Policies

Accident, incident and emergency policy

It is our duty to ensure all children’s safety while in our care. We risk assess the premises inside and outside continuously to verify that the safeguarding requirements of The Early Years Foundation Stage are being met. We also regularly, update and practice evacuation procedures.

Accidents:

As registered childminders we are legally required to hold valid paediatric first aid certificates and to renew every 3 years. We can administer basic first aid and our first aid box is clearly marked and accessible to all staff. We hold written permission forms form all parents and a dedicated form allowing us to seek emergency treatment if necessary.

Procedure:

Reassure the child while, determining if any treatment is necessary
Ensure all other children are safe
Minor first aid will be administered if required and once the child is settled, we will fill out an accident or incident form and email this to the parent
If the accident is more serious and requires more than minor first aid, we will contact parents and phone for emergency care
If the child must go to the hospital, he/she will be accompanied by a member of staff
once the child is settled, we will fill out an accident or incident form and email this to the parent

Accidents off site:

We will ensure we have parents contact details with us always when we leave the premises. We will carry a small first aid box with us. Our normal procedures will be followed.

Accidents at home:

Should your child have an accident while at home or anywhere while in your care, please let us know in writing via email. The subject of the email should read Accident: child name. We will contact you for this information if your child has visible injuries and we have not heard from you.

Incidents:

An incident is a non-medical emergency that causes a change in routine. We will use existing procedures as follows:

Gas Leak – We will follow our Emergency Evacuation Procedure.
Challenging / Aggressive Behaviour of a child – We will follow our Behaviour Management Policy and Procedure.
Flooding – We will monitor the situation and follow our Emergency Evacuation Procedure if necessary.
Threatening Behaviour of an adult – We will seek to remove the children from the situation to a safe place and if necessary, and when safe to do so, we will call the Police on 999. We will contact parents as soon as possible so that, if necessary, they can collect their child.

Emergency Evacuation Procedure:

Should an emergency occur that requires us to leave the setting, the following procedure will apply:

Ensure that all the children in the setting are present.
Evacuate to a safe area.
We will contact the emergency services on 999. (or 112)
We will reassure the children and make sure that they are not unduly upset.
We will contact the parents and let them know the situation.

Other Emergencies:

Should any other emergency occur, (such as a terrorist attack, or a member of our family becoming ill), we will contact parents as soon as possible. We expect that parents will also contact us in the event of any accidents or emergencies which befall them.

Should it not be possible for parents to contact us, then we will keep the children safe until such time as parents can contact us.

Recording:

We will record all details in the accident and incidents register. This will now be done via email. Forms will be sent for you to fill in, date and add your initials, we will provide a copy for parents (should they require one). We will ensure that all completed forms are stored in accordance with our confidentiality policy.

If the accident is significant, eg: if a child is taken to hospital for a broken bone, we will inform Ofsted, the local child Protection Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and our Insurance company as soon as is reasonably practicable but, in any event, within 14 days of the accident occurring.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Admissions Policy

As Ofsted registered Childminders we are restricted to the number and ages of children that we can care for at any one time. These details are on our Ofsted Registration Certificates, which are displayed in the setting.

We are happy to take on any baby/child within our registered numbers and will not discriminate against children or their families for reasons such as race, religion, sex, or ability. However, we would like to make the following statements:

We already drop off/collect children from (St Johns Primary School, Chevening Nursery, Chevening Primary school, Riverhead Infants School, Amherst Primary School) and therefore we are unable to collect children from any other schools.

If your child is going to be attending Preschool, please discuss this with us and we will let you know which preschools we can drop of and or pick up from.

We are happy to take on children with additional needs providing we feel we can provide them with the care they need. If your child has additional needs, please discuss them with us so that we can ensure we are able to meet your Childs needs. All children will be welcomed into our setting, and we will encourage the other children in our care to support us with this.

