Working with trustees/committees

[Guest]

Hi All

 

I have just found this forum and wow, what a revelation! I have had so many niggly questions answered by scouting these boards.

 

I am the (newish) chair of a VMC pre-school that has some serious problems, financial and performance. We have a hard working committee dedicated to improving our situation, but none of us have any experience working in an early years setting so taking time to understand what is expected of our staff has been really important (and why I'm here now). It's been a steep learning curve!

 

My question is about working with trustees/committees.

 

What can they do to really support you, especially with practical things that enhance practitioners time with our children?

and

What do they do that you really hate?

 

Thank you so much.

 

 

[SueJ]

I used to manage a committee run group but that is no longer the case. Some of my main bugbears were that the committee and in my case chair had no real understanding of the regulatory framework - they had taken over from other people and in most cases had not even read the info about being the registered person.

 

This is an extract from the guide to registration which outlines what the committee are signing up to (as the registered person)

 

 

The registered person

27. The registration system for childcare on domestic and non-domestic premises uses the concept of a ‘registered person’. ‘Person’ used in this context means both individuals and organisations. Examples of organisations are given in the table in paragraph 38.

28. The registered person has overall responsibility for the provision of childcare and is legally responsible for ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Early Years Register or Childcare Register, regulations and any conditions of registration that we impose. Where we have to take action against a registered person who fails to meet the requirements set out in law, this can include taking action against individual members of an organisation, such as the committee members. It is important that those people who make up the registered person have a full understanding of the requirements and responsibilities of their role and the implications arising from it. Each individual must understand and feel confident about their role before accepting such a position.

It is also important that committee members have clearly defined roles and responsibilities (a big ask when they are being asked to do it for nothing) e.g., treasurer, secretary, HR rep, book keeper etc. and that they stick to these roles and recognise their "professional" responsibilities particularly when it comes to confidentiality and parental friendship groups!

It is also important to be open with the actual day to day practitioners including letting them know financial constraints and what your (as their employer) expectations are. Perhaps over time the vision of what the setting is about has been lost - maybe getting together to ensure that you all committee and practitioners share the same vision is a good starting point.

[SueFinanceManager]

Hi Rabbitintheheadlights (great username ) and welcome to the forum

 

I am sure others will have plenty to add but I do think it is really important for the committee to have read the EYFS documentation so that they understand what you are working to and how the work you are doing relates to the guidelines.

 

They need to understand that although you are learning through play you are not playing. The EYFS also lays out clear expectations re care etc.

 

There is lots of information on here about planning which might help you so they can see a structure.

 

Also, in terms of child assessment we have a free resource called PRAMS that you can find at the bottom of the page here that might help you with your record keeping but will also enable the committee to see all the areas you need to cover, assess and record.

 

Just my opinion but I hope if offers a viewpoint

 

Sue

[Rea]

Hi from me too

 

I've been on both ends of a committee as playleader and now chair.

From the playleader point of view: I hated the day to day running being interrupted by committee stuff. I didnt like the interference that could come from some members, one members ignorant comments to parents resulted in me writing an open letter in support of the staff. :angry:

I liked to know where we stood with finances, waiting lists, if new children had been given a start date and any plans they had for events like summer fete, christmas party etc. Committees change a lot, so I wanted to now the current committee knew what to pass on to the new one.

From the chair point of view we have a not altogether legal set up at the moment! We have a functioning committee on paper but not in fact. I keep an eye on the finances, speak with the EY dept and Ofsted., someone else arranges meetings and gets together who ever she can, she also takes the minutes, although getting them off her is a mamouth task! One of our staff banks the money, I sign cheques with another member of staff, luckily I have known and worked with these women for years and absolutely trust their day to day running of the setting. I pop ion now and then but dont interfer, I might tell them ideas I've seen on here ask wquestions about what tey're doing but basically, the staff run it, I add ideas and inform them of new regulations etc. The rest of the people who make up our committee attend meetings and help where tehy can.

Everyone has such busy lives.

[finleysmaid]

hello and welcome!

 

I have run a committe led pre-school for years (as manager)and we have recently changed to a limited company (we are also a registered charity)

 

I'm not sure what your set up is because we are all different...are you using committee for 'officer roles' (treasurer/secretary etc)?

 

Do you have an lea advisor? there is a lot to take on board and i could write a book about it!! i'm just wondering wether a face to face meeting with someone might make more sense (where are you based? there might be a lovely person on here that could help!)

 

If your setting is in a bit of a mess you may need to make some tough decisions and this may not be liked by others....but this is your job. The committee are in charge and are liable for any issues....so you need to get it right! :blink:

[Fredbear]

Hi and a warm welcome too. We are also an incorporated Pre-school with charitable status and myself and our lovely team run the day to day of the setting.

Our committee are trustees and we are very fortunate as they take their roles very seriously.

Are you part of the PSLA if yes, they have lots of support for committee members and also development advisors to help and guide you with any issues.

Committees do need to realise the importance of their roles and their legal responsibilities.

This is a great ask in my opinion.

[finleysmaid]

Are you part of the PSLA if yes, they have lots of support for committee members and also development advisors to help and guide you with any issues.

 

lovely to see they are still operating in your area Fredbear....doesn't happen round here! but maybe rabbitintheheadlight will be lucky :rolleyes:

[Fredbear]

That's a shame Finleysmaid , yes still going strong in our area.

