FSFRebecca

There are plenty of managers who struggle in the first few months of their role - in this article Anni McTavish talks to some managers about the difficulties they have faced and the hints and tips that helped them succeed.

Taking Charge

22 hours ago, FNDN said:

Hi Rebecca, 

Sorry for my delayed response. We use EyLog (very similar to Tapestry) and place all the children's nappies/sleeps etc on there. However, we also have a daily record sheet/sleep charts (on paper) for our use to jot things down and sign nappy changes /checks when sleeping etc. I quite like this idea as I feel it 'covers ourselves'. I was just wondering whether these had to be scanned in as well as keeping the paper copy? 

Thanks for your reply

Hello again 

If you are using an e-journal to record sleeps (as we are) I assume that you can recall past data if any questions or queries arise? If son, I wold say that no you don't need to keep a second copy - I wouldn't be filling in the copy either. We write the names children who are asleep on a whiteboard in the main play room and the name of the member of staff responsible for the checks and add to this any useful info (e.g. when a child needs to be woken, whether they had lunch or fell asleep before etc). Then, the child's name is wiped off when they wake up. Otherwise you are just duplicating info??

1 hour ago, Cait said:

I found I needed to be careful with this, as allowing the child of a staff member to attend for free or discounted was seen as giving her a pay increase above what the others were getting.  It needs to be thought through carefully and discussed at staff meeting if you don't already have it in your policy.  The rest of the staff need to be totally on board with whatever is decided, plus the Mum needs to know that her child won't be singled out for special treatment, and will be subject to the same sanctions as all the others if need be.  It's a tricky one with key groups too as the child will naturally gravitate to Mum, or want to be up on her knee at storytime or whatever.  

Good luck! 

Yes, I agree - we discussed it as a whole staff when we very first started

9 minutes ago, JuliaT said:

We are looking to book a mobile farm to visit our Nursery and Reception.  Has anyone used a company that they would recommend?

Thank you!

Whereabouts are you located JuliaT? That might make a difference to people's responses 

We offer 15% to our staff. They're not allowed to be with their own children in nursery. I have a separate piece of contract for the members of staff for whom this is relevant: Terms and conditions for parents who are also staff.docx

I think that if I was 3 and I wanted to be an inventor I'd want some things I could take to bits - old clocks / watches / hand whisks etc. I'd need some small screwdrivers and some pots to put bits in. I'd also like some cork table mats, some small picture nails and a little hammer so that I could 'nail down' some of the the things I had taken to bits (cogs , springs etc) and then have a really good look at them with the magnifying glass  that Finleysmaid bought me. 

Good morning FNDN,

I'm not sure exactly what you mean? Are you talking about the individual sleep and nappy checks for children? If so, previously (when they were on paper), we sent them home with the child at the end of the day. Now (we use Tapestry), they are part of the Care Diary and that detail is released to parents daily when the child goes home at the end of their session.

(I'm going to move your post into a more general discussion area, you might get more responses there )

1 hour ago, finleysmaid said:

Oh dear Rebecca nothing serious hopefully ...I had to apologise to a member of staff this week for my bad behaviour !!!

No, nothing a reminder about priorities and focus won't address!!

6 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

Nor can I - but I'm mighty glad that it is

Not been a very good week here - I am feeling really quite poorly with a heavy cold and a cough that sounds like I must smoke at least 60 Woodbines a day (d'you remember Woodbines) probably far too young!

Have had to speak to a member of staff about her time-keeping today - I was really gentle when asking what was causing her to be late - but that didn't stop her from sulking all session  I pretended not to notice and just carried on as usual - however, if she hasn't 'snapped out of it' by Monday' I may have to have another word with her - sometimes I really don't enjoy being 'the boss'

The admin workload from a village organisation that I am involved with is beginning to weigh me down, thinking I might need to re-think this, but maybe I will feel differently when I am back to full health

Oh what an awful, grumpy and self-indulgent post, apologies all

Happy weekend - hope that it is filled with your favourite things

I feel your pain Sunnyday - staffing has been interesting at my setting too this week. I am metaphorically banging some heads together next week. 