Once you have decided that you would like your child to join our setting, you will provided with the password for the parent’s area on our website. Here you will find the contracts, the permission forms, and the policies. These will be filled in and when completed and signed by you they will be sent for us to sign. You will then receive a Copy. Should you wish for paper copies to fill in please ask. When policies are reviewed and updated, they will be published on our website, and you will be given a password to view them. The summarised changes will be emailed to you.

We will request a four-week settling in period on our contract. This is done so that either you or your child or us (the staff at the setting) are not happy with the arrangement it can be terminated easily. When taking on additional children we will take into consideration the children already in our care who are happy and settled. It would be very unfair on them to introduce a child who was disruptive.

If you have any concerns or queries regarding our admissions policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Equal Opportunities Policy

We give all children in our care the opportunity to reach their full potential. Sometimes this means adapting an activity to the child’s ability and stage of development, providing additional resources, or giving one child more attention and support than others during a particular activity or routine.

All children in our care are given the opportunity to play with all the toys (subject to health and safety with children under 3 years of age). No toys are just for girls or just for boys. We try to ensure that our toys reflect positive images of children and people from different cultures and with different abilities.

No child in our care will be discriminated against in anyway, whether for their skin colour, culture, gender, ability, or religion. We will challenge any remarks that we feel are inappropriate.

We encourage the children in our care to learn more about their own culture and to find out about the culture and religions of other children. We do in this in a fun way through sharing books, colouring sheets, and celebrating special festivals. We provide resources such as dressing up clothes and multicultural skin tone crayons and pencils.

We encourage the children to develop a healthy respect of each other’s differences and to value everyone as an individual.

We will promote the British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs through delivery of the EYFS.

If you have any concerns regarding this policy, please discuss them with us.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Care, Learning and Play Policy

Children learn when they are in a safe and caring environment where they are stimulated through play. Babies and young children develop best when they are in a caring relationship with an adult. We will strive to provide your child with an environment that will be caring, fun, and stimulating. We will implement ideas from the Early Years Foundation Stage. (Please ask me if you would like to see a copy of these documents)

We will provide activities that support the main learning areas:

The characteristics of effective learning
Active learning
Playing and exploring
Creative and critical thinking

We will ensure that all toys and games are at the appropriate age and level of Development for your child. We will regularly observe your child and make a written record. This will enable us to make very simple plans on how we can help your child move onto the next stage of their development. These records are available for you to look at any time.

It is very important for your child that we work in partnership. This will give your child continuity of care and she/he will not become confused with different standards of behaviour and boundaries. As Parents you are the central adults in your child’s life and the ones making decisions on their behalf. We will endeavour to work closely with you to carry out your wishes for your child wherever we can. It is therefore important that we have an excellent communication system. We appreciate that as a working Parent you will be in a rush to go to work in the mornings and in the evenings, you may well be tired and need to get home as quickly as possible. We use the following methods of communication:

Weekly PowerPoint Emails (regular observations (that can be viewed and commented on)
Termly Newsletters
WhatsApp messages (daily recap and information on eating and sleeping) and photos
Display boards showing children’s’ art and photos of the children
Facebook and Instagram where posts will show out activities

If there is a particular activity that you would like us to do with your child, please let us know. We are very happy to support activities that you are doing at home or events that have happened.

We will do our best to enable your child to develop and expand their individual potential whilst they are in our care.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Managing Behaviour Policy

We operate a non- smacking or physical punishment policy. No child in our care will suffer any pain or humiliation. We believe in positive discipline as a more effective way of managing behaviour.

Giving lots of praise for good behaviour
Giving the children individual attention so they feel valued
Setting a good example, being a good role model
Listening to what the children have to say
Rewarding positive behaviour (choosing next activity etc)

We help the children understand our house rules, which are realistic, we are consistent in the enforcing of them. We do not give out confusing signals, Saying No means No! We are aware of the different reasons why children misbehave and will endeavour to keep to routines so that your child feels safe and is not over tired or hungry. However, all children will misbehave at some time. We have developed several different strategies on how to deal with a child misbehaving and use different ones depending on the age/stage of ability of the child and the situation:

Distraction. Remove the child from the situation and give them an alternative activity.
Ignore. Depending on the situation I may ignore the bad behaviour as I feel it is being done to get a reaction.
Discuss with Child. If the child can understand, I will discuss their behaviour and try and get them to appreciate the consequences of their actions on others. We inform the child that it is their behaviour that we do not like, not them.
Time Out. Removing the child from the activity and sitting them quietly for a few minutes.
Removal of treats.

