Volunteers

[Guest roopal]

Hi all

 

does anyone have a sample volunteer policy? Or a volunteer 'contract' or guidelines? I am sure someone must do I've tried the pre-school learning alliance they are maybe going to do one but don't at the moment. my advisor is looking into it any coming in a few weeks but i would like to draft soemthing sooner - any ideas?

 

thanks very much,

 

R

[Rea]

Hi roopal, I havent got one and couldnt see one in the resource section either.

 

Think about what they are allowed/not allowed to do.

If they dont have a CRB they wont be able to take the children to the toilet, but it also means if they are there with their child, they cant be in the toilet area if another child needs to go.

 

They cant be left in sole charge either so make sure if you're in more than one room, they arent left alone for any time.

 

Remind them of the confidentiality aspect. They may see or hear things which you dont want repeated, there's nothing worse than playground gossip, he's really naughty, she's not as clever as my child etc.

They must also be aware that should a child tell them something which they are uncomfortable hearing they should pass it on to you. This can be difficult because everyone has a different idea on what is uncomfortable, but it's something to be aware of especially if you have children who you have concerns about anyway.

 

But after saying all that, be inclusive of them, you dont want them to arrive and be bombarded with a list of 'donts'. Introduce them to your plans so they can make a contribution to the childrens play.

Some volunteers are happy to be included in any aspect of the day, but we had one mom who only wanted to be in the kitchen, making drinks, snacks, washing equipment. That was fine by us, she was making a contribution.

 

Let your volunteers know about your health and safety policy too. Will they be allowed to open the door to visitors? Are the children allowed to climb up the slide? They might also need to be reminded about the use of cameras and mobile phones. If they take a photo of their child to send to hubby in his office, are you sure there are no other children in the shot?

 

Theres probably more but I've just had an unexpected visitor arrive,

[Guest]

Do you have a student policy you could adapt? I have attached a copy of one from my old setting.

Bpsstudentpolicy.doc

[Guest Wolfie]

I didn't have a policy as such but I've attached a form that I used to use when carrying out induction for volunteers and students - basically it was a prompt sheet for me to use and for them to refer to/make notes on as I took them round the nursery and explained everything. I also gave them a plan of the nursery with fire exits marked, a daily routine, a list of the staff with their specific responsibilities and an information sheet about manual handling.

 

It might be of some help?

Staff_and_volunteer_induction_and_training.doc

Edited May 28, 2007 by Wolfie

[Guest roopal]

thanks very much for your ideas and documents - i will look at them and try and draft something,

 

cheers,

 

roopal

[Guest]

Thanks everyone. I've been asked to take this on, so it's just what I have been looking for too. This forum is amazing - I wish I had known about it last year.

 

Rosie

[Deb]

Funnily enough we've just had to do one. Word of warning. Thanks to the advice on here, we went through the procedures as if employing someone. We took up references, one of which came back person not known. Also before the volunteer started we insisted on being in receipt of an approved CRB check. This gave the person time to reflect and decide that they didn't actually have the time to commit at the moment. Could save you a lot of time in the long run.

 

Anyway I digress. Here is our policy. The only difference is that the table in the middle has changed. We have inserted Peggy's induction form instead and adapted it as appropriate. It's on my other computer otherwise I would have attached it too. It's in the resources section if you want it.

 

Deb

Volunteer_Induction_Pack_for_FSF.doc

[Guest Wolfie]

That looks really good!