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Scottish nursery school league table: best childcare ranked

The quality of Scottish childcare appears to be in decline after it emerged that no nurseries were awarded full marks by the care regulator in more than a year.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic the number of top performing nurseries reached double figures each year, peaking at 36 outstanding nurseries in 2016.
Now it is a rarity, with just three awarded top marks in 2023, none in 2022, three in 2021 and two in 2020.
No nursery has been awarded top marks in 2024 despite over 600 inspections taking place so far this year.
More than 1,000 nurseries have been graded since last September, when The Sunday Times published its 2023 league table.
The top performers in 2024 are Seaton School Nursery, run by Aberdeen city council, Toronto Primary School, run by West Lothian council, Langlees Early Learning and Childcare Centre, run by Falkirk council, and Paxton Nursery, run by Fife council, according to this year’s Sunday Times Scottish childcare league table
Seaton and Toronto were rated excellent for staff and leadership, but scored second tier “very good” for setting and care, play and learning.
Langlees and Paxton scored top marks for leadership and care, play and learning, but fell just short on staff and setting.
Poppies Pre-School in Aberdeenshire, Lomond School Nursery in Argyll and Bute, and Woodlea Children’s Centre in Dundee were the last nurseries awarded full marks by inspections in the first quarter of last year.
Glasgow and Edinburgh have the highest number of nurseries that scored 20 and above, indicating at least one their services was rated “excellent”, with 101 in Glasgow and 94 in Edinburgh.
However, Glasgow has about 35,000 children under five, so the ratio of top nurseries per child put Scotland’s largest city in the bottom 20 councils for top nurseries, while Edinburgh was mid-table.
The council with the highest number of top nurseries per child was Stirling, with 31 very good to excellent nurseries serving fewer than 5,000 young children, amounting to more than six per 1,000.
Stirling was closely followed by Angus, which had a similar ratio, with 37 top nurseries serving a child population of nearly 6,000.
East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire had the lowest proportion per child, with just 29 very good to excellent facilities serving nearly 14,000 children, a ratio of two per 1,000.
It is now more than five full quarters since inspectors last found a nursery deserving of full marks, the longest drought since Care Inspectorate records began in 2014.
The Sunday Times Scottish childcare league table uses data extracted from the Care Inspectorate datastore, a spreadsheet updated every month.
The regulator awards marks ranging from six points for excellent to one point for unsatisfactory, across the four categories of setting, staff, leadership and quality of care, play and learning.
The maximum combined score achievable is 24 but the highest score achieved since June last year was 22.
Nurseries are weighted so those graded most recently appear further up the table, to give parents an assurance that the score is as current as possible.
No nursery has scored top marks since March 2023, so the top of this year’s table remains the same as last year’s.
The Times has produced a secondary table of the best nurseries graded in the last 12 months, showing nurseries that scored 21 or 22, indicating they were graded excellent in at least one category and very good in the rest. No nursery has scored higher than 22 points in the last year.
Mill of Mains Out of School Care Club, run by a charity of the same name in Dundee, was the only nursery rated “unsatisfactory” across all grades in the last year.
Inspectors who visited in August last year found that children were “bored … restless and disengaged” and staff record-keeping was poor. The Care Inspectorate said: “Children were at risk of harm from the possibility of incidents not being dealt with appropriately.”
An asthma inhaler was locked in a cabinet that was not easily accessible, and there was no appropriate paperwork to support the administration of life-saving medication. Staff did not wash before preparing food, the snack table was not cleaned, children were not given plates and they were not given healthy balanced food, with options including biscuits and crisps.
Inspectors said: “Children were unsupervised at snack and regularly walked around the room whilst eating. This could cause a potential choking risk.”
Play experiences were “very limited”, games had missing pieces, unsupervised children were “physical with one another” at times and were often out of sight of any adults.
There were no books or imaginative play resources, and children did not access the outdoor area during the inspection. Children and staff told inspectors that they do not go outside every day.
Staff working with children “were not properly assessed” and some were not registered with the Scottish Social Services Council.
Two follow-up inspections took place in November and March and found most of the Care Inspectorate’s requirements had been met, albeit after the agreed deadline, while two requirements were still outstanding, namely site security and staff engagement training.
Nurseries rated unsatisfactory in previous inspections have been upgraded, including a centre run by Edinburgh University where a sleeping child had been injured and others put at risk of choking on food in 2022.
Arcadia@Kings Buildings is now rated “good” for environment and “adequate” in the other categories.
• 1) Seaton School Nursery, Aberdeen • 2) Toronto Primary School Nursery Class, West Lothian • 3) Langlees Early Learning and Childcare Centre, Falkirk• 4) Paxton Nursery Fife • 5) Sgoil Araich Bhaile a Mhanaich Na h-Eileanan Siar• 6) Family Centre – Merkinch, Highland• 7) Calderglen Early Learning and Childcare, Edinburgh • 8) Methilhaven Nursery, Fife • 9) St. Clares Day Nursery, Glasgow• 10) Woodlands Family Nurture Centre, Fife

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