We will only physically intervene, and possibly restrain, a child to prevent an accident, such as a child running into the road, or to prevent an injury or damage. Should this be necessary we will record any instances of physical intervention in writing in our incident book and inform parents on the same day, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

We record all significant behaviour incidents in an incident book. We will discuss these with the parents of the child concerned so that together we can work to resolve any behavioural issues and share strategies.
If our methods for controlling bad behaviour are not successful, parents will be called in to discuss what can be done to encourage a change in behaviour.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Hygiene

We will take the following measures to help prevent germs spreading:

Carry tissues and use them to catch coughs or sneezes. We will bin the tissue, and wash our hands, or use an alcohol-based sanitiser gel.
Wash our hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, especially after using public transport. Use an alcohol-based sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
Display posters that show good hygiene and hand washing practice.
Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

Ensure all adults and children in the setting are aware of good hand-washing procedures.

We ensure there is a supply of tissues available for children and we help children to learn how to catch their sneezes and coughs.

The setting will be kept clean and tidy, and surfaces used to prepare food and eat from will be washed before and after meals. Toys will be cleaned when necessary and regular hand washing will be encouraged. A cleaner is employed for a more thorough clean at the weekend.

Personal protective equipment will be used in the following situations (intimate care needs e.g. nappy changing) or if a child becomes unwell with symptoms of coronavirus while in the setting in accordance with relevant Government guidance).

While we have pets that occasionally visit the cabin, they are kept away from food preparation areas.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Illness and infectious diseases

It is our policy to keep children safe when they are in our care, promote good health and take necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection within our childcare setting and while we are off site.

If a child in the setting becomes ill whilst in our care, or whom I believe has an infectious illness or disease I will:

Contact the parents as agreed to arrange for the immediate collection of the child
Ensure the child is excluded from my setting until they have been well for 48 hours, or in accordance with Health Authority guidelines.
If your child becomes ill at home, please inform the setting and depending on their symptoms will inform you of the exclusion period.

If I believe a child in my setting is suffering from a disease or illness which requires notification, I will inform the parents/guardians of my concerns and act on advice given by Public Health England (details of which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england as to when they will be able to return to my setting. I will also inform Ofsted of any action taken.

In accordance with the contract agreed with parents I expect to be paid for the child’s place even if they are excluded from my setting due to an illness or infectious disease.

If I, or one of the members of my family, has a confirmed infectious disease, I will inform parents as soon as I am able. In this instance, if I am not able to offer my childminding service I do not charge parents for the time the service is unavailable, as agreed in the contract.

We will inform the parents of the other children in our setting if a child we care for has a diagnosed infectious disease.

Date Reviewed: June 2023

Medicine Policy

We will administer your Childs’ non-prescribed medication, Pirotin, Calpol or Nurofen, teething gel etc, but only if you have signed a parental permission form for us to do so. This permission form will be regularly reviewed to ensure that there are no changes, for example a child may no longer be able to take some medication or may need an additional form.

Medicine will be stored safely in a container on a high shelf and strictly in accordance with the product instructions (which may require refrigeration in a sealed container away from food) and in the original container in which it was dispensed.

Even though you may have signed a form, we will still contact you by whatsapp or text to check that we can administer this medication. It is vital that you inform (via email or message) us of any medication you may have given your child before they arrive at our setting. We need to know what medicine they have had, the dose and time given.

If your child has a self-held medication, please obtain an additional one for us to be kept at the cabin. Older children can easily forget to bring home an inhaler. What could be a simple puff of Ventolin then turns into a major incident and a trip to the hospital. If your child has acute allergies and carries/needs an EpiPen, please discuss the matter with us. We may need additional training to administer these forms of medication.

