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Staff Bringing Their Own Children To Work


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Yes, our Ofsted registration says 'Twenty 2 to 5 year olds'

 

I wish we had an Osted rep on here who could join in at times like this. My registration limits my numbers for under 8s in a similar way but it's a given that we can care for over 8s as well and the limit is left up to our common sense.

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I think I might have a touch of PMT today but I just can't see how it's different for childminders.

 

Now Upsy - if we're bringing hormones into this - I need to say that I am 'menopausal'! :oxD:(

 

Fascinating debate - one of the reasons that I enjoy this forum.........wonder if 'radish' has been back to read responses?

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So is the solution that those children who are not old enough to be volunteers become temporary 'clients' and are paid for in the usual way?

I wonder what fees to earnings ratio most people would deem reasonable to make this an economic viability? :o

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I guess it depends if you normally have extra staff on duty over and above your minimum ratios.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant would staff want to work if they had to pay full fees for their child to attend with them?

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Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant would staff want to work if they had to pay full fees for their child to attend with them?

 

 

It would be cheaper for me to pay preschool fees for my younger son (8 yrs) to come into preschool than to go to his childminder for a day. But out of 4 members of staff with school age or younger children, I'm the only one who pays for childcare.

 

Adding to the discussion, what about staff's children coming in every day because their school finishes before preschool? School has no after school childcare provision, and the after school clubs either don't appeal to the children in question or don't end at convenient times for the staff. Luckily, the children like to play at our local play area all weathers & their mothers collect them form there when work's finished. Not ideal in the winter though!

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I think sometimes it is about being flexible looking at each situation and making a judgement on each case.

 

It does not happen very often in my setting but as i have said before sometimes you just have too

 

If i saw a bank clerks daughter on the seat next to her i wouldnt think how unprofessional i would think what an understanding employer

It hardly ever happens and this is the point

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I wouldn't expect to go into my bank and have the clerk's child sitting next to her, or for her to be having a 'coffee break' on the job, or for her to be engaged in a phone call (even if it was from her child's school :o )........

 

 

If i saw a bank clerks daughter on the seat next to her i wouldnt think how unprofessional i would think what an understanding employer

 

Oh my goodness - really feel that I've said all that I have to say on this matter - but - if that is meant to be a quote from from me - it's inaccurate - please see above for what I actually said! xD

I was merely trying to illustrate the point that it wouldn't happen in any other 'job'! :(

 

Think I also said somewhere through this thread 'each to their own'.......and that's exactly how I feel - we all make our own choices - excellent - that's just the way it should be - I have never subscribed to 'one size fits all' :(

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It is hard to say no but if your registration states the ages

 

Our's is from 2-5 then you are only allowed to take the stated age group.

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In my setting we are not allowed to bring our own children in on TE days and one member of staff has had to take time off as she was unable to make any childcare arrangements. These odd days can be really awkward, especially when you have children at different schools and the days dont coincide.

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  • 8 months later...

Hi everyone

Why should teachers allowed to take their own children into school, no other parent can take their child to work with them. Surely the teacher can not be doing their traing effectively if they are thinking about their child which could possibly be in another room on the school premises.

 

WHAT DOES THE GOVERMENT SAY ABOUT THIS

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Hi i don't think that is strictly true 3children, there are other workplaces that do allow staff's children to attend on some occasions.

I think like everything else it should be at your head's, bosses, or managers discretion to decide.

I can remember many moons ago going into my mum's workplace, was spoilt rotten, given lots of little jobs to do and had a thorougly wonderful time, with lots of learning opportunities.

As for teachers children being in another area of the school, i really do feel it depends on the age of the children in attendance whether this would be appropriate or not.

 

That said we do not have our staff's children in our setting during opening times, as a large setting with thirty children each session this could infact double if we were to have staff's children in too.

We tend to cover each other for differing inset days etc.

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I have not re read this all, but think the focus is more about those of us in early years who work in PVI, or similar with the issues that brings and adds to the role , minimum wage for many and and in our case in a setting where we usually had spaces so that the younger element could be included in ratio and the older ones were really a help a lot of the time, with the children attending enjoying having thier company for a day..

 

We did find a lot of positives in this, and took each request/need as it arose making the decision which was best for the children in the group... if this meant having a good ratio of adult/child against the minimum, with one older child then so be it.. if on the other hand a lot were off on the same day most staff did find alternative care as they did not want their child in the setting, but single mum with no support and this being the main income was not always possible.. they lost a days wage, and sometimes the benefits associated with it..

 

If they were in a job with a good wage and different environment it would never be possible, but in this work if we could it was possible, but we were lucky in that we often had a mum with an older child drop off one at the setting offer to take the older children with them for the morning... we wee in a close community where a lot of the mums were also friends with staff so this worked well too..

 

As to how government feels... suppose the closest - we had an Ofsted with 2 older children in the setting and they were perfectly happy, checked the ages our routine with them and actually noted how they were helping and the children enjoyed their company..

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  • 1 month later...

You need to check your Ofsted registration - and of course your insurance policy - if you are only allowed to care for children between the age group of 2-5 then I believe that is the age group you should look after.

 

The law rules I am afraid :(

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Guest Spiral

It's a very difficult one.

 

Two issues that have worried me in the past are;

 

Firstly, what if an Ofsted officer turned up - are you within the ratio? Do you have an action plan if you had to accompany another child to the hospital (who would be in charge of the child you brought in with you and would they be ok with that responsibility), Do you have all the forms in place for the child such as written permission to administer first aid etc? Unless you are the parent you should not assume you are still allowed to permit this...I know it sounds silly, but in reality a paramedic or other staff member could ask to see written permission.

 

Secondly, it's really hard to be fair when looking after your own child at work - I had to do it once or twice and I found I was almost nasty to my own child - I hate myself for this and have spoken to other colleagues about this - we all feel we did the same and regret it enormously.

 

It's a very difficult one and I do believe that it is down to the personal judgement of the Manager and their team to feel confident in their own decisions.

 

Sorry, I'm probably being harsh, but I can see the negatives (and the positives),

 

Spiral :-)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi

Interesting topic, I have two children who have both been thought the nursery and on rare occasion when the school has had to do a emergency close I have taken my children to the nursery, I will say that how we work it in our setting is the team cover for the majority of the day and I go with children to do the last few hours or first few hours, we work as a tag team supporting each other. It works for us

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We don't bring our own children in to the nursery; if staff have inset closures for their children's schools they can have the time off but have to make it up - most do overtime so I deduct it from that usually. Everyone is happy with that - we've always done it like that. I have enough staff to cover so it's never been a problem (*touches wood*)

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Oh yes - I meant to say. Last time I was at the bank - last Saturday, there was a young child sitting behind the cashiers doing some colouring in, whilst one of the cashiers was sharpening crayons. Nobody seemed to be batting an eyelid. It all felt nice and relaxed actually!

  • Like 2
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  • 1 month later...

I really do agree with you sunnyday. Practice has moved on and I would certainly not like my GP to have their child in the consulting room either!

 

Lesley

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