# Little Scholars Creche, Dunboyne — inspection reports and findings > Little Scholars Creche (Dunboyne, Co. Meath): what Tusla inspections found — 3 published inspection(s), non-compliances and the provider's corrective actions. ## Little Scholars Creche Sessional · 0 - 6 Years · Dunboyne, Meath · Tusla ID **TU2015MH119** · Registered since 1 January 2026 An inspection records what inspectors saw **on one day**; services respond with corrective actions — [how to read this](/methodology.md). #### Inspection of 29 June 2026 — Inspection Report Full report (PDF, Tusla) **Immediate action notice.** The inspection focused on an examination of compliance under regulations x, x and x; however, on inspection additional non-compliance which posed a risk was identified under Regulation xx. These findings are outlined within the relevant regulations within this report. ##### Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child - Safe sleep: 1. Ten-minute sleep checks were not recorded to observe the colour, position, breathing patterns of one child aged 16 months from the Ladybugs room who slept from 11.30am to 11.50am. This is not within safe sleep guidelines. Infection Control: 2. The steps in the services infection control policy were observed not to be followed as evidenced by the following: • The children attending the Sunshine room or the Ladybugs room did not wash their hands before they had their morning snack. • The practitioner or the children’s hands were not always washed following nappy changing. • Practitioners were observed wiping children’s noses without washing their hands afterwards. 3. The children attending the Bumblebee room were brought to the nappy changing area in pairs, while one child was being changed the other child was playing on the floor. This routine is not in keeping with good infection control practice. 4. In the Bumblebee room the required 50cm distance was not maintained between the children’s beds when the children were sleeping. Action submitted by the Registered Provider Corrective Action Safe Sleep: 1. Staff were reminded of the importance recording the children sleeping, their positions, breathing and body colour. Infection Control: 2., 3., 4. All staff have been remined on the importance of hygiene and infection control. Preventive Action Safe Sleep: 1. Staff were told the importance of completing the record sheets. Also new sleep diagrams have been completed in order to ensure all sleep beds are at least 50cm apart at all times. Infection Control: 2., 3., 4. Visual aids have been put in place to ensure staff are using correct measures to prevent infection spreading and resent policies and procedures stating the importance of hand washing. Summary Comment The inspectors have reviewed the actions and evidence submitted. The noncompliance identified under regulation 23 Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child has been adequately addressed ##### Regulation 24 — Checking in and out and record of attendance - (1) The children’s attendance records were not completed in a timely manner as demonstrated by the following: • In the Sunshine room at 09:50 am there were 12 children in attendance of which 3 were signed into the attendance record. This was brought to the attention of one of the practitioners in the care room who retrospectively completed the attendance record. • In the Ladybugs room the details of the attendance of two children had not been accurately recorded in the attendance book. One child who was present on the day was not recorded as present from 09.15am until 09:50am and a second child who was present on the day was not recorded as present from 11.30am to 11.50am. It is acknowledged that this was rectified on both occasions when the inspector brought this to the attention of staff. Contemporaneous accurate attendance logs must be maintained to support the safe evacuation of children in an emergency - Corrective Action (1) All staff have been reminded that roll books and attendance is recorded correctly when children arrive/ depart of the service. Preventive Action (1) Management checks roll books daily to ensure they are completed properly Summary Comment The inspectors have reviewed the actions and evidence submitted. The noncompliance identified under regulation 24 - Checking in and out and record of attendance has been adequately addressed Found compliant: Regulation 9, 10, 11, 19, 32. #### Inspection of 17 November 2025 — Inspection Report Full report (PDF, Tusla) ##### Regulation 9 — Management and recruitment - (3) A review of the staff files indicated that Garda vetting had not been received in advance of 1 staff member commencing employment in the service - Corrective Action (3) Garda Vetting will be received before any staff member starts in house training in future. Preventive Action (3) No staff member will begin in Little Scholars prior to Garda Vetting. Summary Comment The inspectors have reviewed