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Signing children out


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I only record time if late in and that is only so I can target the parent if recurring to make more effort to turn up on time because it's annoying that you have to open up again ( all ours arrive at same time and registered as they come in main door, with self registration as they go into playroom) but I don't really see how recording arrival time affects anything, if they hadn't arrived they wouldn't be in register if you needed to evacuate for any reason, and we mark out any early leavers as they go, I can imagine a few disgruntled parents if we made them queue up to sign in, so what is the reason given for having to record the exact minute every child comes in ?

I always been told it's for fire regulations...i also have been brought up by ofsted about this (many years ago......did ask how schools got away with it but fell on deaf ears!)

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We have been told, we must put the time children arrive and leave and we must do it straight away, not leave it until 'registration time' or 'circle time'. We don't ask parents to sign in and out.

I was also told this on an inspection quite a long time ago, the fact that children if marked in could be said to arrive at 9.15 (our opening time) and leave at 12.15 was not adequate enough for safeguarding purposes, I had to record the time of all arrivals and departures. I stand at the front door and do this each morning for every child, it is quite obvious that there is an initial flurry of children then the stragglers start, last one in can be 9.35 some days. However, my register records so much I don't think I could find room for yet another column to record who dropped off. Fact is, no matter what we record there will always be someone along wanting different info to prove something for themselves. If we have a known "social service interest" then we can make all sorts of recordings, but if it is something that blows up unexpectedly then it's a shame but there may be no record of who dropped off or collected on any given day.

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We were also pulled up at last inspection and told not good enough to only write in times of early

Leavers/late arrivals etc so every child should have a time written against arrival and leaving.

 

I do registers on computer.Have enough room for whole week landscape,3 columns each day, stuck into book or file,whatever suits.

 

Usually 2 pages of A4 per week.

 

So ...columns are:

1.child's name,

2.booked session time ie 8-6/9-12 ( shaded so can see at a glance days child is booked in)

3.arrived at...

4.left at...

 

We fill in ourselves straight as children arrive,leave (not later on for safeguarding/fire reasons)

 

Hope this helps. It works for us anyway.☺

Edited by Greenfinch
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That sound very similar to my register. I have posted a blank one for anyone who can make use of it, please feel free to use, amend or ignore! As you can see page 1. Is our morning sessions - those that stay all day have a pm marked. At the end of the session we mark them out and then back in again to our afternoon session. It was the only way it worked for us and meant we didnt have to have 2 registers on the go. page 2 is blank -plz ignore!, page3 is pm session & page4 staff register- In column with time in - majority start the same- those that 'officially' start different time has it in- out column same. Anyone coming in late or leaving early would have the time written in their column when marked in or out. Anyone tells me to do differently then I think I will smile sweetly and ignore. Days not attending are greyed out. It's not a perfect system but it works for us and all staff can see at a glance who is in when and how many in.

Many years ago I was told by an inspector that we should not be making and using loose leafed registers such as this as they were very much open to abuse and we could all too easily 'lose' a page.

I was flabbergasted and then extremely insulted and told her so in no uncertain terms. I said that if I couldn't be trusted to keep a register correctly and safely then I certainly couldn't be trusted to keep all the other paperwork we had, never mind small children.

I never heard anymore about it.forum reg.docx

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Many years ago I was told by an inspector that we should not be making and using loose leafed registers such as this as they were very much open to abuse and we could all too easily 'lose' a page.

I was flabbergasted and then extremely insulted and told her so in no uncertain terms. I said that if I couldn't be trusted to keep a register correctly and safely then I certainly couldn't be trusted to keep all the other paperwork we had, never mind small children.

I never heard anymore about it.attachicon.gifforum reg.docx

Oh my goodness, your the first person I've heard say this EXCEPT for the lovely Manager I took over from :1b she told me not to produce my own, this was 8 years ago now and I've still not gone against her word!! However the PLA one I've been using gets so tatty I'm desperate to change when it runs out this year.

Your register is perfect for me, thank you :1b

 

thanks for sharing lynned55, this is similar to mine but i have one for each day with just children on that day, so if a 7wk half term, it has the dated columns for 7 mondays etc..., so do you then write the exact time in each space ie 9.16, 9.21... for arrival ?

Yes Mousekeeter, that's what I do for arrival and departure :1b

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I have had 4 or 5 inspections now and no one has ever mentioned my single leaf, own produced registers with only the 'in time' as opening time (unless late) except to say they are happy with them.....just another inconsistency :/

Well isn't that of no surprise to anyone!! If only Ofsted were consistent, then we all might stand a better chance of fair inspections....

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I have had 4 or 5 inspections now and no one has ever mentioned my single leaf, own produced registers with only the 'in time' as opening time (unless late) except to say they are happy with them.....just another inconsistency :/

Same here.. although I do have to be honest- mine are not technically loose leaf as I do staple the whole half-terms together xDxD :lol:

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Thank you all for replying to this thread. I make up my own register and have a list of who is supposed to be in on a particular day with space at the bottom for extras. I stand at the door and put the time the children come in and then out and the parent initials it. I do it because the parents would still put 9am even though they turned up at 9.10am. I also have a space for comments i.e. the child is going home with so and so or grandma picking up. We used to use the PSLA register and call it at circle time but were picked up on the fact that we didn't know the exact time the child came through the door which could be a safeguarding issue if something happened to them between the time they were dropped off and the time the register was called.

