Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 Okay so I have read the new Eyfs thoroughly and note that it states all staff must have food/ hygiene training if preparing and handling food. Now I have just received all my audit, Rag rating criteria through our LA and in one section it states must and in another states desirable does anyone know the truth??????? Am feeling a little cross that if it is compulsory for all staff that no money has been signposted for training. We do have our two kitchen assistants trained but what about the other 13 of us. Sorrry rant over.
Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Author Posted May 6, 2012 To add also that it states through our LA to obtain a Green rating you must all have food hygiene .
apple Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 erm did I read on the forum somewhere about a setting who sent a member of staff on the training (who gained the obligatory certificate) and then once back in the setting disseminated the information to the rest of the staff. This was recorded in the minutes/policy and that was acceptable? Not sure if I read it correctly but one would think that on a practical note this way of sharing course information would be acceptable as long as the certificate holder is working within the setting - do you see what I mean?
Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Author Posted May 6, 2012 Yes thanks I do see what you mean i suppose I need to clarify with LA whether this would be acceptable or do they all have to have the certificate.
apple Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 I should add that this is what I was going to talk to the head about as I too wondered if we in the nursery had to have a certificate? There is a trained person in school (one of the T.A's) and I wondered if she trained us would that be acceptable? We prepare milk and fruit - plus the occasional times when we carry out cooking activities.
finleysmaid Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 All my staff are trained BUT i have a small team. In the catering companies i have worked in before we have had huge quantities of staff ...waiting staff all had in-house training which was always accepted by the EHO's. As long as someone has a higher qualification and you are only doing snacks/cookery then you are low risk if your lea's insist on full certificates then i would ring your local eho's and ask the questions...i but you get a different answer Food hygiene is on all my staff and trainee inductions and so i could argue that they are all trained to the level of the job they are doing.
Guest Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 My preschool used an online training course for food hygiene which was inexpensive and also time efficient. We were able to get everyone trained in a matter of hours and staff could use it as often as they wanted so we used it as an annual update too just to keep minds focussed. Under the current EYFS this was acceptable for both LA, EHO and Ofsted.
Cait Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 At the training I was on on Thursday for the new eyfs they said that any member of staff who prepares or handles food must have the certificate.
finleysmaid Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 humm stat requirements say must recieve training in food hygiene (3.46 i think)...do you know where it says at what level????
Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Author Posted May 6, 2012 My point exactly Finleysmaid , clarification needed i think. I have also googled training online but for all staff to do it still comes to £225.00 which for a charity pre-school is still a lot of money.
Guest Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 My preschool used an online training course for food hygiene which was inexpensive and also time efficient. We were able to get everyone trained in a matter of hours and staff could use it as often as they wanted so we used it as an annual update too just to keep minds focussed. Under the current EYFS this was acceptable for both LA, EHO and Ofsted. Would you mind sharing the link to this site. We need to get do it but there seems to be quite a few sites that do it and I'd prefer to use one that is recommended. x
Guest Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 I've looked at several but without a recommendation how can I tell which is reputable and which are cons?
Cait Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 I can recommend educare, I've used them for many years and done several of their courses. Interestingly they've teamed up with the psla to deliver some free courses - if you are with the psla it could be worth your while having a look 1
blondie Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 hi i have just looked on the psla site as we too need food hygiene training but from what i can see its for settings with twenty staff - is that right or have i mis-read it? means the majority of settings will not be able to access any free training through them x
Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Author Posted May 6, 2012 Hi Blondie if you are members of the PSLA they are giving a discount to £15.00 per person with Educare might be worth a ring
louby loo Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 PSLA are currently advertising free training for members I've signed up but not heard anything back yet (says could take up to 10 days) The trainer is 'EduCare' and includes 'basic food hygiene' amongst others. xxx
apple Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 Problem with being told on training courses that everyone in the setting who prepares food no matter how big or small that food shoudl ahve a certificate - it that different training providers may be interpreting the requirements in different ways if you see what I mean - look at us all we see to be in the dark as to what the exact requirements are so who do we go to for clarification of do we all need to have a certificate - it seems ludicrous and bureaucratic to expect everyone in the team to have a certificate even for putting milk cartons on a tray and washing fruit!! so who is the ultimate person/body that we can ask? aarrggghhhh someone please tell us who it is that wrote that requirement and put us out of our misery before we go off and spend copious amounts of money that is much needed elsewhere! sorry rant over! (at least until I find the definitive answer )
Guest Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 Would you mind sharing the link to this site. We need to get do it but there seems to be quite a few sites that do it and I'd prefer to use one that is recommended. x We haven't used ours for twelve months and as we are in the process of winding up I haven't asked the staff to redo the certificate this year. I also can't remember the name of the company but I do know that when we originally chose them we asked our EHO team to approve the course before we paid. Both they and the company were very happy to help us out in getting this endorsement so it might be worth asking at the LA if someone would look at a course you were interested in using and then check if the company is happy for it to be checked over. The company we used said they were very happy for this to happen, and it meant that if the EHO said it wasn't sufficient then they could make changes to ensure it was. Sorry I can't help more.
