Tip of the Week- Recording of Children’s Movement Between Care Rooms

Since the lifting of the COVID-19 Restrictions, it has been common practice for children to move from one room to another from time to time to maintain adequate child-adult ratios in an early years service. It can also be common for children to move from their care room to a sleeping room, but are you adequately recording these movements within the service?

According to Tusla Regulation 24 Checking In and Out and Record of Attendance, “the children’s physical presence within the care room should be reflected in the records of that room, even if this is only for a short period of time.”  

During an inspection, the appointed Tusla inspector will check the room registered and ensure that the number of children matches with those in attendance and present in the room. Not keeping adequate records would result in non-compliance during the inspection.

For instance, a service has 3 children who go from Care Room A to Care Room B during sleep time. These children are then signed in in both care rooms. That means children are documented as present in the two separate roll books maintained in the two separate rooms. This poses a risk of the children not being counted accurately under the daily supervision routines or in the event of an evacuation emergency.

Instead, children should be signed out of Care Room A and then signed into Care Room B when they enter it. Then, when the children return to their care room after sleep, they should be signed out from Care Room B and signed in back into Care Room A. That way, each roll book in each room reflects exactly how many children are present, and when doing a head count, the numbers match.

Similarly, staff must sign in and out of each care room when going for their breaks and when covering them. This should also be reflected in the roll book and in the weekly staff roster. This is to ensure that child – adult ratios are maintained throughout the service at all times. A Tusla Inspector will check this to ensure compliance with regulations.

Is your record of attendance practices compliant with childcare regulations? Does your roll book and staff roster adequately reflect movements of children and staff between rooms?

Check out our Children’s Roll Book and Staff Roster Pack available in the Early Years Shop designed by Canavan Byrne:

https://earlyyearsshop.ie/product/weekly-staff-roster/

https://earlyyearsshop.ie/product/childrens-roll-book-with-sign-in-and-sign-out/