Message From The Chair

Message from Kathlyn Taylor, Chair of AQNS

Welcome to the Association of Quality Nurseries in Scotland.

I have worked in Early Years and Childcare for over thirty years, my origins having been in Secondary English Teaching. I am committed to the development of care and education of the highest quality, with the intention of ensuring the child’s greatest success in later life.

As the current Chairperson of AQNS, I am conscious of the responsibility that I have to help steer our group through the enormity of regulation, requirements and issues which are currently facing the Early Years and Childcare Sector. In my experience, the understandable but nevertheless onerous requirements of HMIe who inspect the quality of the Curriculum; The Care Commission, which regulates the quality of our settings; The Scottish Social Services Council which regulates and registers our staff; Scottish Government and Local Authority with the increasing demands to administer Pre-School Education and Funding, all contribute to a growing complexity for those who operate within our sector.

Although I was not a founding member of AQNS, I have nothing but praise for those who had the courage and foresight to envisage that we could work together in such positive partnership to develop national and local policy. Those founding members have laid solid foundations for meaningful and ethical dialogue. As membership numbers have grown, so has our ability to influence policy at the highest level.

The current AQNS Board represents a high level of integrity and give freely of their time and resources in order to progress our communal interests. Each Board member is eager and willing to share her knowledge and acumen with colleagues so that the sector’s united voice is properly articulated. Education, as a devolved area of Scottish life is so crucial to the success of our society and AQNS affords a perfect opportunity to underpin the development of educational quality.

I would urge you to contact me personally when I can answer your questions and welcome your membership to the Association of Quality Nurseries in Scotland. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Kathlyn Taylor Chairperson, Association of Quality Nurseries in Scotland