Policies Relating To Staff/children In A Setting

[Guest Wolfie]

Do people present all their policies that relate more directly to the staff than the children/childcare in the setting in the same file as those relating directly to the childcare?

 

I know that it's a bit of a woolly division of policies and procedures for most of the time but there are a handful of individual policies and procedures, e.g. staff grievance procedure, supervision/PPR procedure, that aren't listed under the Welfare Requirement headings of the EYFS and I'm wondering where people store them? Are people using these Welfare Requirements headings for their Operational Plan now or, as I have before, used the ECM headings?

 

Or am I just making a mountain out of a molehill?? Probably!

[Guest]

I can't think as I have been off all week studying. I know we give staff an individual copy of what is called working with parent, carers and children policy and procedure book. I think we used the EYFS for our operational, but this is one of the many things that I might just have time to update soon as I will be inducting 6 new members of staff on monday, hopefully with a full staff team I will be able to my own job . Sorry I couldnt be more help

[Guest]

I don't think you are making a mountain out of a molehill, the policies relating to staffing etc, I believe are just as important as parent / children related ones. Each cannot function without the other.

 

If I was still running a preschool I think I would be organising my operational plan under the ECM headings and all policies inlcuding those relating to staff etc I would place under the heading of Organization, Management & Admin (a sub folder of Positive contributions)

 

Peggy

[Shiny]

We do as Peggy sugests. It is easier for me to sort and for Mrs O as they relate to inspection areas.

[Cait]

Ours are all together as they come under the headings too

[Guest]

I am going to change mine and put it under the EYFS headings

[Guest advisor]

Do people present all their policies that relate more directly to the staff than the children/childcare in the setting in the same file as those relating directly to the childcare?

 

I know that it's a bit of a woolly division of policies and procedures for most of the time but there are a handful of individual policies and procedures, e.g. staff grievance procedure, supervision/PPR procedure, that aren't listed under the Welfare Requirement headings of the EYFS and I'm wondering where people store them? Are people using these Welfare Requirements headings for their Operational Plan now or, as I have before, used the ECM headings?

 

Or am I just making a mountain out of a molehill?? Probably!

 

 

I would say that any policies and procedures relating to staff could be in a seperate folder and kept in the staff room, or put on a staff notice board, they should of course be shared with new staff and form part of their induction process.

 

Settings are using both methods for op plan, but i feel it is more user friendly to go under Welfare Requrement Headings and put all your evidence and cross referencing under each heading.

 

That way you can hand the folder over to Ofsted and let them get on with it !!!!

 

Good Luck :

[sunnyday]

Always supposing they can read!

 

Can you tell I speak from 'bitter experience'!

 

Thanks for the advice and welcome to the forum!

 

Sunnyday

[Guest]

Hijacking this slightly - can anyone give me a quick check list of their policies which relate specifically to staff? I think I have covered all bases but that probably means I have missed something vital out!

 

Now wasn't there something more pressing I was supposed to be doing before I started to fiddle with other matters.....

[DavidW]

We have an ever growing list of policies which we have separated out into 2 folders. Incredibly, we now have 45 staff specific policies! See attached list.

 

David

Staff_Policies_List.docx

[Guest]

dying to see your x amount of policies but i couldnt read it

[DavidW]

Sorry, it's this new version of Word - keeps saving everything in the new format which older versions can't read - try this one.

Staff_Policies_List.doc

[Guest]

Thankyou DavidW for that. I'll make a start I guess "sigh"! LOL

[Beau]

I am a great believer in simplifying things where possible. Could not many of these be combined into existing policies, with just a few lines added in? Although you have probably covered all areas in great detail, the drawback is that they could become unwieldy and rather than staff reading and knowing the policies well, they could be skimmed over and many areas overlooked.

 

I was also a great believer in using bullet points where possible and plain English rather than flowery language. Some policies I have come across are a beautiful work of prose but not really fit for purpose!

[DavidW]

Well, I think we have simplified things by separating out. We do try to use plain language and we have an ongoing review of all policies using our 'policy of the week' programme - each week, I email out 1 or more policies to each nursery, for staff to read and review - if the policy does not reflect practice then 1 or other needs changing. Staff are invited to give their feedback and the policy is amended as appropriate. That way, we have a rolling review of all policies; continuous staff training and a proactive policies into practice regime. We also have a full induction programme with an assigned mentor, which guides new staff through the key policies and how these work in practice. Some of the specific staff policies possibly come under the boring but necessary category and are there more for reference but others, such as record keeping, how to deal with visitors etc are very relevant to day to day practice and must be read and understood by all staff. I am sure there are many different ways of doing this, this is just how we have chosen to do it.

 

David