Alastair G. Morrison , Head of George Heriots Junior School was delighted to inform parents that the recent Inspection by the Care Inspectorate came back with an 'Excellent' report.
Mr Morrison says:
The Nursery here at George Heriot’s was recently inspected by the Care Inspectorate, to ensure that our boys and girls are receiving the high quality of care they deserve. We have now heard back from the Inspectorate and I am delighted to inform you that our Nursery has achieved top grades, as follows:
Quality of care and support 6 Excellent
Quality of environment 6 Excellent
These are the two areas on which the Inspectorate chose to focus and we are scored on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 / Excellent being the highest grade possible.
The following are a few excerpts from the report, which can be viewed in full on the school website at: https://www.george-heriots.com/assets/0009/8553/Inspection_Report__Mar19.pdf
[The pupils] experience an exceptional level of support and nurture from an experienced and dedicated staff team who were passionate about their role in supporting each child's learning and development. Staff's trust and respect for children was apparent in the way they used their ideas and interests to create activities and experiences which gave children a sense of wonder.
Positive outcomes were apparent in the confident way children worked together, making decisions and having mature conversations about how to resolve differences of opinion. The well resourced Nursery environment gave children exceptional play and learning opportunities inside and outdoors.
Staff understood the benefits to children of making their own decisions about the level of risk they wanted to take in their play. They were on hand to support and guide children, intervening with comments or questions only when they judged this would add value to the children's experience. We saw children flourish and have fun in this enabling environment.
The Inspection process involved consultation with parents, Staff and, of course, the children. We are most grateful to parents who responded, particularly with such positive comment. A sample of the feedback:
“George Heriot's Nursery provides a caring and stimulating environment for our child.
The staff are exceptional and they genuinely care about the children. The variety of activities is outstanding, with specialist teachers involved in many of them. We cannot praise the Nursery and staff highly enough.”
“Our child absolutely loves it there”
“We have found Heriot's Nursery to be of an extremely high standard. Of particular note is the fantastic way the staff use the indoor and outdoor space to provide children with similar experiences both in and out doors…….our child has thrived under the care of Heriot's”
“The care our child has received is outstanding. The teaching is exemplary; the teachers have quickly identified our child's strengths and weaknesses. We have been nothing but impressed by the Nursery and staff.”
“A high quality service that repeatedly exceeds our expectations. The staff celebrate and recognise their individual strengths and give them the space to develop as individuals.”
“They also identify areas where they are less confident, encouraging them to take risks. Parent postcards have reassured us that we are working in partnership to support our child's development. Every day our child goes into Nursery happy and excited at the prospect of the day. As parents, we could ask for little more.”
“They are animated at the end of the day with stories of all of their activities and learning.”
“We have nothing but praise for the Nursery team. It's exceptionally well led, everyone knows our child and seem genuinely interested, not just in them but in all of the children.”
“We are full of praise for the staff who work hard to make sure every day is special and fun for our child.
Deciding to enrol our child in Heriot's is the best decision we've made.”
The final word must go to one of our wonderful children, naturally:
“I love everything about Nursery because it helps me to learn. We get stories. I'm going to be the big head teacher when I grow up.”
Hugely well done to Mr Colin McCloghry (Depute, Early Years) and the excellent team of Nursery Staff for this richly-deserved, wholesome praise.