Policies and Procedures

Policies and procedures are essential to help you provide good quality provision that is compliant with the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). They do this by explaining to staff and parents about the type of childcare you offer and what actions you take in practice to achieve this. The EYFS requires providers, other than childminders, to have written policies and procedures; and to provide staff with training at induction to ensure that they fully understand, and know how to implement, the policies and procedures and to ensure that they are accessible and clearly explained to parents. Childminders must be able to explain their policies and procedures to parents, carers, and others and ensure that any assistants follow them; therefore, it may be beneficial to have them in written form.

 1.1 Children’s rights and entitlements

What it means to promote children’s rights and entitlements to be ‘strong, resilient and listened to’.

 1.2 Safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults

Key commitment 1

We committed to building a ‘culture of safety’ in which children, young people and vulnerable adults are protected from abuse and harm in all areas of our service delivery.

Key commitment 2

We are committed to responding promptly and appropriately to all incidents, allegations or concerns of abuse that may occur and to work with statutory agencies in accordance with the procedures that are set down in ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused’ (HMG, 2015) and the Care Act 2014.

Key commitment 3

We are committed to promoting awareness of child abuse issues throughout our training and learning programmes for adults. [We are/I am] also committed to empowering children through our early childhood curriculum, promoting their right to be strong, resilient and listened to.

1.3 Looked after children

We are committed to providing quality provision based on equality of opportunity for all children and their families. All staff in our provision are committed to doing all they can to enable ‘looked after’ children in our care to achieve and reach their full potential.

1.4 Uncollected child

In the event that a child is not collected by an authorised adult by their expected collection time, we put into practice agreed procedures. The child will receive a high standard of care in order to cause as little distress as possible.

1.5 Missing child

Children’s safety is our highest priority, both on and off the premises. Every attempt is made, through the implementation of our outings procedure and our exit/entrance procedure, to ensure the security of children is maintained at all times. In the unlikely event of a child going missing, our missing child procedure is followed.

1.6 Online safety (inc. mobile phones and cameras)

We take steps to ensure that there are effective procedures in place to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from the unacceptable use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment or exposure to inappropriate materials in the setting.

2.1 Employment

We meet the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, ensuring that our staff and volunteers are appropriately qualified, and we carry out checks for criminal and other records through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in accordance with statutory requirements.

2.2 Student placements

We recognise that qualifications and training make an important contribution to the quality of the care and education we provide. As part of our commitment to quality, we offer placements to students undertaking early years qualifications and training. We also offer placements for school pupils on work experience.

We aim to provide for students on placement with us, experiences that contribute to the successful completion of their studies and that provide examples of quality practice in early years care and education.

 3.2 First aid

We are able to take action to apply first aid treatment in the event of an accident involving a child or adult.

All Pre-school staff have a current Paediatric First Aid Qualification. For all other groups, at least one adult with a current first aid certificate is on the premises, or on an outing, at any one time. Newly qualified staff who achieved an early years qualification at level 2 or 3 on or after 30 June 2016 also have a paediatric first aid certificate in order to be counted in the adult:child ratios. The first aid qualification includes first aid training for infants and young children. We have evidence of due diligence when choosing first aid training and ensure that it is relevant to adults caring for young children.

 3.1 Induction of employees and volunteers

We provide an induction for all employees and volunteers in order to fully brief them about the setting, the families we serve, our policies and procedures, curriculum and daily practice.

4.1 The role of the key person and settling-in

Each child must be assigned a key person. Their role is to help ensure that every child’s care is tailored to meet their individual needs, to help the child become familiar with the setting, offer a settled relationship for the child and build a relationship with their parents

 5.1 Staffing (group provision)

We provide a staffing ratio in line with the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure that children have sufficient individual attention and to guarantee care and education of a high quality. Our staff are appropriately qualified and we carry out checks for enhanced criminal records and barred list checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service in accordance with statutory requirements.

 6.1 Administering medicines

While it is not our policy to care for sick children, who should be at home until they are well enough to return to the setting, we will agree to administer medication as part of maintaining their health and well-being or when they are recovering from an illness. We ensure that where medicines are necessary to maintain health of the child, they are given correctly and in accordance with legal requirements.

6.2 Managing children who are sick, infectious, or with allergies

We aim to provide care for healthy children through preventing cross infection of viruses and bacterial infections and promote health through identifying allergies and preventing contact with the allergenic trigger.

 6.3 Recording and reporting of accidents and incidents

We follow the guidelines of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) for the reporting of accidents and incidents. Child protection matters or behavioural incidents between children are not regarded as incidents and there are separate procedures for this.

