News

19th Jan - Outstanding HMIe report for Knightswood

HMIe, the education inspectors for Scotland visited our Knightswood nursery in November and during their time there found that practice across the board was very good. HMIe grade inspections on a 6 point scale, with Very Good being the 5th point and indicating that the aspects inspected were particular strengths. It is virtually unknown for a nursery to receive such a resounding endorsement of their practice. Particular strengths of the nursery that were identified include

• Caring staff and their relationships with children and parents.
• Children who are confident and motivated to learn.
• Effective teamwork of staff in supporting children.
• Enthusiastic staff and their commitment to ongoing training

Click here to read the whole report.

13th Jan - Cumbernauld gets its first Green Flag

Congratulations to the team at Step By Step Cumbernauld on gaining their first Green Flag. This is a recognition of the nursery’s environmental awareness and eco-friendliness. This a mark of the commitment of the team of staff and parents who have worked together on this project and who have changed many of the practices in the nursery to improve their environmental impact.

Community helps children and staff stranded in nursery

Staff and children at our Cumbernauld nursery bunked up in their Carrickstone home on Monday night after being unable to travel home. Local Carrickstone residents showed their true spirit when they rallied to help staff and children who were forced to spend the night in their nursery. Click here for more.

Investors In People Gold Award

Step By Step Nurseries had our third Investors in People Accreditation in November. We were delighted to be awarded the new Gold Standard – something attained by less than 1% of Scotland’s IIP organisations. We are very proud of our staff team. We have always known that their commitment to their jobs and to the care and attention the children need is exceptional, this award confirms that the staff members are equally committed to each other.

Staff Graduation

On 18th September we celebrated the graduation of 13 of our Modern Apprentices with their SVQ level 3 in children’s care learning and development. These are Jamie Lee, Rachel, Kirsty, Michele and Siobhan from Maryhill, Jodie, Demi, and Kirsty from Knightswood, Siobhan, Kirstin, Lisa F and Nicole from Cumbernauld and Lesley from the Out of School Club. We also congratulated 3 of our senior staff on the completion of their SVQ level 4 Sarah from Knightswood and Lynne and Donna from Cumbernauld. Finally Claire, Lisa C and Susan from Cumbernauld were commended on their PDA awards.

The party after the graduation raised £750 for our school in Sierra Leone – we hope this will help them buy Christmas presents for the children.

This is a spectacular level of personal achievement in the last 18 months from a staff team of only 50, and leaves us with only 6 staff in the whole company working on their first qualification. We have 14 people currently doing their PDA, 3 managers working towards a BA in childhood practice and one doing a Post Graduate Diploma in Childhood practice – All to keep improving the quality of care and education for the children in the nurseries and Out of School Club.

Knightswood – Eco School Project

We had confirmation just before Christmas that our Knightswood nursery has been awarded the Silver Eco-school Award and is now well on its way to its Green Flag. Everyone on the team is delighted – please contact Lissa if you would like to take part in this exciting project at the nursery.