Policies- Who Is Responsible?

[Guest]

Hi all

Well we have been nagging the Committee to update our policies/procedures as our policy states they are responsible for them. Each new committee has to sign them when they take over and Im not convinced that the comm have actually read them. Supervisor and myself are now fed up with waiting for them to do it (on every agenda!) so are going to do thsm ourselvss and get them to sign.

 

My question is as committee run pre-school is it down to the comm to do this or do you do and sign them yourselves? It would make more sense for staff to keep them updated surely? What works for you? Im in the process of comparing our policies to a few other setting policies and although ours follow the PLA format is it ok to change them slightly to make it more suitable for us (so long as we are following eh?)

 

any advice appreciated!

[Rea]

When I worked as playleader at a committee run playgroup I was usually the one who wrote the policies or amended the PLA ones. All the staff and committee would read them and sign that they understood and agreed the content. You might like to get together at a committee meeting to go through them all briefly so you know everyone has at least been made aware of the content and can make any comments.

 

We also asked parents to read them on their induction day when they were filling in the child forms. They also had to sign that they had read, understood and agreed to them.

[Inge]

ours started out as PLA policies but look nothing like them now. The idea is that they are a basic policy to work from and to make them personal to your setting, no point having any policy if it is not being used.

 

We recently updated ours using the new PLA ones, amending them where appropriate , using some of our existing ones, as well as some given by LEA.. quite a mix.

 

in our case the staff so the policies together, the committee read them and then they have to go to an AGM for approval, or if no AGM due an emergency meeting of all parents.. it is their actual decision on if they can be approved and used. But so far they have always gone with our suggestions.. idea being that we are the ones ' at the coal face' and trained , and we know what is workable or not so we write or amend them.. but they are approved by all parents, not just at a committee meeting.

 

Inge

[Sue R]

AHA!!

 

Thought you'd left! Hard to adjust, isn't it Inge!!

[Inge]

Ok Sue 'caught in the act'

 

May have left work,

 

but just did all the policies with new manager and committee...

 

did think when writing it I should have said.. I used to!

 

Inge

[hali]

we are a committee run group polices are written jointly with staff and committee and chair signs them

[Shiny]

I write/ammend all policies with other staff input and committee vote whether to adopt policy or re-ammend, when they are adopted then they are sent to parents as updates with a tear off slip to return stating the policy has been receieved and understood.

 

If it was left to the committee it would never be done as they have to consult with the people who have to use the policies on a daily basis.

[Guest]

We also do the policies rather than the committee. This year I proposed the amendments and asked all parents and staff to consider the proposals before presenting them to the AGM where they were formally adopted by the committee. Needless to say no-one commented on my amendments except staff so they were passed as I had revised them. Our constitution also says the committee does them but in reality they haven't for the most part even read them (I do love my committee a lot but the defer to the staff a lot!) and they do not feel confident to write policies, especially this year when most of the revisions were in the light of equalities and EYFS training the staff had completed.

[Guest]

Hello

in our setting they are a working document so are in a folder and myself and other staff (and parents if they wanted) can take them out and write notes on them. then at the september meeting each year the committee have a look at the notes on them and amend if nessessary, at the next meeting they all sign the amended policy.

[Guest]

Thnaks all.

So once amended they have to be reviewed by ALL the committee at a seperate meeting?? Then thay can be signed? I was at the last AGM (May) and the new parents were handed copies of the policies and signed them that night (never even read out on the night?!).

Thanks

[Guest]

So once amended they have to be reviewed by ALL the committee at a seperate meeting?? Then thay can be signed? I was at the last AGM (May) and the new parents were handed copies of the policies and signed them that night (never even read out on the night?!).

 

We review and sign at the next meeting to give the committee chance to read and for the secretary to type up, this way the committee are signing the actual copy not something which needs re-typing (iykwim!)

BTW by law the whole committee dont need to sign the document, only the chair who signs on behalf of the whole committee.

HTH

[Guest]

marley, we sign ours into existence at the AGM although they are not read out then as it would triple the length of the meeting! I make sure any amendments are circulated prior to the meeting for reading and if there are any questions or discussions they can be dealt with at the meeting before signing them. Any major amendments which followed the discussion at the AGM I would circulate again to all parents before having the committee sign, but I would probably send a letter saying something along the lines of "following discussion at the AGM, a further amendment has been suggested as detailed below. If no objections are lodged against this the policy will be adopted after (date)"

[lynned55]

Well in theory in a vol setting such a ours it should be a joint venture done by staff & committee but in practise they are written and ammended by me & then voted on by committee. Committee's are so transient (sp) now, that to expect a volunteer/lay person to be on the ball with what is expected and needs doing all the time is not fair.

[Beau]

In my setting it was an ongoing, rolling process with a number of policies being checked each month. The secretary sent them out via email to staff and office bearers asking for any comments/suggested ammendments. If there were any these were incorporated into the policy and then signed by the Chair at the next committee meeting.

 

Any new policies were invariably written by me.

[Guest]

Ok Sue 'caught in the act'

 

May have left work,

 

but just did all the policies with new manager and committee...

 

did think when writing it I should have said.. I used to!

 

Inge

 

 

I know where your coming from Inge, I still find it difficult to say "I or 'we' used to" when talking ideas, our practice etc, and I 'retired' a year ago

 

Peggy

[Guest]

I think ALL involved with the setting should adapt published policies and review policies, staff, committee and parents.(even consider getting childrens views, they could inform some of the practice, ie: yur play policy, outdoor policy etc). At the end of the day, the committee need to know the policies inside out, in practice, because they are ultimately responsible for ensuring they are followed, and should in essence refer to them for annual appraisals etc, when employing and interviewing etc.

I started a 'rolling programme' of review for my policies, so that there isn't an unwieldly huge pack to look at all at once. Each review we asked parents for their opinions, using a short questionairre (I wasn't committee run, but you could use the same questionairre for committee members too). Then any adaptations were given to all parents (email is good for this and saves trees).

Initially I would share policy review tasks out ie: H&S to the H&S officer, Fees, employment policies (business etc) to committee, SEN to settings senco, curriculum to supervisor etc, then have these people 'lead' a policy review meeting, get others thoughts etc, agree to keep the same or not. Keep tight timescales for the review of each policy and plan the reviews at appropriatte times of the year. ie: we reviewed our fees policy in June, so that any changes could be informed to all prior to September term.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Peggy