6.4 Nappy changing

No child is excluded from participating in our setting who may, for any reason, not yet be toilet trained and who may still be wearing nappies or equivalent. We work with parents towards toilet training, unless there are medical or other developmental reasons why this may not be appropriate at the time.

We provide nappy changing facilities and exercise good hygiene practices in order to accommodate children who are not yet toilet trained.

6.5 Food and drink

We regard snack and meal-times as an important part of our day. Eating represents a social time for children and adults and helps children to learn about healthy eating. At snack and meal-times, We aim to provide nutritious food, which meets the children’s individual dietary needs.

 6.6 Food hygiene

We provide and/or serve food for children on the following basis: Packed lunches.

We maintain the highest possible food hygiene standards with regard to the purchase, storage, preparation and serving of food. We are registered as a food provider with the local authority Environmental Health Department.

7.1 Promoting positive behaviour

We believe that children flourish best when their personal, social and emotional needs are understood, supported and met and where there are clear, fair and developmentally appropriate expectations for their behaviour.

As children develop, they learn about boundaries, the difference between right and wrong, and to consider the views and feelings, and needs and rights, of others and the impact that their behaviour has on people, places and objects. The development of these skills requires adult guidance to help encourage and model appropriate behaviours and to offer intervention and support when children struggle with conflict and emotional situations. In these types of situations key staff can help identify and address triggers for the behaviour and help children reflect, regulate and manage their actions. [We appoint a member of staff as behaviour coordinator to oversee and advise on the team’s responses to challenging behaviour.]

8.1 Health and safety general standards

We believe that the health and safety of children is of paramount importance. We make our setting a safe and healthy place for children, parents, staff and volunteers.

8.2 Maintaining children’s safety and security on premises

We maintain the highest possible security of our premises to ensure that each child is safely cared for during their time with us.

8.3 Supervision of children on outings and visits

Children benefit from being taken outside of the premises on visits or trips to local parks, or other suitable venues, for activities which enhance their learning experiences.  Our setting does not have direct access to outdoor provision on the premises and will need to take children out daily.  We ensure that there are procedures to keep children safe on outings; all staff and volunteers are aware of and follow the procedures as laid out below.

8.4 Risk assessment

We believe that the health and safety of children is of paramount importance. We make our setting a safe and healthy place for children, parents, staff and volunteers by assessing and minimising the hazards and risks to enable the children to thrive in a healthy and safe environment.

8.5 Fire safety and emergency evacuation

We ensure the highest possible standard of fire precautions are in place. The Centre Manager ensures staff are familiar with the current legal requirements. Where necessary we seek the advice of a competent person, such as our Fire Officer or Fire Safety Consultant. A Fire Safety Log Book is used to record the findings of risk assessment, any actions taken or incidents that have occurred and our fire drills. Downloadable Fire Safety Log Books are widely available free of charge on line. We ensure our policy is in line with the procedures specific to our building, making reasonable adjustments as required.

8.6 Animals in the setting

Children learn about the natural world, its animals and other living creatures, as part of the Learning and Development Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. This may include contact with animals, or other living creatures, either in the setting or on visits. We aim to ensure that this is in accordance with sensible hygiene and safety controls.

8.7 No-smoking

We comply with health and safety regulations and the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage in making our setting a no-smoking environment – both indoors and outdoors.

8.10 Staff personal safety including home visits

This setting believes that the health and safety of all staff is of paramount importance and that all staff have the right to work in a safe environment. We support safe working both on and off the premises, acknowledging the needs and diversity of children and their family.

9.2 Supporting children with special educational needs

We provide an environment in which all children with special educational needs (SEN) are supported to reach their full potential.

  • We have regard for the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (2014).
  • We have in place a clear approach for identifying, responding to, and meeting children’s SEN[1].
  • We support and involve parents (and where relevant children), actively listening to, and acting on their wishes and concerns.
  • We work in partnership with the local authority and other external agencies to ensure the best outcomes for children with SEN and their families.
  • We regularly monitor and review our policy, practice and provision and, if necessary, make adjustments.

 9.1 Valuing diversity and promoting inclusion and equality

We are committed to ensuring that our service is fully inclusive in meeting the needs of all children.

We recognise that children and their families come from a wide range of backgrounds with individual needs, beliefs and values.  They may grow up in family structures that include one or two parents of the same or different sex.  Children may have close links or live with extended families of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins; while other children may be more removed from close kin, or may live with other relatives or foster carers. Some children come from families who experience social exclusion, severe hardship; discrimination and prejudice because of their ethnicity, disability and/or ability, the languages they speak, their religious or personal beliefs, their sexual orientation and marital status. Some individuals face discrimination linked to their gender and some women are discriminated against because of their pregnancy and maternity status. We understand that all these factors can affect the well-being of children within these families and may adversely impact on children’s learning, attainment and life outcomes.

