louby loo

Hi louby - yes I realised you couldn't claim the money before they start - but I was under the impression you would have to give a place at two.......all academic really - I haven't any spare places! :1b

We can take ours at any age once they have been accepted - this suits us better as we take them over the year to fill any spaces if/when they come up.

We have quite a few children that go onto private schools (not funded 2yr olds!!) and they usually have a staggered intake, so spaces come up throughout the year. This also works well as the rest of the group are well settled into routines and the 2yr olds seem to settle easier too. That said we do not offer the full 15 hours - that is explained to parents before they start, is does mean that once they are 3 they are emotionally settled and ready for the full 15 hours with us.

Really interesting statement - I have missed a 'trick' here then - so you can still access the funding but not accept at two???

I 'think' they mean they take up the free place at 2.5 ..... that's what we do now- we say a place will be available at such-and-such time- and it's up to the parents if they wait or go elsewhere.

Although ... I do like the idea of claiming the money straight away!! :lol:

We've started with more small group story times during the session, then at the times we need to do whole group activities (some of us- especially pack-always have no other options:(. ) we just stick to action songs and simple ring games.

We don't have free flow to outdoors, but luckily have a big hall- we have now sectioned off a 'running area' . Time of year+ boy heavy this year so have had to be a bit proactive with them

It's working ok for us at them moment. Sometimes they just run from side to side for about 15 mins not stop!, other times they arrange their own football games. We do monitor it closely though and after a 'wild' session we encourage a period of more focused activity.

I think I would make an actual card as the craft - plus lots of pritt sticks!

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=preschool%20mothers%20day%20crafts

Are you on limited time? (as in need to be dry to go home straight away)

Do they need and 'end product'? (as in making a mothers day gift)

painting stones as paperweights?

'pinterest' is your friend!

How old are they? I saw a simple idea of decorating clothes pegs- then turning them into fridge magnets. Could use self-adhesive jewels and stickers.

xxx

I thought the old Operational Plan also contained the P&Ps...

Ours only ever had a list of what we had, and where to fine the complete folder, same as we have in our Ofsted ready folder now.

It is our local authority quality improvement visit records!! No maps!!

But what an impressive acronym .............. we just call ours........'visit notes'

However, like you I do have the 'otsted ready' folder with all the relevant documents either in it, or signposting to where to find them.

I have a file that I call my Ofsted ready file, in it I have a copy of my sef, staff and committee details, cohort tracker assessments, ROADS reports, supervisions and appraisals, parent feedback etc. Find it a really handy place to keep all my important papers in one place, much like the old operational plan.

Now I have to ask 'ROADS' ................ I'm guessing you don't keep a map in there.... so what is it? (and more to the point- should I have one!!!)

We are too, and I remember you :1b

I'm in too!!!

We have lots of boys and this last week or so they have all been grumpy.

I do totally agree with you louby lou - none of us get paid anywhere near what we deserve, BUT we had so many issues with staff taking holidays frequently (many of our staff at the time had no children or they had all grown up and left so they wanted to go in term time, because of this we had comments from parents saying thy don't know who their key person is and it loaded more work onto other staff having to take on the extra key child work and at the end of the day if I'm brutally honest the children just didn't want to interact with these staff because they just didn't know them well enough because they were so often on holiday. It also caused bad feeling with staff who didn't go on holiday......We need 9 staff working when we have both rooms open because of the ages/ratios so if anyone is on holiday we risk not having cover if someone is sick etc. Everything works differently for different people I guess and what works for some doesn't for others

Very true :1b

We are very lucky with our team at the moment. Also I think a lot depends on the hours you are open too.

And we swap the odd days off too! So for example someone wants a long week-end away then they are able to swap to accommodate this.

It keeps our team happy - especially as the 'days off' person has to bring suitable treats back for rest of staff (and that bit's non-negotiable).

Sorry, I just do not feel they are paid anywhere enough to not be flexible if we can.

