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Unaccompanied Baby Walks


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I am having a bit of a disagreement with the manager about the following.

Our baby room is very small (5 babies and 2 staff members). Because we dont have a seperate sleeping room we often rely on walks out in prams to get them off to sleep.

We are very lucky in that we are based at the top of a lovely park which is within sight of nursery. My question is this....

Whilst both members of staff normally do a walk together - often around the village, sometimes only one adult can go - does this adult have to keep the walk to the park where they can be seen by nursery or can they go in the village unaccompanied??

 

Myself and the other deputy believe that they should stay on the park but the manager says it is fine for them to go further afield. We have serious concerns regarding safeguarding with doing this - is there any legal statement that would support us? - The manager just says that because childminders do it so can we. I would argue that a parent using a childminder knows they work alone whereas they would not expect this from a nursery

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I work in a pre-school in a small village and on rare occasions a staff member will take two children to the village shop, this is usually a 'job' for the older children and its only just 1 minute away and never for a prolonged time. Do you not have an outings policy in place that you can check out? I would suggest this needs to be talked about and agreed on at your next meeting.

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My initial reaction would be to say I think maybe the staff should be involved in any decision. I wouldnt feel happy at being on my own outside. There are too many 'what if's' and too much out of your control.

Do the staff take a phone with them for emergencies? Are they competent?

A thorough risk assessment would need to carried out covering the 'what if's' from the point of view of the nursery and the staff. Is it something your parents would sanction?

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Laura - that is what the manager argues too but I think that parents choose a child minder or nursery on the specific benefits each gives. If I used a childminder I know they would be unsupervised with my child but I would not expect this from a nursery.

I also think that it is unnecessary in my setting - there is no need to go out of sight alone so why take the risk?

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