mrsbat

Must admit I have asked all staff to use the word toilet and if children say week, poo etc we say yes we'll take you to the toilet. Not sure why I just hate hearing week/poo all the time - I help in the reception classes at a nearby school too and they correct children who say wee etc.....

Did actually have a child say they needed to "push one out" yesterday when they needed to go for a poo!

We don't have room for them in fridges either so tell parents to put ice packs in all year round - we have also recommended to freeze yogurts or carton drinks and use them instead if they don't have ice blocks

We pay half and the student pays half - although I was lucky enough to be fully funded for my degrees and EYPS - we have only done this up to level 3 at the moment because no one has wanted to go higher, not sure we could afford half of £5000 if it came to it....

While I was doing my degrees some of the students did the student loans and were happy to do it as you don't need to pay them back until you are earning more than 20 something thousand pounds - which lets face it, in our jobs will be very unlikely.......

I've just been looking into apprentices. Thanks

We charge £9 for a 3hr session, £18 for a full day (9-3) and we are higher priced than other local settings! So I don't really want to increase fees.

We charge the same as you - although we are the cheapest in the area!

We have just taken on our second apprentice as we are so full already so have upped our numbers. Our first apprentice is just about to finish her level 2 and is going on to do her level 3 apprenticeship too - I will say that after 12 months you need to pay them minimum wage though. We paid the minimum apprenticeship wage for the first month then upped it because she was amazing and I couldn't just pay her £2 something an hour!

Our new apprentice is starting this week on her level 3.

We have found it amazingly helpful because we couldn't afford to pay a 'normal' member of staff full time hours.

Both our apprentices have come to us through YMCA apprenticeship and the tutor is brilliant too.

I have all our safeguarding policies in one folder and all the others in another folder - both in paper copy and on the laptop. I then have a back sheet with all the policies listed that all the staff sign to say they have read, agreed to and will abide by

Just check what age you are insured up to (we are sessional and insured up to age 5) If the child has turned 5 and you are like us and only insured up to age 5 you would need to speak to your insurance

Well I have tattoos - although no big in your face ones but the small ones on my foot, ankle and wrist can be seen...... I personally tie my hair up all the time anyway and ladies with long hair are always asked to tie hair up when preparing food etc but I'm not aware of any 'legislation' about it.

Is the issue with tattoo's an image thing?

hhmm just heard from the person who originally told me about the issues and they have said that she may have been mistaken and what actually happened is his wife took him to court and accused him of physically abusing his child but the court cleared him and he has now in fact been given custody of the children! I'm still ringing lado tomorrow but this kind of changes things - I wish people would get facts right before starting to pass on info!?!?!?!

Thanks again all, I am going to ring her tomorrow during the day when she is more likely to be on her own and sort of sound her out in general then see if she can meet up for a chat - I'll call LADO as well....

Sorry can I just get this straight in my head as looking through the links I'm not sure....

If this is true but he hasn't been disqualified from working with children could she still work for us?

Also no contract had been signed etc yet so IF it is true and he is disqualified - also making her disqualified - would I still need to inform LADO and OFSTED or am I within my rights to say the job is no longer available? That would be so sad as she is really fantastic

Thanks so much everyone for the replies......Sorry I typed this and went straight off to work so only just been able to read the replies.

I am so gutted about this and it's really not a discussion I want to be having but I guess I have to

We have just taken on a new member of staff to start in September and last night someone told me that her husband had been in prison for physically abusing his own children! She is 'almost' sure it was for that anyway......

The lady is lovely, has a clear DBS and has only been with her husband for 1 year after moving in to the area so this all happened before she met him - IF it happened.

My worry is that we are based in a very close and smallish community where everyone knows everyone's business and so this 'could' reflect badly on the setting

HOWEVER my opinion is that the lady is fantastic and should not be judged on what her husband has or has not done

So what would you do? Would you have a conversation with her and say you had heard some rumours and was there anything she thought we should know incase a parent came forward with concerns etc?

None of ours tend to have a sleep although we do encourage all the children to rest after lunch on bean bags with a book etc - it lasts all of 2 minutes lol!

sorry just to add too, I am having a safeguarding audit this week with our development worker, I had to complete a long form saying what we have in place etc and one of the questions on there was "Existing injuries are recorded on the same day and where appropriate discussed with parents and children and parents are asked to sign a copy of the record"

Having all the things on the audit in place is one of the expectations of county for us to be entitled to receive/offer Early Years funding........

I completely understand your reluctance to add to you paperwork......however as my previous post, I was, many moons ago 'pulled up' by Ofsted for not recording 'existing injuries' - so make sure that I do so now! :1b

I record pretty much all types of injuries - I hope to notice them when children are arriving - but some 'slip by unnoticed' - in which case I will ask the child what has happened and then when parents collect will just say something like "oops I didn't notice that bruise on Johnny's forehead - he told me that he fell from the trampoline - I should have asked you to complete this form - would you mind doing it now" - to date (hope I'm not tempting fate here) I haven't had any 'refusals'........

