ONLY 20% of employers in the childcare sector offer the real living wage to all their staff and Argyll-based Stramash says it is proud to be one of them.
The non-profit social enterprise was established in May 2009, starting as a spin-off from Argyll and Bute Council, to provide outdoor activities to local communities around Oban.
In 2012, Stramash opened its first outdoor nursery at Oban, followed by Fort William in 2014, Elgin in 2015 and Tornagrain in 2018. Stramash applied to be registered as an Accredited Scottish Living Wage Employer in 2015 when the organisation was seeking to recruit high-quality candidates to the new team in Elgin.
As well as outdoor nursery provision, Stramash also provides a range of outdoor services to groups of primary school children with the aim of building pupils’ confidence in their learning, raising their attainment and improving their wellbeing and resilience.
In addition, the organisation runs a two-year apprenticeship programme for candidates seeking an SVQ Level 3 qualification in professional childcare in the early years.
“Our vision is to inspire children through outdoor play and learning,” said CEO Maggie Tierney. “The priority outcomes we seek are embedding child-led play into every aspect of our approach to nurturing our children, so that their creativity, confidence, health, wellbeing, language and communication skills and capacity to form and maintain positive relationships are secured.
“Through our apprentice and other training programmes, and through ‘role modelling’ to local communities how well outdoor provision can work even in Scotland’s dark, chilly, wet winters, we contribute to an expanding the pool of qualified and experienced outdoor practitioners.
“This is especially the case in support of sustaining good quality employment opportunities in some of Scotland’s rural towns.”
Stramash is governed by a seven-strong board and the nursery services support over 300 families and a number of primary schools.
The organisation currently employs 31 staff including five modern apprentices. Stramash also regularly calls on a pool of around 13-15 bank staff and some freelancers for nursery cover when needed or to support delivery of various programmes for schools.
Stramash chair Robbie Drummond said: The work we ask our staff to do with the children who attend Stramash and their families demands that they are highly skilled, creative and motivated. They deserve nothing less than fair pay.
“The Care Inspectorate reports we received last year for the quality of our services was never less than ‘Good’ for any category in all our settings.”
Minister for children and young people, Maree Todd, said: “As part of the expansion in funded Early Learning and Childcare entitlement to 1140 hours, the Scottish Government is committed to promoting and encouraging fair work practices.
“This includes providing, as part of the new Funding Follows the Child approach, investment to enable payment of the ‘real’ living wage to all childcare workers delivering the funded hours from 2020.
“I hope other early learning providers will see the benefits of paying the ‘real’ living wage, which evidence shows can lead to increased productivity and better morale.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here