If your child needs to take medication prescribed by a doctor, please discuss this with us. We will need you to sign an additional permission form. All medicine given to us to administer must be in its original bottle/container and not decanted. It must have the manufacturers guidelines on it and if a prescription medication the details from the Doctor/pharmacy.

We will record all medication administered and email this to parents to Initial.

If you have any concerns regarding medication, please do not hesitate to discuss them with us.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Food And Drink Policy

It is our policy to provide children with healthy, balanced, and nutritious meals, snacks and drinks.

Those responsible for the preparation and handling of food will be competent to do so (all staff will complete a course in food Hygiene). Before a child is admitted we will obtain information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies, and any special health requirements. We will collect, record and act on information from parents about a child’s dietary needs.

Where parents provide meals for their children to eat in our setting, we will provide chilled storage for packed lunches and appropriate storage areas for other food items. We will also provide children with clean and age-appropriate crockery and eating utensils. We will respect the diversity of practice around mealtimes. We will provide children with healthy meals, snacks, and drinks as appropriate and recommended by the Food Standards Agency literature. We will ensure fresh drinking water is always available, both in and outside our setting.

As a provider of meals and snacks we are aware of our responsibilities under the food hygiene legislation. This includes, if necessary, registration with the relevant Local Authority Environmental Health Department. If this is the case, then we are happy to have our premises inspected by a food safety officer. We will detail any allergens that are present in the food that we prepare for children in accordance with EU Information for Consumers Regulation 2014 and share this information with parents/carers should they request it. We will list any allergens in ingredients that are present in any food that we produce, as well as being aware of these when we take children out to eat at other settings.

We will always keep pets out of the food preparation area. If a family pet does gain access to this area, then we will ensure that all work surfaces and cooking utensils have been thoroughly cleaned before any food preparation or food handling takes place. If there is an outbreak of food poisoning affecting two or more children looked after on my premises, we will notify Ofsted as soon as possible but within 14 days of the incident occurring in order to comply with regulations. We will keep all food receipts, including those under £10, so that if there is an outbreak of food poisoning on our premises, we will be able to trace the outlet where the food was purchased.

Date Reviewed: June 2023

Transporting Children in a Car Policy

The safety of your child is paramount, and we have therefore put together the following procedures regarding the transportation of children in the car.

We have full, clean driving licenses, which is available for you to see on request. We will ensure car is in road worthy condition by having it regularly serviced by a reputable garage. We will ensure it complies with all legislation, MOT, Car Tax etc. We will ensure it is covered by Business Use, Car Insurance and the Certificate is available for you to see.

We will avoid where possible taking your child to a petrol station, by filling up the car before or after my minded hours.

We will ensure all car seats are correctly fitted, age and stage appropriate for the children using them, and that they are correctly strapped into them. We will ensure that the child safety locks are in use in the car.

We will always carry a mobile telephone with us in case of an emergency but will not answer it whilst driving. We will return calls on our return.

We will always carry a First Aid kit in the car in case of an emergency

We will never leave a child unattended in a car.

We will teach your child about the dangers of cars and roads, in an age-appropriate way. We teach children our rules for travelling in the car for example:

No children are allowed to undo the belt buckles
Arms must be kept inside the harness/seat belt
Do not distract the driver

We would appreciate it if these rules could be reinforced at home to help us maintain every one safety when traveling in the car.

If your child suffers from travel sickness, please let me know immediately.

If you have any concerns regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Safeguarding Children Policy

Our first responsibility and priority are towards the children in our care. If we have any cause for concern we will report it, following the local Safeguarding Children Board procedures. The relevant local procedures that are held by us are available on request. We understand that child abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, neglect or a mixture of these. We must notify Ofsted of any allegations of abuse, which are alleged to have taken place while the child is in our care. We will follow the steps contained in the ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused’ booklet.

We keep up to date with child protection issues and relevant legislation by taking regular training courses This helps us be aware of the signs of abuse or neglect and what to do if we have a concern.

