JENNY GILRUTH MSP VISITS GLENROTHES NURSERY

Published date : 09 Jul 2018

JENNY GILRUTH MSP VISITS GLENROTHES NURSERY

MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes Jenny Gilruth has paid visit to staff and children at the Rainbow Nursery, Glenrothes. The firm are largest provider of private childcare in Fife, with nurseries also located in Dalgety Bay and St Andrews.

The visit comes ahead of the Scottish Government’s pledge to increase paid-for nursery places from the current 600 hours to 1140 hours for three year and four-year-olds by August 2020 – the equivalent of about 30 hours a week in term time.

This year the Scottish government wants to train an additional 1,813 new starts for HNC college and university as part of its drive to recruit 11,000 people into childcare in Scotland, and encourage more school leavers into the profession.

Commenting, Ms Gilruth said:

“I was delighted to meet with the staff and toddlers at Rainbow Nursery last week. I was given a fantastic welcome by the children and I was pleased to learn more about the top quality childcare and fantastic facilities at Rainbow Glenrothes.

“The earliest years of our young people’s lives are crucial and the evidence tells us that if our early learning and childcare offer is to help give children the best start in life and contribute to closing the poverty-related attainment gap, it has to be of high quality.

“The Scottish Government’s plans to double the paid-for provision of childcare across Scotland by 2020 supports this ethos, and looks to create a highly skilled, diverse and dedicated workforce to deliver the ambitious pledge.”

Nursery Manager at Rainbow Glenrothes, Nikki Webster, said:

“It was great for Jenny to take the time to visit the children and see first-hand the hard work of all the staff at Rainbow Nursery. It is vital that local childcare businesses like ours maintain strong relationships with our elected representatives, now and in the future.”

ENDS

Local Reporters, Glenrothes Gazette, St Andrews Citizen, Courier (Fife)