Lets hope rabbitintheheadlights area has them too.

[Guest]

Hi All

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

 

Lots of food for thought for me here. Yes we are a registered charity, with a PSLA adopted constitution, hoping to be a CIO as soon as applications open and yes we use the committee to fill the key roles.

 

I think from a legislative perspective we are on top of things, aware of our responsibilities to the setting, children and staff as well as our personal liability under our current set up (a few sleepless nights on this one!). For me it's about benchmarking and good practice as we have no experience to compare with, how long should it take to do things, how do other settings organise things and most importantly what can we learn.

 

We have had a really difficult year with a low birth rate and a flood that wiped out most of our thirty years worth of collected resources. (not insured due to landlords negligence, long story!)

 

We have managed to carry extra staff this year and our numbers look ok for September, but we can't continue to do this any more so big staffing changes are being driven essentially by finance, but also by what we feel is a need to improve (two satisfactory in two years, which is OK except the same things being picked up in consecutive years is NOT ok, staff blaming new EYFS for this and pretty much everything else). Staff morale is low and I feel like rejecting suggestions of help from the committee, ways to work differently etc has become ingrained in our culture.

 

We do have support from our EYIO, in fact we have been in intensive support for over a year (although the committee have only known about it since Christmas). Since then we have invited ourselves along to every meeting. Our EYIO is fab but I find it difficult to get a straight answer our of her. For example when the staff tell me they need 3 hours each to do joint planning a week, her response is that different settings work in different ways. Our PSLA rep was much more helpful and is always happy to tell me what they do in her setting but she is busy and I feel bad bugging her constantly!

 

Anyway, I've picked up tons of stuff off here already and your replies have all been really helpful, so thank you. I think I'm going to have a lot more questions though!

[HappyMaz]

lovely to see they are still operating in your area Fredbear....doesn't happen round here! but maybe rabbitintheheadlight will be lucky :rolleyes:

We're still here Finleysmaid - its just that our activities nowadays are limited to meeting up for dinner and putting the world to rights since the Branch was disbanded all those years ago when the Local Authority poached all our staff and our funding got cut! I think the Berkshire group is still fairly active though and are available for support if necessary.

 

Welcome, rabbitintheheadlights, I'm sure you'll find the Forum a continuing source of support in your quest to raise standards and put your setting back on an even keel. You've been given some great advice already which I won't add to because I've never worked with a committee before. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you need to - as you can tell already, our members are a knowledgeable lot! :1b

[Fredbear]

Hi rabbitintheheadlights

Would it be possible to visit some of the other settings working in your area, I have always found this the most useful in terms of going back to reflect and evaluate your own provision.

It's great sometimes to bounce off others, bit like here really.

3 hours planning for all staff seems extremely excessive in my mind.

Good luck with this.

[SueJ]

Hi there

 

As Fredbear has said if it is possible for you to see how other settings are doing things that's always a good start. Can your EYIO pehaps make an introduction for you to another setting in your area?

 

It sounds as though you are looking to overhaul quite a few things - maybe a good starting point is to break the whole down into more manageable bite sized chunks and prioritise what needs tackling first. When you have identified each area a Stop, Start, Continue approach can be useful - this could be done by each member of your team individually and then come together as a team to thrash out a joint plan of action.

 

Stop, Start, Continue looks a bit like this three columns:

 

Stop - What should we stop doing? - Ideas, items etc.

Start - What should we start doing? - Ideas, items etc.

Continue - What should we stop doing? - Ideas, items etc.

 

This way you could encourage everyone to reflect on what is currently happening, what needs to happen and identify what good practices are already happening and should continue.

 

Given the latest Ofsted consultation and the prospect of them coming down a bit heavier on settings they perceive to be "coasting satisfactory" perhaps a good starting point is to take a hard look at what it is that they keep picking up on and unite in a common cause to rectify those first.

 

As for each staff member having 3 hours per week to plan - I'm with Fredbear in thinking that that's a bit excessive!

 

Hope that helps

[finleysmaid]

I think the Berkshire group is still fairly active though and are available for support if necessary.

worrying that i have never had any contact then since we've been a psla group for decades! :blink: :blink:

[SueFinanceManager]

Not a committee group but we had a weekly staff meeting and brainstormed the planning as a team in about an hour and that was discussing some individual children's specific needs within the planning so each person needing 3 hours each does seem a lot

[HappyMaz]

worrying that i have never had any contact then since we've been a psla group for decades! :blink: :blink:

I imagine they must be hard-pressed these days - leave it with me. I'll do a bit of digging and see what I can find out!

[Rea]

worrying that i have never had any contact then since we've been a psla group for decades! :blink: :blink:

 

We used to have a lot of contact with the local branch, but like elsewhere the city took their roles and cut their funding so they arent around so much now. They tend to concentrate on parent and toddler groups now. I've just spoken to ours about advertising with them, the newsletter they used to send out monthly has been replaced with a weekly ebulletin, but I hadnt given them our email address! Maybe yours do something similar finleysmaid?

[finleysmaid]

We used to have a lot of contact with the local branch, but like elsewhere the city took their roles and cut their funding so they arent around so much now. They tend to concentrate on parent and toddler groups now. I've just spoken to ours about advertising with them, the newsletter they used to send out monthly has been replaced with a weekly ebulletin, but I hadnt given them our email address! Maybe yours do something similar finleysmaid?

well i shall wait with baited breath