manager

[Guest]

as a manager , how do you organise your time to complete all relevant paperwork and also have time to complete observations on your key children?

Do you have set time where you are not counted in ratios so you can complete paperwork?

[Wildflowers]

The answer from me (owner, small setting, open 9-3 with meetings with parents and staff until about 4 and cleaning and practical preparations until 5.) is: early mornings, late afternoons, late and evenings, weekends and holidays (which are long, I admit). When the children are there I'm there as I'm a key person, and I have great difficulty finding people who can work.

[lashes2508]

As manager and key person it's difficult so like WF it's fitting it in around everything else , usually my own time sadly !

[Inge]

I was in a pack away committee run setting and they gave me 1 day a week out of ratio to do any paperwork... rest of time I was in the ratio and did same as other staff for key work etc..

When really busy and I could not take the day to do it.. they paid me 6 hours a week and I had to fit it all in.. 6 hours was never enough but better than others who I know get no admin time paid..

[finleysmaid]

as a manager , how do you organise your time to complete all relevant paperwork and also have time to complete observations on your key children?

Do you have set time where you are not counted in ratios so you can complete paperwork?

without knowing your size and number of children you will get answers that cover all eventualities!

[hali]

same here im afraid evenings and weekends :rolleyes:

[Guest]

This doesn't help you, but our manager doesn't have key children. Actually, as her deputy, I wish she would. She still doesn't really appreciate the time or effort the paperwork requires with each child and each staff member has about 12 key children.

[Guest]

I am the nursery manager and just this past school year I have had my contracted hours altered so I now am being paid for most of the paperwork stuff, except when it comes time for learning summaries and profiles for everyone!

 

During the time the nursery is open I am part of the staff ratio.

 

I do however manage breakfast club and Afterschool club too though I don't usually work these.

[Wildflowers]

Administration and practise goes together in my way of working - what I experience from daily hands-on work with the children and my colleague and communications with parents is reflected in policies and plans. I constantly improve routine, systems and information, which I wouldn't be able to do if I wasn't right in it.

[Fredbear]

Interesting topic. I am in ratio one session per week out of six, (my true salvation). We currently have 68 children coming, I greet families at the beginning of each session and end of each session and give ever increasing support to them. The rest of the time is the paperwork, planning, visitors, multi-agency working, new intake, transition meetings with feeder schools, home visits, supporting trainee staff.

Being packaway does give us lots of challenges each day.

[DebbieW]

I am Manager of a packaway committee run setting with 50 children and 6 permanent and 6 bank staff. I had 12 hours for paper work now reduced to 4 hours.... so I am working longer hours to compensate.

I find it is the supervision requirement that really is difficult to meet....not the meeting necessarily but recording the minutes of each meeting. Qualified staff not so bad but bank staff is 2/3 weekly. It has really impacted on practice however.....

Tapestry is awesome though and helps me enormously

[Guest]

Setting with 25 children per day, I'm manager in ratio with key children. As new manager I was doing alot of paperwork, changes etc in my own time but have now negotiated time out of ratio, at the moment this is one morning (however, after greeting parents/children, dealing with any incoming issues etc this one morning actually ends up being about 2 hours). I have found it invaluable so far as I've been able to do staff observations and monitoring of LJs (you know, those things that are always put off when too busy).

[Wildflowers]

If we weren't in woods for 3 hours each morning I would do some admin on days when numbers are low, provided that ratio requirements and children's needs are met, and a fully competent person is working.

[Guest]

thank you for all the replys

we see over 50 children a week and each day have up to 24 children,each day there is 4 members of staff and myself.

in total we have 7 members of staff including myself.

[thumperrabbit]

Interesting topic. I am in ratio one session per week out of six, (my true salvation). We currently have 68 children coming, I greet families at the beginning of each session and end of each session and give ever increasing support to them. The rest of the time is the paperwork, planning, visitors, multi-agency working, new intake, transition meetings with feeder schools, home visits, supporting trainee staff.

Being packaway does give us lots of challenges each day.

Im the same as Fredbear only in ratio once a week unless someone else is off sick - which just recently seems to be a lot!

