Guest Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have a register for parents to sign in and out each day, I stand by the register getting them to sign in however as soon as I get distracted parents carers leave without doing this. IS THERE A SIMPLIER SYSTEM IN PLACE where I can share - what do you do in your setting - we are a packaway nursery - so can not have any electronic system in place. Term starts next week and need to have a system in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueJ Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We are a pack away setting too but have now decided to have separate in and out entrance/exits. We took on board parents grumbles about having a bit of a crowded main entrance area and people having to wait in a queue to drop off/collect their children. We have fixed start and finish times so all parents come in through the main door where the cloakroom is and then exit through the door that takes them offsite through the playground. I am on the main door if anyone has any queries that need sorting out "right that minute" and I have another member of staff on the exit door who makes sure that everyone signs their child in. Using this system has also helped stop the logjam of parents trying to get in and out of the same entrance/exit. At pick up time we reverse the process so that parents come in through the playground entrance/exit and leave via the cloakroom entrance/exit. The staff member with the signing in out register is then by the cloakroom entrance/exit making sure that everyone is signed out. It took a bit of "retraining" for everyone to get used to it and the downside is that it does tie up staff first thing in the morning (not so much at pick up time). On the plus side however because parents actually come into the hall in order to get out through the other door they spend a bit more time interacting with their children, settling them in and talking to other staff. A bit more "user friendly" and not so much of the drop and dash. If we have children struggling to part from the parents we can if need be "fast track" them to the member of staff doing the signing in - most other parents understand that a bit of queue jumping is necessary sometimes. Obviously this solution is only workable if you have separate entrance/exits but if you don't you could always put a member of staff on a sole entrance/exit for signing in/out purposes only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 previously at my setting parents were asked to sign a sheet on arrival but I found this awkward and inaccurate as many would sign others in and i really did not see the point of it when the children came straight in - it really did not serve a purpose as it either did not get filled in or as i said was inaccurate. One member of staff stands on outer door to meet and greet and children come straight in to self register - the member of staff holds register to tick off who they see until register time ( we have free play for first 15 mins) - I discussed this with my ofsted inspector and she said do what works best for us and the only reason the sign in sheet was there was for fire reasons so thats how we do it and it saves on so much printing and paper !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 we have the children self register, they stick their name on a velcro sheet (made into a pond) I complete the main register. we too are pack away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 just to add we are packaway too - forgot to say and our children help make their own name cards which we then laminate and they then post it in a post box although we are going to velcro this term . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 We have both systems. A member of staff ticks children's arrival on the daily register, noting down those who arrive after the main start time. Children also self register with a magnetic name card onto a whiteboard, and if they want to, write their name on the blackboard alongside. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 well im glad you brought this up...ive been wondering about my registers too. I don't get parents to sign in ...we time the children in and out each session but i have the psla registers (one for am one for pm) but they keep falling apart. If you generate your own registers how do you do it? getting confused as we have sessional and full day children in...can't seem to get my head round it this morning....anyone got an example? sorry to hijack post ifyourhappy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I stand at the front door and write in the time the children arrive, they then go on through into the hall and self register. When they leave I stand by the front door and call them forward individually to their parent and write what time they leave. If they arrive or leave other than our usual times who ever lets them in or out does the same. I am a packaway, whilst I am a little tied up at the front door there are 4 other members of staff on hand to speak to parents or help children in the hall. I generate my own register each term, not an electronic version. We are only open for 4 mornings per week. I can cram just about enough info on the register as I need, with the staff members this term however, I am onto two pages. I may leave the staff off of the main register as we sign in separately anyway, but by putting staff onto the main register I can see who was in for fire drill easily and who needs to do it as we colour in the column when we have done fire drill. register SPRING 2013 with key person for forum.doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 i too do my own registers but so time consuming , did order a couple from supplier but too school like and not sure whether they will help or not so back to the drawing board - plus lap top died so have got to try and find them all and 2 days to go arrgh.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) I print off a list of names with days of week and a 'time in' and 'time out' column each week and we take it in turns being 'on the door' to let parents and children in and mark them in and out. These are then put into a ring binder to keep and I just photocopy the master copy each week. I have got 50 children registered but it fits comfortably on one A4 sheet each week. the sheet is pinned to a clip board which also has a permanent fixed list with the daily booked attendance as well as the daily risk assessment sheet ( which covers one week on one sheet) and a visitor sheet, in a pocket on the back I keep a list of contact numbers as this is the board that we would take with us in the event of a fire. The children also self register with photo name cards and I don't call a formal register at all. OFSTED have never queried this system. Edited January 4, 2013 by max321 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I used to have a designated member of staff for the register at the beginning and end of sessions and parents knew that their responsibilty was to ensure all entrances and exits were recorded accurately for their children's safety - they were very good about it and were prepared to wait until that member of staff was free if they wanted/needed to speak to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Finlaysmaid, I have attached an example of our register. However I must stress I haven't actually used this version yet so not sure if it is workable. Up until Christmas it was fine, marked children in/out by member of staff at exit door when they arrived departed- children also self register by placing their name on a velcro board. All children arrive at 9.15 and all but 2 (at present) leave at same time. Just marked in by / or if arrived late/ left early then time would be inserted. However as from tomorrow we open until 4 pm 3 days per week. Some children will be staying all day and some will be arriving to do a pm session at 12.30pm. Rather than have 2 registers and children marked in on both (or not as they are already marked in) I have added to our existing register. I have marked with a PM the children that will be there for the afternoon- the shaded squares are for children that are not attending that session. I think it should work- many years ago we used to use an accounting book (something I inherited) as it was the only thing that gave us enough columns to record, I have never found the PSLA one of any use but my goodness it used to take so long to write it!! Much easier this way as yes the first one takes ages to do but after that I just print them out with the dates changed or add that manually. We are pack away and it just wouldn't be practical to use an electronic version on a daily basis. The sheet for the week is stored on a clipboard that is always hung in the same place each day so in the event of an emergency evacuation we can just grab and run. At the end of the week they are put into a binder and then filed each half term My only thing with this version now is I haven't put the 4pm finish time on the column heading as 3 /4 of the group will still be leaving at 12.45 so I figured those that leave at 4 pm can just have the time written in. I'll just have to see if that works- I hope so. the second sheet is for staff/visitors forum reg.doc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 thanks lynned55 that's the sort of thing...with a couple of tweeks i reckon this could work for us........Ta muchly :rolleyes: :wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 lynned55, your register is fine until children arrive or leave at another time eg through illness or dental appointment. My form just has empty boxes and the member of staff on the welcoming rota for that day marks in the actual time the child arrives and leaves. We were told by OFSTED in a previous inspection that a tick chart was not good enough and it has also helped in the past when we have had issues with late pick up as I have been able to see where this occurs regularly. So my form just has a column for the childs name and then 10 columns for in and out on five days of the week, we also have an extra column in which to make notes eg for change of sessions, early pick up etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Yes that's just what we were told Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 But your way you have to put in the time for each individual child dont you? My way you can mark them in/out but then if they arrive or leave by a different time we can then put that in. I have been told by 2 inspectors that this system is fine as long as we have the time in/out at the top of the column and put in any different to this times then that was ok. however I did have to tweak it when I went to use it as those that weren't doing mornings I had shaded in and then realised that I had nowhere to mark them in. So I have unshaded the column and entered a PM in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I guess if it works for your setting then thats fine, we just find that marking in the actual time is just more reliable in the event of a fire drill for example as a tick can easily be put in the wrong column when in the hurry. When using a tick system in the past we did have occasions when all the ticks were put in 'on block'!!! when the staff member go 'round to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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