We have copies of, and are familiar with, the local Safeguarding Children Board procedures. If we are concerned about a child’s welfare, we will contact the local authority first contact team, the NSPCC, or other relevant support services for advice, confidentiality will be assured only when it is clear that there is no risk of harm to a child.

Child protection concerns that could identify a particular child are kept confidential and only shared with people who need to know this information.

Parents must notify us of any concerns they have about their child and any accidents, incidents or injuries affecting the child, which will be recorded.

If we notice:

Significant changes in children’s behaviour
Unexpected bruising or marks or signs of possible abuse
Any comments made which give me cause for concern
Deterioration in general wellbeing which causes concern
Signs of neglect

We will implement the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures, without delay to minimise any risk to the child. We will call the local social services’ duty desk and follow it up with a letter within 48 hours. We will keep a factual record of the concern and will ask the parents for an explanation, providing it would not put the child at risk.

The EYFS welfare requirements for registered childminders in England require us to let Ofsted know of any concerns that we have reported without delay.

If a child tells us that they or another child is being abused, we will:

Show that we have heard what they are saying, and that we take their allegations seriously
Encourage the child to talk, but we will not prompt them or ask them leading questions. We will not interrupt when a child is recalling significant events and will not make a child repeat their account
Explain what actions we must take, in a way that is appropriate to the age and understanding of the child
Write down what we have been told using exact words where possible
Make a note of the date, time, place, and people who were present at the discussion
Then report my concerns immediately to the duty social worker who has the experience and responsibility to assess the situation.

If an allegation is made against us, or any member of our household, we will report it to Ofsted and social services following the Safeguarding Children Board procedures.

In all instances we will record:

The child’s full name and address

The date and time of the record
Factual details of the concern, for example bruising, what the child said, who was present
Details of any previous concerns
Details of any explanations from the parents
Any action taken such as speaking to parents.

It is not our responsibility to attempt to investigate the situation ourselves.

I am aware that I must have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. This is referred to in the Prevent Duty. I am also aware of the signs and indicators of extremism or radicalisation. If I had any concerns, I would contact the Prevent Officer in my local and my Safeguarding Partners as above.

I am aware of the Department for Education telephone helpline (020 7340 7264) to enable staff and governors to raise concerns relating to extremism directly. Concerns can also be raised by email to counter.extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk

Children will only be released from my care to the parent/carer or to someone named and authorised by them. A password agreed between us might be used to confirm identity if the person collecting the child is not previously known to me. Children will not be released into the care of anyone that I have reason to believe is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The use of mobile phones and cameras

I understand that mobile phones are an everyday part of life for parents and childminders and with that in mind have laid out my procedure for their use:

We will ensure our mobile phone is charged and with me at all times in case of emergencies.
We have the facility to take photographs on both mobile phones and cameras and will seek your permission to take any photographs of your child to record activities and share their progress with you.
Any photographs taken will be stored, used, and deleted in accordance with my data protection and privacy policies.
We will not publish any photographs of your child on any social networking sites or share with any other person without your permission.

We request that you do not use your mobile phone whilst dropping off and collecting your child/children.

Any visitors to the setting will also be asked not to use their mobile phone.

If your child has a mobile phone, games console etc with camera or recording facilities that they wish to bring into the setting please let me know. This is so that we can work together for the safety of all children in attendance and ensure appropriate access to material when using the internet.

To comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR I have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller to allow me to store digital images on an SD card device/computer.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Data Protection Policy

To provide a quality early years and childcare service and comply with legislation, we will need to request information from parents about their child and family. Some of this will be personal data and some may be classed as special category data. We take families’ privacy seriously, and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we will process any personal data according to the seven principles below:

We must have a lawful reason for collecting personal data and must do it in a fair and transparent way. We will be clear about what data we are collecting, and why.
We must only use the data for the reason it is initially obtained. This means that we may not use a person’s data inappropriately or to market a product or service to them that is unconnected to the reasons for which they shared the data with us in the first place, unless required to do so by law.
We must not collect any more data than is necessary. We will only collect the data needed to provide appropriate childcare services and abide by relevant laws.
We will ensure that the data is accurate and ask parents to check annually and confirm that the data held is still accurate.
We will not keep data any longer than needed and must only keep the data for as long as is needed to complete the tasks it was collected for and in compliance with relevant laws.
We must protect the personal data by ensuring that anyone in charge with using the data, processes and stores it securely.
We will be accountable for the data, this means that we will be able to show how we (and anyone working with us) are complying with the law.