[1] This includes disabled children with special educational needs

9.5 British values

We actively promote inclusion, equality of opportunity, the valuing of diversity and British values.

Under the Equality Act 2010, which underpins standards of behaviour and incorporates both British and universal values, we have a legal obligation not to directly or indirectly discriminate against, harass or victimise those with protected characteristics. We make reasonable adjustments to procedures, criteria and practices to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not at a substantial disadvantage. As we are in receipt of public funding we also have a public sector equality duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, foster good relations and publish information to show compliance with the duty.

10.15 Schedule of Fees

To be confirmed

10.1 Early years prospectus

Little Bees Nature Preschool’s Early Years Prospectus for Parents

Beaufort Childcare Groups

Beaufort Community Centre

Beaufort Road

Bournemouth  BH6 5LB

Email: Beaufortchildcare177@gmail.com         Tel No: 01202 436177

Welcome to Little Bees Nature Preschool and thank you for registering your child with us.

We know how important your child is and aim to deliver the highest quality of care and education to help them to achieve their best.

This prospectus aims to provide you with an introduction to Little Bees Nature Preschool, our routines, our approach to supporting your child’s learning and development and how we aim to work together with you to best meet your child’s individual needs. This should be read alongside our Childcare Terms and Conditions for a full description of our services.

10.1b Privacy notice

Little Bees Nature Pre-school’s/ Beaufort Childcare Group Privacy Notice

We are committed to ensuring that any personal data we hold about you and your child is protected in accordance with data protection laws and is used in line with your expectations.

This privacy notice explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and how we protect it.

 10.2 Admissions

It is our intention to make our setting accessible to children and families from all sections of the local community. We aim to ensure that all sections of our community have access to the setting through open, fair and clearly communicated procedures.

10.5 Parental involvement

Policy statement

We believe that children benefit most from early years education and care when parents and settings work together in partnership.

Our aim is to support parents as their children’s first and most important educators by involving them in their children’s education and in the full life of our setting. We also aim to support parents in their own continuing education and personal development.

10.6 Children’s records

We have record keeping systems in place that meet legal requirements; the means we use to store and share that information takes place within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (2018) and the Human Rights Act (1998).

This policy and procedure should be read alongside our Privacy Notice, Confidentiality and Client Access to Records Policy and our Information Sharing Policy.

10.7 Provider records

We keep records and documentation for the purpose of maintaining our charity. These include:

  • Records pertaining to our registration.
  • Landlord/lease documents and other contractual documentation pertaining to amenities, services and goods.
  • Financial records pertaining to income and expenditure.
  • Risk assessments.
  • Employment records of our staff including their name, home address and telephone number.
  • Names, addresses and telephone numbers of anyone else who is regularly in unsupervised contact with the children.

We consider our records as confidential based on the sensitivity of information, such as with employment records. These confidential records are maintained with regard to the framework of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018), further details are given in our Privacy Notice and the Human Rights Act (1998).

10.8 Transfer of records to school

We recognise that children sometimes move to another early years setting before they go on to school, although many will leave our setting to enter a nursery or reception class.

We prepare children for these transitions and involve parents and the receiving setting or school in this process. We prepare records about a child’s development and learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage in our setting; in order to enable smooth transitions, we share appropriate information with the receiving setting or school at transfer.

10.9 Confidentiality and client access to records

‘Share with informed consent where appropriate and, where possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to share confidential information. You may still share information without consent if, in your judgement, there is good reason to do so, such as where safety may be at risk. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case.’

Information sharing: Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers (HMG 2015)

10.10 Information sharing

 ‘Sharing information is an intrinsic part of any frontline practitioners’ job when working with children and young people. The decisions about how much information to share, with whom and when, can have a profound impact on individuals’ lives. It could ensure that an individual receives the right services at the right time and prevent a need from becoming more acute and difficult to meet. At the other end of the spectrum it could be the difference between life and death.’

 Information Sharing: Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers (HM Government 2015)

10.11 Working in partnership with other agencies

We work in partnership with local and national agencies to promote the well-being of all children. We will never share your data with any organisation to use for their own purposes.

10.12 Making a complaint

We believe that children and parents are entitled to expect courtesy and prompt, careful attention to their needs and wishes. We welcome suggestions on how to improve our setting and will give prompt and serious attention to any concerns about the running of the setting. We anticipate that most concerns will be resolved quickly, by an informal approach [with the appropriate member of staff]. If this does not achieve the desired result, we have a set of procedures for dealing with concerns. We aim to bring all concerns about the running of our setting to a satisfactory conclusion for all of the parties involved.