Pimms o'clock? Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 We use "Safer food, better business" as recommended by our Environmental Health dept and have just been inspected by them gaining a top level "5" under the new national scheme. So my feeling is, no matter what the EYFS says, we can't do any better, and environmental health are the experts in this field not Ofsted, so we will stick to using this, link below http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/regulation/hygleg/hyglegresources/sfbb/
louby loo Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 (edited) We use "Safer food, better business" as recommended by our Environmental Health dept and have just been inspected by them gaining a top level "5" under the new national scheme. So my feeling is, no matter what the EYFS says, we can't do any better, and environmental health are the experts in this field not Ofsted, so we will stick to using this, link below http://www.food.gov....resources/sfbb/ Snap! We have just received our '5 star sticker' too. I've not given a lot of thought to then new rqmts yet- our EHO said 'one person certified' and other staff to watch the DVD in the 'Safer food, better business' and she sent us the disk. (pre-school - fruit, milk, serving packed lunches and cooking activities) xx just to add - I will encourage staff to do the free online PSLA courses though ............ but mainly because currently our LA seems to have very little on offer with regards to CPD other than 'managment type' courses - and we'll get penalised for staff not doing enough CPD courses on our RAG!!!! Edited May 6, 2012 by louby loo
catma Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 so who is the ultimate person/body that we can ask?aarrggghhhh someone please tell us who it is that wrote that requirement and put us out of our misery before we go off and spend copious amounts of money that is much needed elsewhere! The DfE. If everyone starts to ask them questions they may be forced to give some clarification. just like they did last time. And the time before that!!! 1
Fredbear Posted May 6, 2012 Author Posted May 6, 2012 Can I just say to you all that the food hygiene course is not free with PSLA but heavily subsidised with Educare.
louby loo Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 (edited) Can I just say to you all that the food hygiene course is not free with PSLA but heavily subsidised with Educare. My March 12 Under Fives magazine - says 'free training for every member of staff' (pg 4-6) !!!!! :huh: Am I about to find out this is not actually true? .................................. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: just found the small print......... and yes 'basic food hygiene' is offered at 'a greatly reduced cost'! Edited May 6, 2012 by louby loo
apple Posted May 6, 2012 Posted May 6, 2012 thanks catma- but how do we get in touch directly with the dfe to ask them? I have posted to the foundationyears.org website to ask them if they can find out (will post here if I get an answer)
janeafreeman Posted May 7, 2012 Posted May 7, 2012 I'm pretty sure not all staff have to be certified in food hygiene (it is not a requirement of Enviornmental Health) ... Just ensure its covered as part of induction so all staff are aware of basics, eg: hand washing, safe fridge/freezer temps, storage of high risk foods, etc. for those who want to be certified, I would recommend obtaining CIEH qualifications as these are endorsed by environmental health and appear to be cheaper than educate. The Health and safety course is also worth doing via this site as again it is a CIEH certified course. http://www.itrainingcourses.co.uk/?gclid=CLXIlNeK7q8CFcwNtAodu04u0w
Cait Posted May 7, 2012 Posted May 7, 2012 http://learnhq.com/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=4#jump Learn HQ do good courses, we've done several of theirs and they do a food hygiene one too, specific to schools
chicken Posted May 7, 2012 Posted May 7, 2012 Hello, I have two staff trained to level 2, for everybody else we use a downloadable version from: www.learnhq.com it cost £9.95 and you can use as many times as you like. But you do need to have 'internet explorer' installed as your browser as it needs this to run.
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