I am going to go against the grain here. We do allow holidays during term time .

We discussed it as a team, we are small very close team (8) and now we all work a max of 4 days per week. This means we always have cover if needed. We have rules - cover dates are checked/confirmed before any bookings made, and obviously only one at a time. They know this time off is unpaid - and overall holiday pay is adjusted to reflect the hours worked over the year.

The reason for this is - I feel the staff work extremely hard, do loads of unpaid work, therefore they deserve to be able to take a cheaper holiday. To be honest it doesn't really happen much, as most have children in school anyway.

All our children are comfortable with all staff and each has a back-up key person throughout the year- so that is not an issue for us.

We have found screening a 'safe area' off for our younger ones helps to focus them. So they have a basic sand, water, paint and some floor toys etc.

The older children like this too, and it is funny when you see them 'police' the little ones!! Gradually the younger ones start to access the wider area of the room as they become more ready to use the resources in a meaningful way.

I shall watch this with interest.

Currently as long as the cild is not infectious I have suggested they bring them in ( it would only be 3hours max) we have an area our children can't access which they can use. Not ideal, however it has cut down the days off for staff member.

We do run 'over ratio' which at least means we don't have to panic, but it does still put a strain on the rest of team as it means some planned activities cancelled etc.

Have you looked on pinterest ? some nice ideas on there.

We use it- always have, so hope it's not on the banned list

Although, I must say it's one of my biggest bug bear when staff use it to make sheep! I have cotton plants, and sheep's wool to compare the two.

x

BUT.....if your staff are employed for 38 weeks (as shown on their contracts) they will probably expect to be paid for 38 weeks plus holiday pay.

Yes - and remember to check the September - July[Aug] 38 weeks as apposed to the April - March 38 weeks as some years they overlap.

A couple of years ago due to an early Easter, it actually worked out staff worked 39 weeks, however it almost went unnoticed due to us just assuming a 38 week year is a 38 week year!!!

We had Ofsted recently and she was very keen on Adult led activities. It just depends who you get and what their 'pet' interest is in seeing within the setting. We haven't had the report yet, but I am sure she will write us up for having to have Adult Led activities each day with specific learning intentions as that is what she said we needed to do, even though we had loads of adult activities on the planning - but we didn't have the learning intentions written up! (I thought we were supposed to be doing less paperwork?)

When we had done the planning the week before though, we had taken into account each individual child and their key worker had planned for them, so it was there, just not in black and white the way SHE wanted it.

We had an inspection the year before and she said our planning was spot on.... so I am not really bothered. Next inspection, it will be a different inspector looking for something else. They have to remain employed.

Well said!

You sound a bit like us :1b That's exactly how we work.

We plan in the sense we know 'who is doing what' on any given day - but we no longer write these plans up in detail.

Staff are all knowledgeable enough to know what links to what. Students- I do expect them to submit a more detailed plan as they need to learn the links etc.

Oh dear, hope everythings ok Sue :huh:

Lashes, you'll have to tell more about Amsterdam, hubby wants to go there next. Then if anyone else is a traveller, Berlin, Prague, Paris and New York are on the list. Then hubby said he'd like to travel Route 66! :blink:

I wanted to do route 66, but on further research it appears not the same as it used to be- so have crossed that off for timebeing :huh:

Glad you had a good weekend lashes- you needed it after the last few weeks. I hope it wasn't the cookies that made you so chilled out and relaxed! ::1a

That still happens Maz but after years and years of reminding parents in newsletters to bring in stuff they just do it automatically. However, if I want something particular we just get on and collect it ourselves not surprisingly the pre school generates a lot of its own recyclables

But don't stop sending the newsletters!

We were told this was one of the easiest ways to prove you are working with parents..... we often do 'projects' and ask for certain things......... we often (most of the time :rolleyes: ) still end up buying bits/bobs to complete them - but at least we have a 'paper trail' of working together with parents, which appears to be this years Ofsted hottie.