Staff, Contracts, Payments, Policies and Procedures

Staff Ratios

There are several type of childcare. How many children they have in their care will depend on what type of childcare provider they are:

• how many children are there per member of staff?
• how many staff have the appropriate childcare qualifications? what training and experience do the staff have?
• how long have they been working with children?
• do they have any references from parents with children at the setting?
• are they experienced in supporting and meeting the needs of children with additional needs

If needed will they be able to make referrals to outside agencies and are they experienced in working with a range of outside professionals such as:

• Speech and Language Therapists,
• Occupational Therapists,
• Advisory Teachers for Hearing Impairment.

You will need to sign a contract and agree on payments before your child starts. Take time to make sure that you have considered and spoken with the childcare provider about:

Payments

• Registration fee
• Deposit
• How often and how much?

• meals,
• consumables (such as nappies or sun cream),
• extra hours
• activities (such as outings)

• Outings
• Nappies
• Baby wipes
• Sun cream
• Snacks
• Meals
• Drinks
• Cup
• Change of clothing

Holidays and sickness

• What days, sessions, hours will your child be attending?
• What if you are late picking up your child?
• What if your child is unable to attend due to sickness?
• Are the hours flexible to accommodate any hospital or therapist appointments?
•  If your child is attending a childminder what happens if the childminder is ill?

Giving notice 

Policies and procedures

A Childcare providers policies and procedures will cover all aspects of the care your child will receive. They cover the staff and your responsibilities. These should be available for you to read, so do ask for a copy. Policies and procedures cover things such as:

• Admissions
• Fees
• Equal opportunities
• Special educational needs and disability
• Safeguarding and child protection
• Confidentiality
• Risk Assessments
• Accident, injury and first aid
• Health and safety
• Medication
• Emergency
• Healthy eating
• Behaviour, biting and bullying
• Toilet training
• E-safety
• Mobile phone
• Complaints