Are you Ready for September - Early Years Shop

September is really close – are you ready?

September is fast approaching and we have no doubt that you are all busy getting ready to open your doors to a whole new group of children and parents. This is a reminder of some of the important areas that you need to address and help you to evaluate that you have everything you need in place. To make your life a little easier we are pleased to remind you that most of the items are available from www.EarlyYearsShop.ie.

Taking on New Staff? You will need a Contract of employment

If you are taking on new staff it is imperative that you issue a contract of employment within the first 8 weeks. It is also important the correct type of contract is issued. Our contracts are specifically developed for this sector and cover important areas like confidentiality, child protection, garda vetting and professional conduct as well as being GDPR compliant. We also have contracts to suit an AIM employee in the Inclusion Pack They come with a set of instructions and if you need extra assistance in developing them the Canavan Byrne. employment expert team are always available to help. Our Contracts also come with a Statement of Terms which needs to be given within 5 days of employment under new legislation.

Child Registration and Roll/ Attendance Books

Are you confident that your Child Registration Form contains all the data now required under the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016? Is your form GDPR compliant and have you captured all the necessary permissions? This form is available on its own in our child Registration Pack or as part of our GDPR pack. You will also need an attendance record. Our Attendance Record is a 3 in one system. It works as a Roll Book, children ‘sign-in and sign out’ and it also allows staff sign into the room. Remember, whatever system you use, that you must have a list of parents and emergency contacts/collectors in the room and you must show accountability where an adult takes responsibility for children’s arrival and departure. For a limited time we are offering one FREE book with each one purchased.

Medicine Administration Forms and Medical Emergency Care Plans

Medicine Administration is an important task to ensure the safety and welfare of the child. It is also a very common area of non-compliance. Ensure you have the correct record in place. Do you have children attending in September with allergies or health conditions. It is essential that you have a care plan in place and that staff have the knowledge to respond effectively to a medical emergency. We have a full range of care plans and if there is an illness/condition not on our list the Canavan Byrne Team will write one for you and make it available on the Early Years Shop.

Parent Handbooks

The Quality and Regulatory Framework requires that you share information and policies with parents in a user-friendly fashion. Also, the Department of Education and Science (DES), in their inspections, expect that you have a Parent Handbook. There are two editable versions available, one to suit preschool, day care etc and one especially written to compliment the school-ages childcare regulations.

Newsletters and Family notices

Get off to a flying start by communicating with parents professionally by issuing a monthly newsletter starting from September. We do the bulk of the work for you by filling each newsletter with “current” information. You can add your own content in to this attractive publication, add your logo and you have a fantastic tool of communication. The service can be bought monthly along with a family notice that you can pin to your noticeboard. Or is available at no additional cost for subscribers to our Early Years Resource Factory (see EYRF.ie for details and Free Trial).

Safeguarding Statement

Since March 2018 all services who work with young children must have a Safeguarding Statement. You also need to submit your safeguarding statement to Tusla for registration purposes

Risk Assessment

For those of you have been recently inspected by Tusla you will know that risk management forms a large part of the inspection and services who do not have proper risk checks and audits in place are being asked by Tusla to submit them every month for three months so it becomes habitual. Our Risk Assessment pack provides you with daily risk checks as well as an audit tool

Accident and Incident Recording

This is an area of high non-compliance in services. You now must record the risk assessment (corrective and preventive action taken) following an accident. You must also give each parent a copy of the record (not just a signature) and place a copy on each child’s file. Our bumper triplicate book ensures compliance

Learning Journeys

Get off on the right foot by allocating “A Child’s Learning Journey” to each child. These ‘bumper’ size best-selling journals allow plenty of space for observations and to capture and document children’s emerging interests Why not combine the journeys with our Aistear Stickers so those important links are made and parents can make the connections and learn more about the curriculum framework.

Curriculum Plans

Our curriculum plans are not templates. They are a library of curriculum and activity ideas so that early years’ professionals can plan ahead but most importantly respond to the emerging interests of children. The purpose behind our plans and the EYRF (Early Years Resource Factory www.eyrf.ie) is to allow you build a library of resources for your service. When a child demonstrates they have an interest you will be able to retrieve materials that will assist you support the child through their learning journey. All curriculum plans are related to Aistear themes.

Child Friendly Policies (for School-Aged Childcare)

Some of you provide services for children after school until their parents/guardians can collect them. You provide a happy & safe place where children can play, do homework, eat meals and snacks and have fun with other children. Our recently launched and very popular pack contains a child-friendly template of each of the seven policies which you can customise for your service. This compliments the Parent Handbook described above.

Here is a quick summary of the most important areas to have ready for September:

Contracts of Employment
Child Registration and Child attendance Records
Medicine Administration Forms and Medical Emergency Care Plans
Parent Handbooks
Newsletters and Family Notices
Risk Assessment
Accident and Incident Recording
Learning Journals
Communication Diaries for younger Children
Curriculum Plans – Activities linked to Aistear themes
Child Friendly Policies (for School-Aged Childcare)
Policies & Procedures (this is a bespoke, tailor-made service. Contact info@canavanbyrne.ie for more details)
A Visitor’s Record: Your visitor book is now open to inspection