We have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. We expect parents to keep private and confidential any sensitive information they may accidentally learn about our families, the setting or the other children and families attending our setting, unless it is a child protection issue. We will be asking parents for personal data about themselves and their child/ren to deliver a childcare service (see privacy notice).

We are required to hold and use this personal data to comply with the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Ofsted, Department for Education and our local authority

Subject access

Parents/carers and those with parental responsibility have the right to inspect records about their child at any time. This will be provided without delay and no later than one month after the request. Requests can be made verbally. We may need to check the identity of the person making the request if, for example, the request was made via an unknown email address. We will ask parents to regularly check that the data is correct and update it where necessary.

Individual Rights

The GDPR provides the following rights for individuals:

The right to be informed
The right of access
The right to rectification
The right to erasure
The right to restrict processing
The right to data portability
The right to object
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Storage

We will keep all paper-based records about children and their families securely locked away in the setting office which needs a combination lock to enter.

As we keep records relating to individual children and families, including in a digital format, such as on our computers or smartphones, externally or in cloud storage such as iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox, including digital photos or videos, we will obtain parents’ permission. We will ensure any external or cloud-based services have adequate security around the data. We will store the information securely, for example, in password-protected files, to prevent viewing of the information by others with access to the computer or device.

Backup files will be stored on an external memory stick, which will be locked away.

Information sharing

We are expected to share information with other childcare providers if a child also attends another setting. We are also required to share information with Kent County Council regarding the childcare and early year’s entitlements. In some cases, we may need to share information without parents’ consent, if there is a child protection concern, criminal or tax investigations, health, and safety reports etc. Ofsted may require access to our records at any time.

Record keeping

We record all significant incidents in a log, we will share these with parents so that together we can work to resolve any issues.

Because we are insured with Childcare.co.uk, we will notify them of any accidents which may result in an insurance claim, e.g., an accident resulting in a doctor or hospital visit.

We will inform Ofsted, the local child protection agency and the Health and Safety Executive of any significant injuries, accidents or deaths as soon as possible.

We will only share information without your prior permission if it is in a child’s best interests to do so. For example, in a medical emergency we will share medical information with a healthcare professional. If we are worried about a child’s welfare, we have a duty of care to follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures and make a referral. Where possible we will discuss concerns with you before making a referral.

Safe disposal of data

We are required by law to keep some data for some time after a child has left the setting.

We have a review plan in place and ensure that any data is disposed of appropriately and securely. Safe disposal of paper would be with the use of a crosscut shredder. Any IT hardware is securely disposed of.

Suspected breach

We will investigate any suspected breaches and take prompt action to correct any areas of concern. If we suspect that data has been accessed unlawfully, we will inform the relevant parties immediately and report to the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours. We will keep a record of any data breach.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Privacy Notice

We take your privacy seriously and, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will commit to the following:

We will be asking you for personal data about you and your child/ren to deliver a childcare service to you. We must have a legal basis for collecting this data, and there are six lawful bases:

(a) Consent:

The individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

(b) Contract:

The processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

The processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

(d) Vital interests:

The processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

(e) Public task:

The processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

(f) Legitimate interests:

The processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)

We will be processing your data under the following bases: A, B, C and F. Where we require consent, we will provide a way for you to positively decide about the information that you make available and how this is shared by filling out a communications preference letter. This information will be collected by us as part of the child’s induction to the setting. We will be asking for this data verbally at our initial meeting and recording it on paper forms/digitally. We will ask for this information at regular intervals to ensure it is up to date. We will do this by asking you to complete and return a data form. The information that We require will be Child’s name, date of birth, age, address, Parents’ names, addresses, contact numbers, Who has parental responsibility for the child, Emergency contact names, addresses and contact number, Home language, Child and/or parents’ National Insurance number.

