| Administrative History | Mrs. Wilma Cumming was the manager of the University's Rocking Horse Nursery from 1989 until retiring in 2002. |
| Description | Interview with Mrs. Wilma Cumming, recorded on 22 October 2002 by Carolyn Pennington
Transcript of Interview :
CP When did you first start working with children?
WC I started in January 1958, when I started my training at Pitfoddels Residential Nursery.
CP What sort of training was this?
WC It was training for a Nursery Nurse. We had to do one probationary year and two years as a student to become a staff nurse to work in childcare.
CP This was a residential nursery was it?
WC It was. Part of the training was in the residential nursery and then we had to go out to the day nurseries and the nursery schools to finish the training.
CP What did you do after that?
WC I became a staff nurse at Pitfoddels Residential Nursery looking after the children there. They were full time children that had been taken into care for various reasons.
CP Did you work throughout Aberdeen?
WC I stayed at Pitfoddels Nursery for 6 years, then I became pregnant and had my own two children. From there I went to work at Ferryhill Playgroup.
CP This was when your own children were young?
WC Yes, one daughter had gone to school by then and the other daughter came to playgroup with me. I was there for 17 years.
CP Were you running it yourself?
WC I was joint supervisor.
CP Was it a purpose built premises?
WC No it was in the church hall at Ferryhill South Church as it was at that time, which is now Ferryhill Parish Church.
CP Did you enjoy playgroup work?
WC Wonderful.
CP Was it mornings only or what?
WC Mornings only at that time. Five mornings a week and it was wonderful. It was very good for the children, but also for the parents, because Aberdeen was becoming a cosmopolitan city and a lot of the parents were incomers to Aberdeen with no family, so there were lots of friendships set up.
CP When did you become associated with the Rocking Horse Nursery? Were you the first person?
WC I was involved from just before it opened. I was involved from May 1989 to equip the nursery and get it ready for opening in July 1989.
CP Could we just go back a bit. What were the beginnings of the nursery? Who founded it? Because in my time there was no nursery here.
WC The nursery was founded by a group of parents, who took three years from the first meeting to the actual opening of the nursery to set it into being. These parents that there was a great need for a childcare facility within the University for both staff and students and they spent three years looking for premises, etc.
CP These were staff, were they?
WC Staff and interested people. They spent three years trying to get the nursery up and running and thankfully they were successful.
CP Did they start in these premises here?
WC Yes.
CP Were they rented from the University?
WC They were rented from the University and gradually over the years the umbrella of University help and involvement has become stronger.
CP The nursery is open to whom?
WC The nursery is open for the staff and students of the University.
CP Full time students?
WC Full time students, part time students. Obviously their commitment to the nursery depends on their commitment to the University.
CP You were involved in equipping the new nursery and getting it sorted out. I mean, what was the building before? Was it part of a department?
WC The building, I believe, was a private house before. I think there was a professor who lived in it here and some students who lodged with this family and in 1989 the nursery was a 24 place facility in the big part of the building. The we went on to become a 36 place nursery and finally 47 place nursery when we knocked through, as it were, into the adjoining premises, into the little house in the High Street.
CP And you have got grounds outside?
WC We have a wonderful garden outside. I think we must be the envy of lots and lots of nurseries to have such a lovely, large, mature garden as a facility.
CP You have got a sort of playhouse?
WC We have got a playhouse. The parents raised money for this and then over the last two or three years we constructed the teaching garden, where there is lots of shape, size, numbers of various things and that was very successful.
CP You have children from, what from what?
WC We have children from 0 to 5.
CP Literary 0?
WC Yes, yes. From 2 months. We try not to take them before 2 months, until they 5 or well 5 and three months, when they go to school. That would be the oldest one.
CP How do you manage with small babies?
WC Small babies are wonderful! Parents can be a little bit of a problem leaving them with us, but they know they have too, but the small babies are charming! We become very attached to the, obviously.
CP You have got a nursery for the young ones upstairs?
WC We have three departments. One 0 - 2 years, with 12 children. The 2 - 3 years department with 15 children and the 3 - 5 years have 18 - 20 children everyday, or maximum everyday. Altogether we can have something like between 60 and 70 children on the register over a week.