HI GemSherry,

Welcome to FSF it's lovely to have you here with us  Well done on making your first post! I've just done exactly what you have suggested and it has taken an extremely long time, but I think (hope) it will be worth it in the end! From memory, this was the process I went through:

• Researched local area salary scales for the same / similar jobs (so that I knew if my 'ball park figures' were accurate)
• Worked out what the full time equivalent salary would be if we simply multiplied the hourly rates up (we took 38 hours a week to be 'full time' so the calculation was 38 hours x 52 weeks x hourly rate)
• Worked out how far off the salary scales my current equivalent salaries were and made adjustments
• Worked out what I was going to do about sick days / over time / holidays
• Worked out if I could afford the pay rise required to get the pay differentials right (so that the higher qualified staff were paid more) 
• Worked out what the new salary structure needed to be to demonstrate and enable career progression
• Introduced the idea to staff and explained how the calculations had worked
• 1 term consultation period to address any concerns
• Meeting to announce our intention to change from 1st April and 'statement of changes' letter for each member of staff

Hope that gives you some ideas

Here's the link to our resources area which has a couple of useful docs 

Mmm, I'd not heard of it but a quick Google search bought up this. if this is what you were looking for then yes, it looks heavily copyrighted!

5 hours ago, Stargrower said:

We haven't found the reconfirming a problem, but we have had two families that didn't apply in the first place, when their child became eligible.  Despite being given endless information, they said they didn't realise they had to apply for a code and had missed the deadline.  One was fine about it and the other was VERY cross and later left us!  So we now keep a list of every child possibly becoming eligible and remind each parent personally to apply.

The other big change for us is our holiday numbers have grown dramatically because of the stretched offer.  We used to run a holiday club together with our pre-school children but are now limiting this to children who have previously attended the nursery as we simply don't have space.  We also have to get in extra staff in the holidays as we have staff on term-time only contracts who don't want to change to year round.

All in all, we're surviving (but money is very tight) with our under threes provision subsidising the underfunded over threes.

Sounds similar to us!

37 minutes ago, thumperrabbit said:

We aren't yet offering 30 hours but potentially in September we will.

Interested in how you manage this in a big nursery setting?

We are slightly concerned that parents won't reconfirm their eligibility - does this happen? can you do anything about it? have you written something in your Terms & Conditions to cover yourself?

We keep a list of who is receiving funding and we just keep on hassling - it's a pain, but in a year we've only had one who missed the deadline. They dropped some of the additional sessions that the funding was covering and paid for some of the others and then picked them all back up in the next funding period. It's been an admin challenge - overall we found we have less children in the term time but attending more often and then more in the holidays than previously because of the 'stretched' funding. We've reduced our capacity in our 3+ age group and increased capacity for 0-3, overall it's been OK money wise - but some of my staff have had to work with 0-3 when they prefer 3+ but it was that or 'nothing'. Consequently I've had to invest in some 0-3 specific training (which isn't a bad thing, but is a cost)

4 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

Thanks Sue - please just ignore my whinging! 

Whinge away, we don't mind - if you can't moan at us ......

I'm just going to move this conversation out of 'Lounge / Golden time' into an 'open' area as it means that not everyone can see it and contribute here - I've checked that there is nothing that shouldn't be shared! 

I read David Cahn's article about our expectations of sharing in the EYFS. It's a really interesting piece and got me thinking. At our nursery we use sand timers and the 'we've got more than one of most things' approach to sharing. Following reading the article I'm wondering if we are helping or hindering the children in our care ... what do you think? You do need to sign up to the TES, but it is free 

https://www.tes.com/news/why-we-should-not-force-children-eyfs-share

On 08/03/2019 at 12:24, Fiona Smith said:

Hi all.  I will be opening a new nursery later this year and I'm in the final stages of preparing the business plan.  I have read the Govt guidelines on example menus for early years setting and they include a lot of food!  We will be open 7.30-6.30 so will likely offer the full day menu.  I've investigated various companies that will deliver in food for you as I thought this would be simpler but it works out very expensive.   For those of you who have an in-house cook, how much do you budget per child per day if they will be there for the whole day? Thanks for your help 

HI Fiona ... I'm just going to move this to the Leadership and Management section as you might get more responses from there 

On 08/03/2019 at 19:41, berwickrascals said:

Safeguarding 

Your LA should have some online free courses as safeguarding refresher - have you approached them?

