Funding audit

[Rea]

... I quite often used to do that when mine were 2/3, you need to do spontaneous things like that before they start school.

 

I did it when they were at school too Learnt it from my mom and nan who quite often used tell me not to go to school and to go to town with them instead. I wasnt going to disobey them was I?

We've had some lovely days which I said were educational, panning for gold at a Roman goldmine in Wales, making dams in a stream, burying youngest son on the beach, velocity at Alton Towers, reading Rosie and Jim books in the real Rosie and Jim shop, learning to ski on a dry slope and loads of other things. All out of school activities that school werent fulfilling because of training for SATS!!

So shoot me :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Thumperrabbit - we did exactly the same. Our LA always reserved the right to audit but in nine years we never had one probably because they didn't have the staff! I used to tell my parents that spontaneous days were fine so long as they didn't fall into a pattern on me. I used to love the fact that so many of my parents wanted to spend the time with their children.

[Guest]

I would never condemn a parent who decided to play hookey with their child, heaven forbid, I've done it enough times with my children! All I ask is that they ring/email/text/facebook message me to let me know. The absence log and safeguarding policy allows me at ask that they let me know and with several of my families receving help from various other agencies it is sometimes a requirement of the help that the child attends whenever possible. It does have a positive aspect, a couple of weeks ago I received a call from a parent to let me know that her child would not be in because she was unable to get out of the hosue to bring him, I knew this mum suffered from panic attacks and had agoraphobic tendencies when she was having a bad day. Because she had to phone in, I was able to talk to her and I walked to her house, had a cup of tea and then walked to preschool with her and the child

[lynned55]

We're the same as Loobylou. No absence note, common courtsey should dictates that they ring/text if child is off (but not always!) But i just record / (or if late the time of arrival) & a 0 if absent. If absent for more than two week holiday than we are suppossed to inform our LA but they rarely are and I never have. I think it says something in our LA stuff about keeping records for up to 7 years as they have the right to audit within that time but i have been doing this since way before funding began and have never known them to anyone in our borough. Always a first i suppose. ooh and yes we ask to see BC prior to them starting but dont keep or make copies. I would be very unhappy about that, really feel it is an infringment on someones privacy. On our funding forms there is a bit we sign (or used to be i cant actually remember if it is still there as my dep does the funding ) saying we have seen proof of age. Wouldn't it be nice if every borough, LA worked to the same agenda and rules for us????

[Guest lillybeth]

We just have to put on the register whether the absence was authorised ie parents had told us why their child was absent, unauthorised (they had not let us no) we don't have absent slips. One thing which they picked up was timekeeping, one child is late quite often due to his sister going to a different school, they questioned this and said they could deduct funding.

[Guest]

We just have to put on the register whether the absence was authorised ie parents had told us why their child was absent, unauthorised (they had not let us no) we don't have absent slips. One thing which they picked up was timekeeping, one child is late quite often due to his sister going to a different school, they questioned this and said they could deduct funding.

 

thats a bit sneaky. my argument to that is that the childs place is available from the beginning of the session and staff are in place for him so you should be able to claim funding, its the parents who are choosing not to make arrangements for their child to be in on time. We have parents who choose to pick up a little earlier because of getting to other schools and have never been pulled up for still claiming to the end of the session.

Edited February 15, 2013 by max321

[MegaMum]

This is a copy of our absense register (given to us by County) which we have to use for claiming funding. In the 'reason for absense' column we put an A for authorised absense which is only illness, holiday or medical appointment, a U for unauthorised absence, and H for holiday. If you have parents that are absent a lot it really helps them to see how much time their child is absent when they sign it

 

Absense register.doc

[Mouseketeer]

thanks for that megamum

 

our parent declarations tell them they can have 10 days off per term for holidays and short term sickness anyway.......so if only attending 1 day a week they'd only need to show up 1 week this term to keep their funding

[sunnyday]

This is a copy of our absense register (given to us by County) which we have to use for claiming funding. In the 'reason for absense' column we put an A for authorised absense which is only illness, holiday or medical appointment, a U for unauthorised absence, and H for holiday. If you have parents that are absent a lot it really helps them to see how much time their child is absent when they sign it

 

Absense register.doc

 

Thanks for sharing :1b

[Guest]

Well I survived the audit , although it was 3 hours long! Didn't check parent forms or register much to my surprise. Looked at two children's forms where they access split provision. Lot's of questions about the new funding criteria that came in Sept 2012 for us.

How did we offer sessions ? eg. to receive a supplement for flexibility, parents have to be offered their child's funding over a variety of combinations including

5 hours a day x 3 days! Had we given out privacy forms to all our parents?

How we used the deprivation supplement? How we stored our data and where we kept the paper copies secure and back up discs of children's data.

Looked at our annual budget, turnover and how much reserves we kept, as we are a charity. (Glad the treasurer was present).

Insurance policy, named officers re. safeguarding, child protection etc. Did we attend all council meetings?

What we had spent grants on and evidence on supporting disadvantaged parents .

Also did I have any parents that didn't regularly attend? These children must be reported and sessions may be cut.

Make sure your info for parents contains the new funding options if you are offering flexible options. Need to update my booklets now

at half-term.

Have to say I think I would of preferred an Ofsted inspection and hope that's it not repeated for many years.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Guest

[Mouseketeer]

Poor you...that sounds pretty heavy going