CP So children are often here for ½ a day are they?
WC Yes. They can choose to come the minimum of three sessions, which can be mornings, afternoons or a full day and a half day up to the maximum of ten sessions, which is 5 days.
CP Are some very small babies here all week whilst their parents go back to work ?
WC Yes. Which can be hard for the parents. But it is the decision that they make and they live with it and we take good care of their babies in their absence. They then spend quality time with them when they get them home.
CP And they have their meals here?
WC They have their meals here. We have a snack in the morning at 9.30, lunch at 11.45 and a snack in the afternoon at 2.45.
CP I read your brochure with a great interest in the menus you suggest.
WC They are very well fed! It is a very healthy diet. We have lots of fruit and vegetables, milk. We have varied lunch menus, pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetarian dishes, meat, chicken, fish. They children all love their fish.
CP They all love their fish do they? Fish fingers?
WC No, not fish fingers. We have fish!
CP Well that is only right and proper in Aberdeen I think! What sort of numbers of staff do you have?
WC In the babies we need 4 staff for the 12 children. In the 2- 3's we have 4 to the 15 and in the 3-5's we have 3 or 4 to the 18. So there are about 14 on the care team altogether and sometimes a part time worker.
CP That's quite a lot. Are these norms laid down by the ..?
WC They are laid down by what used to be Social Work department, which since April has become the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and also the Children's Act 1989.
CP Do you have much involvement with these? Are you inspected?
WC Yes, we are inspected annually and are also open to spot checks whenever they wish to visit.
CP Is there any connection with the Medical people?
WC We can approach the Health Board or Community Medicine or any of these people at any time for help and guidance. We have a health visitor who has started coming once a month to meet with the parents and their children if they so require.
CP How do you select the children? Is there any selection procedure at all?
WC It is done by .. I don't call it a waiting list, as it is more a list of prospective users, which is open to any member of staff or student to put their babies name on this list. From here we go forward to find out which vacancies we have and match up the vacancies with the list of prospective users and therefore we get a balance of staff and student users and also for the age groups.
CP I suppose mother apply whilst they are pregnant?
WC Yes they do. I do insist that they have their pregnancy confirmed before they actually fill in forms!
CP Well yes, there is that! Is it throughout the university?
WC It is throughout the University. Staff, Students, Administration …
CP Would you have people from the Medical School and other campuses?
WC Yes.
CP Do you have brothers and sisters here at the same time?
WC Quite often we have brothers and sisters because obviously we if we have an older child we welcome the younger in for continuity of care for the family.
CP They stay here until they are four.
WC They stay here until they are five, until they are ready for school. So they can be five at the beginning of March and go to school in August, which gives them almost 5 months, would be oldest one.
CP How long is the day for the children.
WC The staff come in by 8.30. The children arrive between 8.30 and 8.45 and the half-day ones go home at lunchtime, or come in at lunchtime, which is 1.00 pm. and then through to 5.15pm. and the staff leave at 5.30 pm
CPI What sort of philosophy do you have? Is there a particular philosophy you have in caring for the children?
WC We are not the parents. The parents are the first educators of the children. I think we like to offer a home from home situation, where the parents feel free to come and talk with us at any time and we are friends of the children as well as carers and educators. We work closely with the parents and try to accommodate their wishes as well the regulations of the care and education.
CP Are there ever any difficulties?
WC From time to time! Yes there can be difficulties, but we handle them together.
CP What are your policies towards discipline?
WC Certainly no smacking. We look at the problem and deal with every problem as it arises and each is an individual problem. We need to find out the background to any behavioural issues for a start and then we talk them through as staff, we talk them through with the parents and obviously with the child and deal with them rationally and with caring.
CP Are you open during the school term or what?
WC We offer three different levels of commitment. We offer University term time, which obviously that parents can choose to come in when the University is in session. We offer school term time and we offer full year time. Full year is a commitment for 47 weeks a year, with 2 weeks off at Xmas, 1 at Easter and 2 weeks family holiday in the summer. But the University term time and the School term time may use the nursery outside their commitment if there is enough staff in the nursery to cater for the children.
