BASIC and The Corner House Creche

Who are we?
B.A.S.I.C. was originally founded 21 years ago by mothers for mothers (essentially looking after each other’s children) and has developed into what it is today. We provide an affordable crèche and out of school childcare facility for ALL local families. We have continued to develop over the years, to reflect new legislation and the needs of the families we support. We now operate as a not for profit Scottish Registered Charity with OSCR (SCO24081), run by a voluntary Management Committee consisting of parents and others and are registered with the Care Inspectorate.

As a highly valued and respected community childcare provider which has consistently demonstrated continued improvement to the quality of care we provide, through ongoing stakeholder consultation, employment of committed professional staff and very low staff turnover, we continue to have a healthy demand for places with around 100 children currently attending.

What makes us unique is that our crèche (Corner House), in particular, is based upon a model of offering ‘respite’ and not a traditional model of full time nursery provider for working parents. Although we are not a full time nursery provider, we are very committed to delivering early education to the children.

We provide support to many local isolated families. We facilitate friendships and connections for families, particularly families new to the area or those where a parent works away. Many of our parents don’t know the area well when they first arrive, have no local friends or immediate family support and feel isolated especially when a loved one is away on. Due to the small, informal environment we operate and some staff with firsthand experience of partners working away for long periods of time, parents quickly feel at ease and barriers are soon overcome.

Many isolated mothers rely upon our support and through us, establish a good network of other local mothers and become well informed about the numerous clubs for pre-school children in the area.

In line with new legislation, we also now offer places for local 2 year olds which will ultimately improve developmental outcomes for children and parenting capacity.

Our extremely successful out of school club provides a full wraparound service for children aged 4-13 with regular supervised outdoor activities in our garden and in the community when the weather permits.

We organise safe morning drop off and afternoon collection at all local schools.

Our sessions are organised around small child led group time and free play time, where the children can complete their school homework studies and participate in multiple activities.

We offer a full daily activity programme during school holidays including many day trips and are open on in-service days.

Our Vision
Our vision is to become the first choice for out of school and crèche care within Helensburgh and the surrounding area.

Our premises:
-Newly refurbished in February 2015
-Secure external garden
-Central location close to local amenities
-Greater access for children to local amenities i.e. parks, beach etc.
-Sole use of premises which give us the flexibility to extend opening hours or offer additional services, dependant upon deamnd.