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Section 17. Maintaining a Portfolio of Policies and Procedures
Section 17 will help you build your childminding portfolio. It sets out the policies you need as a registered childminder and then guides you, step by step, through writing them. To get you started we have included the following example policies:
Contents
- Meals and Nutrition Policy
- Behaviour Management Policy
- Safe Guarding Children / Child Protection Policy
- Anti Bullying Policy
- Complaints Procedure
- Exclusion and Sick Children Policy
- Administration of Medicines Policy
- Equal Opportunities Policy
- Special Needs Policy
- Payment & Fees
- Collection of Children
- Accident and Emergency Policy
- Health, Hygiene and Safety
- Fire Safety Policy
- Daily Routines
- Settling Children In
- Provision of Basic Play and other Activities
- Missing Child Procedure
- Working in Partnership with Parents
- Business Practice and Confidentiality
Quotes from this section:
Your Childminding Portfolio
A portfolio is a collection of documents that support your work as a childminder. They set out in writing how you run your business and what parents can expect from you. Your portfolio is also an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism and experience: to show what makes you a good choice for parents looking for childcare.
Having an organised collection of information about your services is useful for several reasons. It is helpful when prospective customers are visiting, as it provides all the information they are likely to need in one place guiding you through the information you need to give them. It can give a professional image to the services you are going to provide and reassure parents you are committed to the welfare of their children. When you have an inspection it will help to demonstrate the ways in which you comply with National Standards so you can achieve a higher inspection grade. It will also be helpful when you complete course work or if you want to join a childminding network and become accredited to provide early years education.
Writing Childminding Policies and Procedures
It is important that policies can be easily understood. Use simple language rather than attempting to make them sound like a legal document. Try using bullet points, short sentences, flow charts, diagrams or pictures to make your point clearer. For example, your fire escape plan could include a diagram of your premises with the exits marked.
You will find information under the relevant sections throughout this book that will help you decide on your policies and give you ideas of what you need to cover. Your policies do not need to cover every eventuality, they should be an overview of what you would do. The steps below outline how to write a policy using a 'Meals and Nutrition Policy' as an example.
Step 1: Research
Most childminding policies reflect the rules set by National Standards or other legislation. The first step in writing a policy is to check what rules are compulsory for all childminding settings. Then you can add any additional rules specific to your setting.
Step 2: Topic List
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