While a further requirement of the Care Inspectorate was to ensure that skilled and knowledgeable staff are employed in sufficient numbers to meet children's needs.

They were satisfied that this had now been met - noting that the staff team was now more established, and that turnover in those working at Burnside House had now reduced.

The report continued: "Staff training and support meant that they were better equipped to meet children's needs and provide quality experiences.

"Almost all children were settled, happy, confident and engaged in their play and learning."

And finally, it was expected that provider would be able to ensure that children and parents experience a service which has a culture of continuous improvement because there are robust and effective quality assurance procedures in place. They should be confident that their service is well led and managed.

The Care Inspectorate report noted that actions had been taken to meet this requirement, which included, but was not limited to, the appointment of a new and experienced manager.

It added: "The recently appointed manager had a clear plan for developing the service to move forward.

"She had quickly identified priorities for improvement and described to us how she planned to involve staff, children and families to build on recent improvements."