By the time the meet & greet is complete and all safety door checks are done it works out a 2.5hrs left of the session

I spend the first 30mins doing our older children's adult focus time with a keyworker (use this as supervision time as the staff take this in turns) so that leaves 2hrs

As a packaway I have to work from the hall and always seem to have children showing/telling me things which of course is lovely but take into account all those interruptions that's probably another 30mins off so that leaves 1.5hrs - plus the moment something happens I jump up to help; couldn't say how often that happens in a day!

To achieve our getting out of the hall time I always help at tidy up time so that's another 15mins taken off

This is the first time I've actually worked it out - so I probably get 1 hour a day if I'm lucky; it's no wonder I'm always working when I'm at home!!

then I do the signing out of the children at the end of the session, so actually now I've looked at this I probably end up with about 1 hour of actual admin time If im lucky!!

[finleysmaid]

thank you for all the replys

we see over 50 children a week and each day have up to 24 children,each day there is 4 members of staff and myself.

in total we have 7 members of staff including myself.

Not dissimilar to us but i have 30 per session ...I have one session per week for paperwork! but i have employed an administrator to deal with all the run of the mill paperwork /wages/lists etc when we were half the size the committee did these jobs...but now just too big for them to do! Extra paperwork seems to get done at home (caf's sef etc!) I guess you have to make a decision whether you want to be the headteacher or the head administrator!

[Mouseketeer]

Pretty much work the same as thumperrabbit, out of ratio in theory, but it more and more seems it's grabbing 10 mins here or there to get things done, working during lunch breaks, there always seems to be something that needs you to step into ratio, even though if you were counted in ratio to start with and those things cropped up they'd have to get on with it not expect you to cover the staff dealing with nappy changing, accident etc.....free flow has caused the biggest problem though.

[rosepetal]

:1bI just wanted to say 'hats off' to anyone who is a manager and is counted in ration with 'key children'.

I am a manager and am not counted in ratio as there is no way I could lead my team and do all the tasks required of a manager if I was counted in ratio and had key children, so I really do admire anyone in a management position who also have key children :1b

We have on average around 80 to 90 children per day in a pre school setting with a morning session and an afternoon session. We have over 20 practitioners and work from 9.am to 3.45pm.

I do similar to the other managers, meet and greet in the morning, at home time, in the afternoon session and again at home time - this can take up to 30 minutes while waiting on the late comers and dealing with parent questions, issues etc. I then might have to deal with any staffing concerns such as a safeguarding issue and if I do need to make a referral this can take up the whole morning. I then have various admin tasks to do from health and safety to meeting with a parent who needs support, referrals to the children's centres, in between the admin tasks I would be on call to go into a room if needed, such as if a child has bumped their head or being sick. I deal with monitoring the whole nursery and find it very difficult to get time to monitor the 90 odd learning journals!!!! I then have telephone calls to deal with but am very lucky to have an office administrator and a deputy. The deputy is not in ratio as she is the senco as well.

I have supervisions to do which I now do termly instead of every half a term as I just could not fit it in. We do the 2 year old assessments meetings which happen regularly. I have completed the SEF :1b which took me nearly a year to finally complete due to time and not getting the opportunity to finish it, but now it is finished it is a huge relief, - we do use it as a working document and I will add to it every so often to keep it up to date but at least the main completed copy has been submitted :1b

Even though I am not in ratio I still do at least 20 hours a week work at home. We are committee run.

There is never enough hours in the day - however we are very, very lucky compared to some of the nurseries on here and we do our job because we love it - but early years has changed so much and is becoming more and more demanding so hopefully one day we will be recognised as early years professionals within the whole of the educational professional sector :blink:

Once again hats off to you all :1b

Rosepetal

 

 

[Wildflowers]

Rosepetal ~ I would not be in ratio and have key children if I had your workload! (We have about 16 children per day and are 2, sometimes 3 adults working.)

[playgroup1]

On Friday, our local authority organised a meeting for all providers with an Ofsted inspector who talked about the new inspection criteria and judgements, The focus definitely seemed to be on staff and supervisions, appraisals, peer observations, performance management , target setting, training. Not sure where the children fit in when I'm supposed to be observing, assessing and target setting for the staff. Maybe they will have learning journeys next! While I can see the point that it improves quality, in small settings with all staff in ratio and where budgets do not allow for spare time, I don't know how it can work. Maybe its another subtle plan to edge us out. Or am I being paranoid.

[Mouseketeer]

I can see us having to submit our children's attainment to our LA's before too much longer.......