the actions and evidence submitted. The noncompliance identified under regulation 9 – Management and recruitment has been adequately addressed ##### Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child - Basic needs: 1. In the Sunshine room, the children’s water bottles were stored in the children’s cubbies which were up high both out of sight and reach of the children. This did not facilitate the children in asking for or gesturing that they wanted a drink of water throughout the day. Physical and material environment: 2. There were no toys or equipment provided in the Ladybugs room to support the children to develop their gross motor skills. The Ladybugs room accommodated the youngest children who were aged 11 months to 17 months old on the day of inspection. Some of whom in attendance were in the pre-walking stage or in the early stages of walking. 3. There was no interest areas developed in the Ladybug room or the Sunshine room for the children. Furthermore, there was a lack of sensory or wooden materials available for the children in either of the 2 care rooms to use. 4. There was no additional equipment readily available to the children in the Ladybug room to use with the play kitchen. The play resources for use with the kitchen were stored on pull out shelves which the children in the room were not developmentally able to access or retrieve. 5. The family photographs that were available to the children in the Ladybug room and the Sunshine room were positioned out of the children’s line of vision. This reduced the opportunity for the children to see the photographs and use them to bridge the gap between the service and home - Corrective Action Basic needs: 1. Drinks bottles are now labelled and on a shelf at child’s eye level to encourage non-verbal communication. Physical and material environment: 2. Developmental age-appropriate gross motor toys have been provided within the room and are altered throughout the day including pre-walk along toys. 3. The room has been divided up into areas of interest, such as the home corner, cosy corner, art area, construction area etc. New wooden toys and materials are available. Kitchen role play is now encouraged in the area of in interest with real life materials and wooden toys. 4. Kitchen toys have been brought down to children’s level and are easily accessible. The room has been divided up into areas of interests such as home corner, cosy corner etc. Home life equipment has also been brought in for the children to explore and role play. 5. Family walls have been brought down to children’s eye level. Preventive Action Basic needs: 1. Drinks bottles will be available to all children throughout the day. Physical and material environment: 2. New toys have been introduced. 3. New sensory and wooden toys have been bought for the room. The room layout has been redesigned and made into clear areas of interest. Family wall has been moved down to children’s level. Kitchen role play with natural materials have been introduced. 4. All toys will be readily available to the children and set up at the kitchen daily to encourage use. 5. Family wall is now at child’s eye level and will be used actively throughout the day by the children ##### Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child - Infection Control: On the day of inspection Infection control measures were not always in place or followed which increased the risk of both the spread of infection and risk of cross contamination as demonstrated by the following: 1. The gloves that were worn in the service to change nappies were not appropriate. The gloves in use were seamed polythene gloves. These gloves are unsuitable due to the risk of them splitting which poses an infection control risk. 2. Soother management practice in the Ladybugs room was observed to be inadequate: Three children in the care room used soothers which were stored collectively in a bowl on a countertop in the care room. The soothers were placed uncovered in the bowl when the children arrived in the service and provided to them when going to sleep. The staff members stated that the soothers were not sterilised in the service and were placed back in the children’s bags at the end of the day. There was an infection control risk due to the storage method, increased risk of a child being given another child’s soother in addition to the inadequate sterilisation procedures. 