CP So some children are here 47 weeks?
WC Yes. 5 days a week. Which is a long working year when you work with young children.
CP Do you have handicapped children here?
WC From time to time. We obviously because of our special needs commitment we have to look at every case individually. At the moment we have a Downes Syndrome little girl, who is doing really well with us. Again we work in partnership with another centre where she goes for specialist care and any other special need is looked at and if we can accommodate that child then obviously we will.
CP Do you have any special policies to language development? Do they do lots of singing and so on?
WC Language is a big part of the curriculum and we teach by talking virtually all day long! That is the easiest way to learn language by talking and involving them. Yes, we sing and we read stories, we do drama. Virtually everything in the nursery is education of one sort or another. I always say education for a child starts when they wake up in the morning right through until they wake up the next morning, because even in the middle of the night if mummy has to get up to them she is talking to them, she is soothing them, and this all development of some sort for the child.
CP And lots of handicrafts and so on?
WC Yes, we have a full programme. We are in partnership with the Education department so that the parents can access funding from the government.
CP The Education department of the local authority?
WC The local authority yes. The parents of 3 year olds upwards can access funding and in that case we work in partnership and we have to follow the curriculum laid down by the Education department and have regular contact with them. We have visits from a development officer to make sure that we are meeting the curriculum needs for these children.
CP What is the financing of the nursery?
WC The parents pay fees monthly. The students can, if they so wish, approach the Registry to the Access fund for help with fees for the Rocking Horse Nursery. The 3 - 5's obviously get help from the government, but all parents pay fees for their children to come to the nursery. We are lucky in as much as the subsidy that all their parents receive is the hidden subsidy of the care of the building and care of the grounds, being able to access Finance department, Salary department, Human Resources, Facilities Management and all various places in the University that we can go for help and this is a hidden subsidy.
CP Are you an employee of the University then?
WC No we are employed by the Board of Trustees of Rocking Horse Nursery, but we act under the umbrella of the University in as much as we are still under legislation of the University to a greater extent. We have to abide by University rulings. We have to abide by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care.
CP The staff are all qualified Nursery nurses are they?
WC At the moment we are very lucky, they are all qualified to a certain extent. One is a Nursery Assistant, but we are very lucky that all the other staff are Nursery Nurse level at least.
CP Are they trained locally?
WC They are all locally trained.
CP Do you have Nursery Nurses in training coming here for placements?
WC We invite students from Aberdeen College to come and do their practical training with us to Nursery Nurse level, their SVQ 2 or 3, or NC or HNC.
CP You don't have any difficulties staffing then have you?
WC No. It is a wonderful place to work, and it is a wonderful place to be. I think it is an ethos that anybody would be proud to be part of and we also, thankfully to the Board of Trustees past and present, are on a good salary level in comparison to lots of nurseries.
CP Do you have children whom English is not their first language?
WC Quite often we have children where English is not their first language and isn't the parents first language either. We get by. We can talk by expression. We can talk by hands, by body language. The children are very versatile and learn English quite quickly. We have never found it a problem. In fact it is sometimes quite nice to have children from overseas and teach out children the world is a big place, but on the other hand is quite a small place. Over the first ten years we had children of over 50 different nationalities that used the nursery.
CP And you are leaving, retiring?
WC I am retiring, and I have had a wonderful 13½ years, which I have said has been 95% of the time very, very enjoyable and exciting and the other 5% okay, it has been a bit difficult, but it is very much in the minority.
CP Well thank you very much. Have I missed anything out about the nursery day? Is the building convenient, because it is not purpose built?
WC The building is probably.. It is a wonderful building because it is a home from home. It is almost like a manor house, there is a warren of corridors, but at the same time each unit is individual but linked. We all go to play in the garden at the same time, the children can visit any other department at any time, so they can have their privacy but still be part of the whole unit. So I think, yes, the building blends itself to the nursery. I think, as you said yourself, when you came in, "Isn't the staircase wonderful" and I think most people react in that way, you know "What a lovely building" and I think that lends itself to the ethos of the nursery too.
CP Well thank you very much.
END OF INTERVIEW
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