Child care centres rated weak

| 16/10/2019 | 36 Comments
Cayman News Service
Rite Start Day Care

(CNS): As school inspectors returned to their work scrutinising the quality of education on offer in both the public and private systems last month, two early learning child care centres were rated ‘weak’ following their recent inspections. Inspectors found that most of the indicators at Quality Child Care were ‘weak’ with only a few areas managing to reach a ‘satisfactory’ standard. Meanwhile, Rite Start was also judge ‘weak’, as the centre failed to make even a satisfactory grade in the areas judged.

In a report published earlier this month, inspectors found that Rite Start Day Care and Preschool in Savannah “had a strong Christian ethos and all children and staff enjoyed regular opportunities to participate in worship” and that staff were warm, caring and affirming in their interactions with children, but that there were a lot of weaknesses.

Children’s achievement and progress in key areas of the curriculum, including elements of respect, well-being, communication and exploration were all found to be ‘weak’ as was the standard of teaching, learning and assessment.

Children’s verbal and symbolic communication was ‘weak’, inspectors said, as was their listening ability. During “listening experiences such as stories, nursery rhymes and circletime activities, the majority were not attentive and most did not respond appropriately to questions”.

At Quality Child Care in West Bay, inspectors again found a positive Christian ethos with caring, attentive staff, but they also identified many important weaknesses in a number of key areas. “Most significantly, the quality of teaching, curriculum, leadership, self-evaluation and improvement planning and aspects of health and safety required improvement,” they said.

Inspectors noted that the children did not respond to instructions or display care and empathy for others and would throw toys across the room. Their learning in respect of others was ‘weak’ and a majority of children were not developing the ability to take turns and share fairly, among many other major weaknesses at the school.

See the reports on the OES website or in the CNS Library


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Category: Education, Local News, Politics, Private Sector Oversight

Comments (36)

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  1. Eye roll says:

    Wow!! Look at all these Jesus haters!! And I’m sure these are the same people teaching their children not to hate. Hypocrites. It’s no wonder your island is full of conceited, money chasing cheaters.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Ask the children. They are not stupid. More likely to tell the truth than adults, that’s for sure.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Let’s pray together for edumacation

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  4. Brac Parent says:

    Will the Brac ‘Daycare’ be inspected?

    CNS: It already has been inspected. Click on the link to either the OES or the CNS Library at the end. It’s easier to find in the Library.

  5. Moi says:

    About time they stick to education. The bible is not what any one should be paying any school to teach their children. Church and State – separate!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Fist of all,,, its private pre-schools, there is no state there. Secondly, you all misquote the ‘church and state’ quote. Jefferson was responding to concerns raised by the church that Christian values and free practice of christianity would be taken away. He was telling the Church that the constitution would stand as a wall of separation between church and state that would protect Christian Freedom. Thirdly, even if you only see Christianity as a tool for delivering some good things, like sports, the arts, music, martial arts etc, then an objective person would also value the delivery of a moral upbringing over not having that just for the sake of trying to somehow convey that christianity is somehow opposed to education and that in Cayman you have to have one or the other……. in other words, I say that rather than getting rid of what they are doing well they should keep what they are doing well, including their Christian ethos, and they should improve their educational delivery.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The alternative is that you can be taught and have morals, and be a good person without the inclusion of religious beliefs. They can be, and are, separate. PS I don’t consider Christianity as a tool for delivering sports, arts or music, I do consider it a tool for teaching one form of religion, everything else is teaching and should be separate. I don’t mean to pick on you, but the inclusion of martial arts is quite funny, as martial arts is derived from ‘arts of Mars’ – the Roman god of war.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    In blunt terms, working in this area requires proper training and experience to get the best out of the kids. Simply being a ‘good’ Christian (whatever that implies) isn’t enough.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Thats what happen when you out jesus first

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Isn’t day care different than school?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Not if you register (also) as a preschool, e.g., Rite Start Day Care and Preschool (one of the schools in the article).

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  9. Anonymous says:

    and so the cycle begins….
    but the parents obviously cannot afford anything better…so you get what you pay for.
    bottom line….stop having kids.

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    • Beach Cleaner says:

      Yes, if you can’t afford them and don’t feel that YOU should also be held accountable for lack of respect, empathy for others and not teaching your children to share … stop having them and blaming teachers and everyone else for their bad behaviour!

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  10. Anonymous says:

    And yet we grant almost unlimited free work permits for all these so called teachers to come in, and destroy the prospects of future generations. Where are the standards? Where is the enforcement?

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    • anon says:

      8.17am ask the Caymanian owners of the pre-schools.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Caymanians from where? And don’t we (including Caymanians) have regulators that are supposed to stop us from hiring incompetents from other countries?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Where are the parents?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ummm, at work, trying to do the best they can for their children and relying on their government to ensure the service they are paying for is at a sufficient standard.

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        • Anonymous says:

          So you blame the school for your children’s rotten behaviour?! What was the point in having children if you are not willing to take ownership of very basic social skills that you as a parent should teach your children.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Who approves these “schools”?

  11. Anonymous says:

    So maybe people will start seeing a correlation between too much of a church vibe and too little of an education. Also, they’re little kids, they need to learn through play and not pray!

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  12. Anonymous says:

    “Rite Start” should be your first clue.
    No inspection of CIS yet? Wonder why.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because inspectors don’t wanna get sick after going to the school next to the dump

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      • Anonymous says:

        Nah. School is upwind. Downwind you will find the home of the elected member for the constituency where the dump sits however, along with Kirk Supermarket which you likely frequent, among many other places. Those getting sick are not those attending the school.

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    • Anon says:

      Or St. Ignatius?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Can’t speak for others but have a child at St Ignatius. Couldn’t be more impressed with how happy the children are and ours is getting excellent grades. I am sure an inspection would recognise how good they are but we do pay for that too!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Giving them time to improve before the inspection!!!

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        • Anonymous says:

          they do get time to improve… I believe after the evaluation, they come back 6 months later to see what progress has been made.

    • Anonymous says:

      There is clearly a need to strengthen the quality of what is being offered as early childhood education. That said, what is of concern from the finding is clear indication that parents are not putting in the time that is required to ensure that their children are achieving at an acceptable standing.

      Until we start to hold the parents accountable nothing will change for the better.

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      • Anonymous says:

        It is important to remember that not all parents are educated to a high standard and will rely on the schools to send home guidance on what their child is expected to learn and to explain to them how they can best assist their children.

        I agree that education has to be a dual effort between parents / caregivers and the schools but in some instances you will find parents that do not have a full understanding of the appropriate curriculum.

        Bearing this in mind, the schools should be expected to take the lead guiding parents on how to best support their teachings.

        Schools need to be held to and pushed to maintain the highest standards by means of these regular inspections.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Sharing and being respectful, listening and taking turns are basic skills learned from home. Don’t get your panties all tied up in a knot. Higher level learning i may agree with you. But this is a preschool report here.

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      • Anonymous says:

        In a country where Cayman nationals are never held to account, good luck with that!

    • Anonymous says:

      Its another Dart conspiracy!

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