The following are classed as “special category data” and I must therefore ensure that I meet one or more of the conditions of Article 9 of GDPR as well as the legal bases above:

Child’s doctor’s name and contact number
Health clinic/health visitor
Child’s NHS number
Any allergies/medical history/ requirements
Information about immunisations
Whether the child has any special educational needs or disabilities
Ethnic group
Religion

Our condition for processing special category data is: A, B, C and F

We are required to hold and use this personal data in order to comply with the statutory framework of England/Wales, Ofsted, the Department for Education and my local authority early years team. It will also include photographs, video, or audio recordings of the child. This data will be used to:

Support your child’s development
Monitor and report on your child’s progress
Share information about activities in our setting
Contact named people in an emergency
Share with other professionals in accordance with legislation
Ensure a contract of service is delivered and maintained
Ensure that this setting receives the statutory funding for which it is eligible.

This data may be, when necessary, shared with:

Other professionals supporting your child, for example health visitor, pre-school, nursery, school, other health, or education professional
My local authority through the Free Childcare and Early Education Entitlement headcount and annual Early Years Census (England)
My local authority for the purposes of funded services that they support eg: Flying Start or the Childcare Offer (Wales)
Ofsted

If you want to see a copy of the information we hold and share about you, or your child then please contact us. We are required by law to keep some information about your child for a period after a child has left the setting. We will keep a record of this and dispose securely at the correct time.

Please see my data protection policy for further information on data sharing, safe storage,

and your rights to access your data.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Complaints Procedure

We hope that you are happy with the service that we provide, but we appreciate there may be times when we are not offering you and your child(ren) the service that you require. We hope that you will feel able to discuss any concerns or issues that you may have with us directly. If you would rather not talk in front of your child(ren) then we can arrange a more convenient time, for example in the evening or at the weekend.

It is a requirement by Ofsted that all complaints are logged along with the outcome and any action taken. These records must be available to show an Ofsted Childcare Inspector if required.

If you feel that you are unable to talk to us or that after talking the matter remains unresolved, then you can talk in confidence to:

Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

The Early Years Childminding Team on 0208 464 9037

If you wish to make a formal complaint, then you can contact the Ofsted Complaints and Investigation Unit on 0845 640 40 40

Date reviewed: June 2023

Payment policy

Per your contract fees are payable in advance. Invoices will be sent out in the last week of the month for the next month. These are Payments must be cleared in our account by the end of the first week of each month. Please take into consideration the amount of time that payments take to clear.

I ask that you send me a message stating how you have paid, i.e., voucher or transfer. This is necessary as we have payments coming from so many different voucher companies. It will also help us to keep track of payments more effectively. If I do not receive a message from you, I will assume that you have not paid, and late fees will be charged accordingly.

We will now impose a 10% fine for each week that fees are outstanding. A 10% fine will be imposed for that week and again for each subsequent week that fees remain outstanding.

If I have to contact you regarding late fees, these will have to be paid by bank transfer or in cash which clears immediately and can no longer be paid by childcare vouchers. A further 5 % administration fee will be charged if contacting you becomes necessary.

As per your contract fees which remain outstanding after a month will result in termination of your contract.

If you are experiencing difficulty in paying your fees, please get in touch with me and we can come to an arrangement.

I sincerely hope that these are steps I will not have to take.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Holiday and Notice Policy

As per your contract, each family who has children attending full time (term time and holidays) gets 2 of their usual weeks that they can take where they won’t have to pay for childcare while they are on holiday. For us to grant you this, we require 4 weeks WRITTEN notice. Telling us verbally is fine but this holiday time cannot be granted without receiving the WRITTEN notice 4 weeks in advance of your holiday. This notice must be given to us before the invoices for the month are done and given out, (We aim to issue invoices by the 26th of each month as they are all due by the end of the first week of each month). Holiday allowances are per academic year and as such run from September – August.

