It is a requirement under the Child care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 to have specified policies in place. It is also a requirement that staff are trained and understand the policies. They should be able to articulate the procedure for such areas as medicine administration, behaviour strategies etc.
Some tips
- Consult with and other stakeholders the development of your policies
- Make sure the policies are used when situations arise. Often the situation takes over and the policy & procedure is ignored due to the stress of the situation and this can have detrimental effects later on.
- Policies are never finished. You should have a “master” copy that can be added to, written on and tested as they are used. Often, it is only when a situation arises that you identify a weakness in the policy that needs to be addressed.
- Policies should also be shared with parents under the regulations.
- If you develop new policies dispose of the old ones. Having several versions of policies is confusing and can lead to inconsistency and mistakes.
- Have proper records in place to match your policies. If you say you do a daily risk assessment. Your practices should also match your policies. For example, if you say in your policy that sun-cream should not be stored in children’s bags, make sure it isn’t.
- Make sure policies are dated and if updated re-date it and give it a version number
- Staff should sign -off on the policy and keep a copy in their staff file
- Put “policies” on the agenda of every staff meeting
