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hi everyone

i am a deputy leader and have recently been left in charge, my manager has got all the work to do with pre-school on her memory stick and has said it is confieental and i have no right to access to it. i was left with nothing not even a child name i could print off.

How do you managers treat you?

:o flosse

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Guest Wolfie

Your job title says it all - you should be in a position to deputise effectively for the manager in her absence and as such, need access to information on the children in your care, for all sorts of reasons.

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Surely whoever is in charge needs the info - what if there was an emergency? As Andreamay has already said, it is the preschool's information and not your managers.

 

Sally

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Hi flosse

just had a thought! surely keeping confidential information on a memory stick and taking it home breaks data protection and child protection policies? we do not take home any information relating to a child's details and certainly not to be put on to a home computer! why does she need to take it away with her - if you are 'in charge' it is on a 'need to know' basis and in emergency you need to know! - and there is a clear issue of trust (or lack of it) here. I suppose though if a setting is based in a village hall etc. the person in charge has no choice but to take home confidential details etc.

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It does depend on what information you are talking about, however the standards are quite clear about what information should be kept available in the setting during 'opening hours' and if she keeps all this information on a memory stick which is not accessible she is not fulfilling her duties under the Standards. If she is restricting access to the information you need in order to comply with the standards she is leaving the group vulnerable to all sorts of action - imagine almost any scenario you need to deal with - accident, fire evacuation, allergic reaction etc. If you can't deal effectively with these situations because you don't have the information to hand I don't see how you can demonstrate that you can safeguard the children in your care.

 

Sounds to me as if you have some fundamental issues to address here, flosse!

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The children register forms were kept on the side not even looked away so everyone had access to them and fire and accident book was in cuboard so i did have access to them. It was if i needed to do any up dating work on the computer and as i have never been allowed on it i dont know what is in it.

Do any of your setting have a open diary as i had no idea who was going to turn up and when as this is also confidental to her only!!!!

thank you for advice

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I've been in a similar position flosse, a playleader who thought telling me staff were on courses, holiday, sick etc was nothing to do with me, same with children. Its highly embaressing and makes you look like a badly run setting if a visitor arrives and you dont know anything about it. What if you let someone in and they're not allowed. You need information.

I'd try to speak to her, or go through the owners, committee.

As to the diary, I'm agency cover and I have access to the diary if I need to tell them I wont be available on a day I would normally do. Its about trust, delegation and letting go.

Ask what she's afraid of.

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The children register forms were kept on the side not even looked away so everyone had access to them and fire and accident book was in cuboard so i did have access to them. It was if i needed to do any up dating work on the computer and as i have never been allowed on it i dont know what is in it.

Do any of your setting have a open diary as i had no idea who was going to turn up and when as this is also confidental to her only!!!!

thank you for advice

 

 

If you had the register forms on site i'm not sure what else you would need flosse? Although the way they are stored is not good enough.

I do have a closed diary because I had staff looking in to see when other people were off. It then started a chain reaction and I was getting "if she is off then, I would like this or that day off. To be honest it is between me and individual members of staff not common information. We are a sessional pre-school term time only. I always let my staff know if someone is visiting during the month at our weekly meeting. It is then down to them if they want to make a note of the dates. I remind them on the morning of any visit. What information could be stored on the memory stick? Are you committee run?

 

Sorry should have added deputy has access to the diary.

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We have a calender on wall with all info regarding visitors appointments , holidays courses etc allowing all staff to add if they take a call and make appointments etc. not just the supervisor/manager or deputy. lets everyone be aware of what is happening in the group, and allows them to participate if they need to in meetings etc. as well as knowing who they could be answering the door to.

 

All other info is accessible to the staff in paper form. To get the best from everyone we believe they need to feel included and part of the day to day running, As a deputy you should be able to take over the setting if for some reason she is off for a long period and know you are able to do the job well.

 

As Rea says , trust and letting go can be difficult.

 

Inge

 

Just read Lou s post..we too are sessional term time and in our case the staff will know when someone is off as they cover so not an issue, they usually just swap and put it on the calendar. So long a ratios kept not a problem for us. If they take a day off they lose the pay anyway so avoid days off at all costs!!!

 

Other things staff get asked are about fees and payments, booking of places, vacancies, waiting lists etc. amongst other things.

Edited by Inge
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Ours don't get paid either Inge but because most of us are in every session we have to use bank staff. It got to a point when I even questioned if they wanted to work in the pre-school. Mainly between two members of staff. The problem i find when you have the same key people off, their group of children do not get the same level of attention the other groups get. Had to put a stop to it because it was not helping the group.

Please don't get me wrong I don't stop people from taking days off but i do question a shopping trip as a valid reason to miss work.

All paper work that would be needed to run the group is on the premises. I have a locked filling cabinet that has personal staff details, clearance letters etc and only myself and deputy hold a key.

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The deputy in the absence of the supervisor should have all the relevant information which covers ALL the national standards in Care & Education. Ask yourself the question What if I have a spot check unannounced Ofsted Inspector visit? Do I have access to ALL the information to carry out all the supervisory/ leader duties that the supervisor would if he/she were here? Can I meet all the 5 outcomes AT THE TIME THAT THE INSPECTOR IS IN THE SETTING? Not if I call supervisor, or when the supervisor next comes in.

As well as giving my deputy access to all relevant information I also pay her a supervisor salary for the hours that she is deputising, this respects the responsibility she holds at these times.

 

 

Peggy

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i did not know where anything is and i cant wait until am ofstead walk in because as an not very experience practioner myself i can see alot of thing wrong so i will be shocked if we pass any inspection. And as i am just not able to lie no matter how hardi try it will be written all over my face i just hope they do not talk to me.

i have tried to make suggerstion but she see the pre-school as prefect as she has been running it for long time.

In my last setting i had a operational plan for the setting do other setting have these?

Thank you all for you advice. By the way there it is not commite run and her boss is also afreid to speak to her in case she has another tantrum.

flosse

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We have an operational plan that is open for every one to read.

I used to work for some one like that. At one time we couldn't even talk to the parents without her permission. All i can say is she must be so over run with work if she is not allowing anyone else to help. If i didn't deligate I would be working 24-7.

It sounds like her boss needs to be her boss and have a chat.

Flosse are you a member of the PLA (it has changed from the psla.) If you are can you get in contact with your development worker?

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