3. The water in the hot taps in a number of the children’s wash hand basins in the sanitary accommodation felt cold to touch. The temperature of the water ranged from 11.1 oC to 13.7 oC. This included the children’s wash hand basin in the sanitary accommodation located off the hallway on the ground floor of the service in addition to the water at the 2 children’s wash hand basins in the Bumblebee Room. Cold water does not support pre-school children to effectively wash their hands. Administration of Medication: 4. The administration of medication policy was not followed on the day of inspection as demonstrated by the following: • The parents of a child who was in attendance informed the staff member verbally that the child required medication and staff members completed the administration of medication form. A medicine consent form was not completed by the parents in advance of their children receiving medication. The services Medications policy states “parents/guardians must fill in the medicine consent form of the service authorising the administration of medication to their child. Staff cannot give medicine unless written permission is given”. The current practice is at variance to the services policy. Safe Sleep: 5. Sleep checks were not conducted in line with the services sleep policy as demonstrated by the following: Staff members in the Ladybugs room were not recording sleep checks at 10-minute intervals which was at variance with the services safe sleep policy. At 11:40 am when 5 children were sleeping in the sleep room adjacent to the care room it was observed that the last recorded sleep check occurred at 11:10am. All sleeping children must be physically checked every 10 minutes to include checking the child’s colour, breathing and sleeping position - Corrective Action Infection Control: 1. Correct gloves are now used to prevent the spread of germs and infection. 2. Soothers: soothers are now kept on site to be sanitised to prevent ross contamination and to ensure high standard of hygiene. A sanitiser “tree” has now been used with individual labelled “branches” to prevent cross contamination. This will prevent inadequate sterilisation procedure. 3. The boiler has now been serviced to ensure all hand-washing stations for the children are correct water temperature. Water temperature record sheets have now been used to document the temperature. Administration of Medication: 4. Policies and procedures will be followed alongside with medical administration forms. And will be signed prior to administration where possible. Safe Sleep: 5. Staff will record via sleep charts to ensure the children’s sleep checks are recorded. Preventive Action Infection Control: 1. New gloves latex and vinyl gloves have been bought and used. 2. Soother sanitiser trees have now been used with individual labels to prevent cross contamination. Soothers are sterilised in service and remain in service to prevent cross contamination. 3. Plumber has been in to service the boiler to ensure water temperatures are correct. Administration of Medication: 4. New medicine forms to be signed before medicine is given Safe Sleep: 5. All staff are reminded of the importance of this and must ensure to complete daily sleep charts ##### Regulation 24 — Checking in and out and record of attendance - (1) The children’s attendance records were not completed in a timely manner as demonstrated by the following: • A child in attendance in the Butterfly room was observed not to be signed into the attendance record at 12 midday despite being present in the service from earlier in the day. • Three children in attendance in the Sunshine room were not observed to be signed into the attendance record at 9.55am despite being present in the service from earlier in the day. It is acknowledged that this was rectified when the inspector brought this to the attention of staff in the Sunshine room. This poses a risk of the children not being counted under the daily supervision routines or in the event of an evacuation emergency - Corrective Action (1) Role book: All children are signed into rooms and role books as soon as they arrive/ depart from the building with the correct times been documented. Preventive Action (1) Staff training and staff handbooks have been revised to highlight the important of correct time keeping and attendance records Found compliant: Regulation 11, 25, 26. #### Inspection of 17 October 2024 — Change in Circumstance Full report (PDF, Tusla) No non-compliance recorded in this report. ### Other services in Meath - [Little Scholars Creche](/creche/little-scholars-creche-dunboyne-2.md) Dunboyne - [Little Scholars Creche](/creche/little-scholars-creche-dunboyne-village.md) Dunboyne Village - [Little Toppers Montessori](/creche/little-toppers-montessori-athboy.md) Athboy - [Maria's Montessori](/creche/maria-s-montessori-drumree.md) Drumree - [Playmates Preschool Ltd](/creche/playmates-preschool-ltd-navan.md) Navan - [Small Steps](/creche/small-steps-dunboyne.md) Dunboyne - [Athboy Montessori School](/creche/athboy-montessori-school-athboy.md) Athboy - [Little Robins](/creche/little-robins-navan.md) Navan - [Little Rascals Playschool](/creche/little-rascals-playschool-trim.md) Trim [Alert me when a new report is published](/help.md) · [Dated report on this service — €19](/report.md) --- Página: https://creche-inspection-reports.pages.dev/creche/little-scholars-creche-dunboyne/ Fonte: Tusla Early Years Inspectorate Recolha: 2026-09-11