The Ofsted inspector was quite happy with my made up register which is stapled together for the 5 days then put into a folder in date order and can just about manage to hold a years worth.

The only other thing we were told to put on it by the LA was the staff names to ensure if there was a fire drill we know who is in. I do find this a bit daft as we have signing in sheets for wages and there, at most, is only 4 of us :P

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We use a signing in and out sheet too. We put ours in our waiting area for parents to sign their child in/out. A member of staff is always in the area too to welcome and greet the parents and to make sure there are no escapees.

A signing in and out sheet is useful for other stuff too. We highlight parents/carer's names to point out labelling their child's coat, accident form to sign, paperwork to take, see a particular member of staff etc. We also put highlighted reminders at the bottom of the sheet such as please take your newsletter. Staff attendance is logged on the sheet too. We have done it this way for years and it works well in our setting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I took over our setting had a signing in sheet but was there for fire safety , the problem was parents were signing children in and out for other parents, the inspector said she did not think it necessary and we could use whatever system we wanted , all children self register and member of staff can see at a glance who has not put in box

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When I took over our setting had a signing in sheet but was there for fire safety , the problem was parents were signing children in and out for other parents, the inspector said she did not think it necessary and we could use whatever system we wanted , all children self register and member of staff can see at a glance who has not put in box

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The only time another parent will sign in/out a child is if they had brought them in the morning or if that child was going home with them afterwards. The only stipulation we have is that if they are going home with somebody else we have to be told by the parent.

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The only time another parent will sign in/out a child is if they had brought them in the morning or if that child was going home with them afterwards. The only stipulation we have is that if they are going home with somebody else we have to be told by the parent.

From my understanding of the terms of Standards, you need the parent to give you written permission for this to happen. I ask parents when completing our Registration Form for a list of authorised people other than themselves for whom they are happy for their child to be collected by. If subsequently they have formed a friendship with another parent at the group or want somebody to pick up on a "one off" basis I ask them to complete a form beforehand, with details about who is collecting and a contact number for them. Some years ago I was in the unenviable position of waiting for a parent's friend to collect a child who had forgotten to do it - I had no telephone number for this friend so had to try and contact one of the parents, both of whom were in London at the time, thankfully I managed to get hold of a horrified mother and an hour late the friend turned up.

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We do have a section on our admissions form asking for details of anybody who is likely to be collecting but our parents' do seem to have got into the habit of sharing collection one day a week for play dates. E,g, on a Tuesday 4 children will go home with x parent then the following week another one will collect etc. This works as the collectees? are already parents. If somebody else is collecting, like a grandparent, who is visiting for the day I always ask the parent for contact details for that person which is noted on the register. We also ask for a password if we have never met the grandparent, aunt, uncle etc even though little Johnny is shrieking 'That's my grandpa' for all to hear xD

We are such a tiny pre-school that our admissions forms would have to have space for 20 other people likely to collect as the children do seem to be interchangeable. The only times there are small problems is when Dad collects - I have been there so long and for some are on their 3rd child so have met Dad and most of the extended family over the years but sometimes forget that some of my other staff haven't!!

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I was also told this on an inspection quite a long time ago, the fact that children if marked in could be said to arrive at 9.15 (our opening time) and leave at 12.15 was not adequate enough for safeguarding purposes, I had to record the time of all arrivals and departures. I stand at the front door and do this each morning for every child, it is quite obvious that there is an initial flurry of children then the stragglers start, last one in can be 9.35 some days. However, my register records so much I don't think I could find room for yet another column to record who dropped off. Fact is, no matter what we record there will always be someone along wanting different info to prove something for themselves. If we have a known "social service interest" then we can make all sorts of recordings, but if it is something that blows up unexpectedly then it's a shame but there may be no record of who dropped off or collected on any given day.

We were told yesterday that we should record times in/out on our register. Staff stand at the door and tick as the children arrive and leave but Mrs O wants the time written down.

We also do a more formal register time when all the parents have left :1b

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We use a 'home made' signing in sheet - a side of A4 per day. Parents sign their child in and the time they arrive in the building. We open the playroom door at 9am and welcome children and parents in. We do headcount to ensure everyone is signed in. Staff and any visitors also sign in on this sheet. We use the sheet during fire drills, evactuations etc. When children leave, we get them ready with coat, bag etc and they wait in the cloakroom with staff member while another member of staff goes outside with a clipboard and the sheet. They write the time in and the parent/carer signs for the child. The parent goes to the door and their child is handed out to them. We were also told, sometime in the past, that we needed to include times in and out as there may be an occassion when the sheet could be used as evidence e.g. safeguarding or allegations against staff.

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