Bright Horizons Treehouse Early Care and Education Centre at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen were recipients of a beneficial recovery visit provided by Education Scotland recently, an approach taken by the latter to support education settings to recover in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Educational settings were invited to take part in the initiative offered by Education Scotland which focused on three areas in offering support with continuity of learning, wellbeing of children and nursery colleagues, as well as safeguarding. The visit was carried out by inspectors with the aim of learning from the setting about what has worked well, and the challenges faced during the pandemic.

Jane Logie, early childhood area director for Scotland at Bright Horizons, was part of the process in putting the nursery forward for the visit opportunity, with Bright Horizons’ last inspection from Education Scotland being back in 2018.

“We thank the team at Treehouse for doing us proud,” Logie said. “From when I first suggested this to the team, every single member embraced the challenge and could see the opportunities it would bring. They worked hard to demonstrate the fantastic job they do every day. It also re-energised me and made me reflect on how we deliver and will continue to deliver high quality education.”

Treehouse Early Care and Education Centre is operated by Bright Horizons in partnership with Robert Gordon University. It’s a Workplace Nursery and provides employees and students from the university access to high quality, affordable childcare that complements their working patterns. There are also spaces in the setting to support families from the local community too.

Fiona McQueen, nursery manager, said: “The visit was extremely beneficial for us, and we were happy to embrace the opportunity to receive feedback on enhancing the high-quality education we provide. The feedback was invaluable, and we look forward to implementing that into our programme moving forward.” 

The initiative was taken as a result of recognition by Education Scotland of the impact the pandemic has had on the sector. Although the whole nursery was inspected and practice taken into account, feedback mainly related to practice in the preschool room, with the remit being settings who are in receipt of preschool funding are offered inspection.