Guest Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Hi I know that we have to keep registers of how long the child attends but just wondered if you actually get the parents to sign their children in ie in the morning and then out once picked up from after school club? Our registers are currently set out as A4 page per day with all the names of the children in that session ie morning one page afternoon another. Then time in time out and signature of parent. How do you do it? Do you do a formal register time when the children arrive at after school club or mark them in as they come in? Staff then have to chase all those that should be in, arent in as they are at eg football/archery etc and not told club! What i find really difficult (being pre school background for my job) is the more freedom the children are given at club. They are supposed to ask to go to toilet and leave the room but some dont, they go and then staff have to remember if they have seen them come back! Plus when children wander in between the hall and the classroom or the classroom and the playground we have to trust that they go from one room to another straight away. Is this the norm? I and staff are constantly reminding children of the rules plus not to open the door when parents come to collect etc but last week 2 reception children let them selves out!! Had to complete incident report, tell parents etc, remind all children again. Fortunately the school cook was outside and brought them straight back in. I dont know how the staff cope with the uncertainty of it all! Any advice?
Guest jenpercy Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 We write the time that all children arrive and then parents sign and put time. I don't know if the requirement for time is strictly needed or just because we have it in our procedures - but we have been reprimanded for not gettig all parentsto sign and time. This requires me to do regular checks and ask staff what time did johnny leave. although to be fair - a goodly proportion of the times they forget to sign are because we were talking to them and then forgot to remind them. Our children almost all come in in groups because they arrive back from collection from school, so their escort signs them in. i would think that a formal registration time would not solve the problem if having to look for children. Could you let staff who run thes extra activities know which children you are expecting so that they can tell them to let you know where they are when they turn up elsewhere. Re the freedom of children. remember that OFSTED are only interested in whether areas are sufficiently secure for EYFS children. we fitted a removeable chain to the inside of our door. there is a key which lets you remove the chain bit. We have also been told in the past that if our toilets were seprate, we had to employ separate staff to take children. was this club ever inspected by OFSTED? did they not make recommendations about security?
Guest Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Our afterschool club has a register of who is expected on each day, and then the childrens names get written down in another folder with their arrival time and the parents fill out the leaving time and sign! Our toilets are in the same building and have never caused any issues and there is a buzzer for parents to let us know they have arrived.
Guest Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Hi No door has never been an issue for previous OFSTEDs. It is secure ie locked but can be opened from the inside ie you push a large green button on the wall and it opens the door. We have a security camera on the door outside so can see when a parent rings the bell to let them in. I cant believe employ more staff just to toilet the EYFS children...otherwise pre-schools would have to do this? So best still to get parents to sign out. The worry is like you jen sometimes when you are giving your feedback you forget to remind them. At the end of the night the staff check the register and although the chuldren have all gone the odd parent has forgotten to sign their child out.
Guest Biker Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Hi, We have a preprinted sheet for each session that lists all the names of children expected, then there is a column for entry time to be noted and another for parents to note the time as they collect them and a final column for the parent/carers signature.We do check once children are in that they are all "signed in"There is often a child whose parent/carer may have forgotten to enter them on the sheet. Also we double check as children leave that they have been signed out.This gives us an up to the minute record of who is in the building. We are lucky enough to have a self contained building so children do not have to leave the building for the toilets. Doors can not be opened from outside except with a code on the inside handles are quite high so pre-school children can't reach some after school children can but we srtictly enforce the rule that only adults can open the door ! don't know if that's really any help. Biker
Guest jenpercy Posted November 14, 2010 Posted November 14, 2010 Hi,We have a preprinted sheet for each session that lists all the names of children expected, then there is a column for entry time to be noted and another for parents to note the time as they collect them and a final column for the parent/carers signature.We do check once children are in that they are all "signed in"There is often a child whose parent/carer may have forgotten to enter them on the sheet. Also we double check as children leave that they have been signed out.This gives us an up to the minute record of who is in the building. We are lucky enough to have a self contained building so children do not have to leave the building for the toilets. Doors can not be opened from outside except with a code on the inside handles are quite high so pre-school children can't reach some after school children can but we srtictly enforce the rule that only adults can open the door ! don't know if that's really any help. Biker Well we certainly have had to prove that children can't get out on their own. And although toilets wre not a problem when we rented part of a school and children had to go off on their own we did not then have any EYFS (in fact it was just before the big changes). just be prepared for the Inspector to be unhapppy. remember now that you are being inspected against the standards for pre-school. Would you let a 2 or 3 year old go off to the toilets unsupervised from where you are. I believe that the rules on staffing are now more flexible - but I think it probable that the inspector could ask you to accompany children when they move around the building, and you could be asked to ensure that you have enough staff to do this. We have been asked to ensure that we have enough (more) staff to ensure children are happily occupied whilst we set up
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