The 2 weeks holiday that you receive is not 10 days but 2 lots of your normal week. For example, if your child attends 2 days a week you are entitled to take 2 of those weeks which in this instance would be 4 days. This can be taken a week at a time or both weeks at once but not 1 day at a time. For example, if your child attends the setting 3 days a week, you cannot take only 2 days one week and then still have another day to use at another time. If you are not planning on taking your “full” week, then you cannot use it as one of your holiday weeks. If you take one of your holiday weeks and there is a bank holiday in that week, you cannot carry the day over to be taken at another time.

The 4 weeks written notice is also to end the contract or to make changes to the contract.

Notice to end the contract cannot be given during a time while you are not paying, for example if you are currently on holiday (if you have given notice or if your child does not attend during holidays, notice to end the contract cannot be given during this time), or over the Christmas break when the setting is closed.

We hope you understand this policy. If not, please come and talk to us.

Date reviewed: June 2023

Retention Policy for GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation is an EU law from May 2018.

It requires us to share information with you about data retention after your child has left our setting.

Data we retain about you and your child falls into 3 main categories-

Safeguarding and welfare data linked to Ofsted and the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements and the limitation Act.
Financial data retained for HMRC purposes.
Funding data retained for Local Authority purposes.

We store data in paper format and on computer.

Data relating to the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS

To comply we keep records of serious accidents, injuries and first aid and records of medication administration using the basis of ‘legal obligation’ until your child is 21 and 3 months for insurance purposes.

We also retain Parent provider contracts and Attendance registers using the basis of ‘legal obligations’ to provide evidence of compliance with the EYFS.

We keep further data related to safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS and Childcare register for a ‘reasonable period of time. ICO advice is that this should be retained between Ofsted inspections and between 3-8 years.

This information is kept in paper format and destroyed after the required retention period.

Data relating to the Learning and development requirements of the EYFS

To comply with the EYFS, we keep documents relating to your child’s learning and development including photos of your child’s activities experiences and progress.

We use the legal basis of ‘legal obligation’ when recording your child’s learning, development and progress and ‘legitimate interest’ when taking photos of your child because we believe it is reasonable for us to process this data to provide you with a good quality service.

We keep the information, including photos on computer and in paper format and will pass it on to you when you leave the setting or when your child starts school, whichever comes first.

Financial record keeping

We keep documentation including your name and payment record for HMRC using the legal basis of ‘legal obligation’. We keep this information in paper format and on computer and are required to retain this information by HMRC for 6 years, after which time it will be destroyed.

Data relating to Local Authority funding forms

We keep documentation including your name, address, national insurance number and tracking data for Local Authority Funding forms using the legal basis of ‘contractual necessity’. This data is held in paper format and we are required to retain these forms by the Local Authority, after which time they are shredded.

Personal data

We have been advised by the Information Commissioners Office that it is reasonable to keep a record of your mobile phone number on our mobile phones and your email address on our computer email provider for up to 1 financial year after your child leaves the setting, so we can contact you if necessary to clarify, for example, accounts information or details relating to your Tax Credits claim (if relevant). The data will be deleted after this period.

If we close the setting or on our retirement, we will keep documentation for as long as legally required by the purpose for which it was collected. There is no absolute duty to encrypt data stored online but we will keep it as securely as possible during the retention period (see Article 32 of GDPR for more information).

You have the right to ask for information held about you and your child to be withdrawn. This is called the ‘right to erasure’ in GDPR. However, if we need to keep information because it is legally required then exceptions to the ‘right to erasure’ apply. We will decide about each erasure request individually – please speak to us for more information.

DATE REVIEWED: June 2023

Back to parents area

Policy Checklist

CABIN KIDS CHILDCARE
Where every child shines

POLICIES

GET IN TOUCH

We'd love to hear from you