Most of my parents will actually say to me "this happened yesterday do i need to fill ot one of your forms" when they arrive with an 'injured child'

As mouseketeer said - it really does help to identify any 'patterns' and is a useful tool with regard to safeguarding......

Spot on, we do and say exactly the same Parents are really good about it too and generally come in saying they need a form lol

We're the same as mouseketeer

We don't record any existing injuries, just make sure at least two members of staff see them when they come in or as soon as they're noticed. Our last ofsted inspector asked us if we did, I said we didn't and explained what we do etc and she was fine! If there are any in places you wouldn't expect then we do record in a book!

When the two members of staff see them do you make a record of it? Ours are used so that we can see patterns if there are any, when you see the same child's injuries listed all on one sheet it's actually quite eye opening to see just how many times they come in with bumps, bruises etc. In fact by using them it actually bought up an issue that I could discuss with the local primary school because numerous children were coming in with cuts/bruises after slipping on the same piece of play equipment at the school when dropping off siblings - maybe they shouldn't have been on there in the first place but it prompted the school to issue a notice to parents about not letting children play on the equipment before school opening hours.....

Personally we are very lucky at the setting in that we always have at least 1 member of staff above the required ratio and not all the staff work at every session so if it came to it we could call in extra staff

We don't use body maps either. I've attached our forms just in case they are of any use to anyone.

I updated it and now use the one for multiple injuries to the same child as it was easier to see regular injuries etc.....

existing injuries form - june 2012.doc

EY existing injuries form.doc

We just take children on a first come first served basis to be honest no matter what their age - that's the fairest way I feel. What happens if you have a 2 year old on a waiting list but then some 3 year olds want to come? is the 2 year old moved down the waiting list? We have 1 other nursery very close by and then probably 5 or 6 others within a mile or so which means that if we didn't have spaces then there would be spaces elsewhere so no one would miss out - hopefully!

We have had the same issues this time round. We only had a handful of people apply (15) and without seeing people we managed to get it down to 5 due to lack of experience or qualifications etc whereas 2 years ago when we advertised for a similar job we had well over 60 applicants and interviewed over 20 who were all brilliant (on paper)

We advertise on jobcenterplus https://www.jobcentreonline.com/JCOLFront/Home.aspx

http://www.norfolkchildcarejobs.com/

and also on face book believe it or not!

My view is that changing a baby or child is not a spectator sport and that the persons privacy should be maintained at all times, as well as knowing this is a normal bodily function.

However I do understand how and why people are made to feel vulnerable in terms of safeguarding.

I suppose for us the building and areas have doors open at all times, we are within hearing, and as a team we certainly safeguard each other.

Obviously if an adult needed support this would of course take place.

As soon as our children are able to be independent and can self-care we afford them their privacy, much the same as any adult would expect.

Sorry rant over, just find this one of those irritating subjects, much like can children sit on a adults lap scenario.

Yes I totally agree with the spectator bit which is why the supporting member of staff generally gets the nappy sack, wipes etc ready then runs the water in the sink, then completes the nappy changing log etc so it's not like the extra person is sitting there watching - they are just there as back up

Like I said there is at least 1 closed door between the nappy change area and play room so unless you really shouted/screamed loud for help no one would hear you.....

We have our nappy changing area in the baby room, the door is always wide open too as we have gates. If the babies aren't in there the one staff member would be alone, they would have told staff where they were going and if they had been longer than a couple of minutes changing the nappy someone would shout to check they were ok. I never feel vulnerable changing a child's nappy with no one in the room, I talk to them and do it as quickly as possible so I can join the rest again and none of our staff have ever expressed a problem with it either. Sadly people who are inclined to do inappropriate things I believe will find a way to do this whatever the situation. Having an open staff and parents ethos should mean that children also talk openly and honestly and anything that could be misconstrued can be sorted out without much problem. If there is something else going on with a certain staff member there would be other factors, we are fortunate to be quite a small close team so picking up strange behaviours in staff is quite easy, not necessarily meaning staff would ever do inappropriate things to that extent but you can see when staff aren't quite on the same wavelength!

 

Do you also apply this to helping children in the toilet or changing a child who is wet?

I totally agree with everything you are saying - I guess it is just taking that step to only have the one member.

No there is only one person when changing a child who is wet or taking to the toilets however if a child needs to be cleaned up after a number two accident we have 2 members of staff -f just wet we encourage children to wipe themselves with the baby wipes. I have an LEA safeguarding audit coming up next week so I will ask them their views on it

yes it is a total nightmare to be honest ......... I'm not actually sure that staff would be happy to do it alone anyway - not because they can't but because of what could be said by a child and misconstrued. Those settings that do only use 1 member of staff how do you safeguard them rather than the children?

Yes, I wondered about that too! We only have one member of staff changing a nappy, preferably the key person.

yes we do.........all the safeguarding training has suggested 2 members of staff as we are completely away from anyone else because of the set up of our building - for safeguarding ourselves as well as the children.....