It sounds like you have got an awful lot on your plate - First off, is it wise to be the only DSL? You need to have other staff as Deputy DSLs so that they can take the lead if there is an incident or disclosure when you are not there. Also, it is best practice to have more than one in case the person to whom a disclosure is made or about whom an allegation is made is you - you could not act objectively if you are personally involved.

I think the frequency of LA visits very much depends on how worried they are about you, about how soon your next inspection is and about how many advisors they have available in your area. They should be able to offer phone support at the very least and I would be telling them of you concerns and queries. 

Good luck  Keep talking to us, we're here listening x

17 minutes ago, playgroup18 said:

Hi, I was wondering how many roles managers take on and how manageable it is. I took over as manager of a committee run playgroup 2 years ago and have been gradually making changes as it is a well established setting with staff who have been here a long time. As well as being manager I have key children and am the DSL and senco  It's a bit much tbh but the other staff members are reluctant to take on other roles. Also how often do other settings have visits from LA's? Thankyou!

Hi, I've just moved your post into the management area as you'll get more help, ideas and support from there 

Hi Foreveryoung!

It's so hard isn't it?! When I first started the nursery I did everything ... that's simply not sustainable as numbers grow. Now, we have 22 staff (probably 15 at a time) and up to 60 children. I have two equal managers [me+very qualified other], we don't have a deputy. We are both supernumerary, but being two of us we can get into rooms to support staff, develop practice, make observations etc One of us is always 'available' (ie, not in a room). We both work about 75% of the week at nursery and 25% at home. We have an office manager for 25 hours a week. The management is split: I do staffing, finance (with the office manager) and am line-manager for the 3+ team. My colleague is SENCO, staff training and induction and is line-manager for the 0-3 team.

The plus side is that we can be really flexible and 'available' for our staff, we get on extremely well, we completely trust each other (it wouldn't work otherwise) and parents get quick answers to any questions. The downsides are that you have to 'let go' of some things if they are handled slightly differently to how you would have done it. It works for us and it's great to have an 'equal' to share frustrations, ideas, the development plan  with. It works for us!

On 09/03/2019 at 16:55, Jachapman said:

Hi Everyone

I am a reception Teacher and started a new school in September. The school has been trying Early Excellence for the past 2 years but it it not working for our particular children. Management want us to go back to tighter timetable with less child initiated and more focus activities. ( At the moment the children get at least 3 hours a day free CI play). I would be really interested in seeing examples of your timetables to see how you slot in carpet time (Phonics, Maths and Literacy inparticular), Teacher led activities and and Child Intitiated.

Thank you

Jac

Welcome Jac, we look forward to hearing a bit more information about your situation and then some of our members will be able to help you out (hopefully )

19 hours ago, SuzanneHolbard said:

Hi all I’m looking for the new government document regarding music and movement but I can’t find it any ideas where it might be please ? 

Welcome SuzanneHolbard,

Congratulations for making your first post! Lovely to have you with us  Don't forget that the Musical Development Matters document is non-statutory

3 hours ago, Harvey10 said:

Quick question, haven't recruited for a while and just wasn't sure about the English and Math qualifications status.  I have a lady applied with a Level 3 who has 20 years experience of running a Pre-School but she doesn't have any other formal qualifications can I consider her for a job.

Hi Harvey10,

I hope you don't mind but I've changed the title of your piece from your name to something relevant to the question you posted  In terms of the Level 3, if it was 20 years ago you will need to check that it still meets the requirements for 'full and relevant' qualifications. The qualifications checker is here