I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about the introduction of the new Early Years Foundation Stage. We are currently up-dating the profiles we keep on the children to bring them into line with the key changes.

One issue that came out of the recent evaluation exercise has been that parents would like to have a better knowledge of the planning and activities behind a day at nursery. As nursery practitioners, we track the children’s personal progress against a series of “Next Steps” in each of the areas of Learning & Development. By gathering evidence and making observations, we learn what each child needs to do to consolidate or extend their learning. I thought that some parents might like a copy of the Next Steps at home with some blank observation sheets. You could record events and activities at home and bring them in to nursery for inclusion in your child’s profile. This would create a much more rounded picture and keep you in the loop too!

If you like the sound of this, contact me through the comments facility and I’ll prepare the documents for you.

Hayley x

Jil and I have been looking into increasing the access security for nursery. In particular, I have been researching biometric systems.

The package we are looking at would involve installing a finger print reader on the main entrance for access to the baby rooms and another reader on the door to the Rumpleteazers room which would also be the access point for the Mungojerries. (We just couldn’t afford to install a dedicated reader for every room!)

The software would enable those parents/carers registered on the system to have direct access to the nursery. Having positively identified your fingerprint, the door would unlock and you would be able to enter the permises without having to wait for a member of staff to open the door for you. (Significant benefit in weather like this morning.) It also ensures that at peak times, children’s learning and development suffers from less disruption and staff can continue to concentrate on caring for the children.

The software acts as a back up to our register system, recording every visitors time in and time out of the building. It is quick and easy to up date so nominated collectors can be added or taken off accordingly. The front door bell system will be retained for delivieries and collectors nominated at short notice.

The government’s agenda for children “Every Child Matter’s” has an outcome called ”Stay Safe” with a special reference to children’s security and protection from mistreatment and accidental injury.

We want to ensure that we have very effective measures that keep our premises secure and prevent children being collected by unauthorised adults. This technology is already used in nurseries across the UK, including the Busy Bees chain and Kids 1st. The comments from Ofsted have been most encouraging and parents suggest it gives greater peace of mind.

So my questions to you are:

Do you think a system like this would improve your peace of mind?

What are the benefits to you of controliing your own point of access?

What would concern you about the system?

Clearly, there is a considerable financial outlay for the equipment and prior to spending, it’s important to know parent/carer views.

Thanks for being involved.