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SammyL
30-11-2012, 11:09 AM
Hi,

I use the NCMA attendance register & was just wondering if it is ok to photo copy the page & send it home for the parents to sign the copy as sometimes trying to remember / actually getting the parents to sign it at the end of each week is difficult.

TIA

Sammy xx

hectors house
30-11-2012, 11:22 AM
Sometimes my parents sign about 4 months worth at a time - often parents are in a rush, running late in the morning and different member (grandparent) collects in afternoon.

Would you staple the photocopy to the original and would you even get them back signed?

Genesis
30-11-2012, 11:34 AM
To be honest I dont get my attendance records signed any more, parents were not happy signing weekly, and if i got them to sign or month a so at a time it was purely a tick box exercise, cos they had no idea what day varied by an hour or a few minutes, so were signing blindly to what i had written anyway!

I know use a diary and write all children in daily, it keeps me doing it more regularly as it should be, with accurate times as all is on one page and not faffing around changing and parents dont sign it!

eddie
30-11-2012, 11:41 AM
I don't think it actually states in the EYFS that parents have to sign the attendance register, you just have to record the correct arrival and departure times. Mine is online and when I kept paper records I didn't get them to sign either.

sarah707
30-11-2012, 11:58 AM
There is no requirement for parents to sign them - although it might be useful to have a signature if, for example, the hours a child has attended are queried in the future.

I ask parents to sign when I give them their bill and they get into the habit very quickly.

The Eyfs says they must be retained for 'a reasonable period of time' - the Childcare Register says they must be retained for 2 years.

Hth :D

JCrakers
30-11-2012, 12:21 PM
I don't get mine signed but I think some minders do.
I think rickysmiths bought up a good reason to get them signed a while back as evidence that the child attended in future.:thumbsup:

I really couldn't be bothered to get signatures off everyone weekly and if you do it monthly then like genesis said above, they will probably just sign it without even going through it. It's just another piece of paperwork for me so I don't bother with signatures.

My register is handmade and has everyone's names on so I couldn't send mine home with parents as a safeguarding reason and they would probably forget to return it the next day anyway.
But if its just the child's individual register than sending it home would probably be a good idea, as long as they can't change it and remember to return it

k1rstie
30-11-2012, 12:39 PM
My register is handmade and has everyone's names on so I couldn't send mine home with parents as a safeguarding reason and they would probably forget to return it the next day anyway.




Thai is what I do too.
I have all my children on the one sheet.

The children are down on the lefthand side, and the days across the top. I have them in age order, and colour code their ages. Ie baby names in blue, 1 to 5's in red and 5 to 8's in green etc. This helps me to think about my ratio's as all my kids are part-time, and mainly come different times each week. I also use the colour codeing to help me make a note of attendance for claiming for milk.

I also at the bottom have at the bottom 2 lines where I add what my own kids are up to, eg guides, rainbows, army cadets etc. I find these columns really useful

When I write each childs actual attendence in, I also put their parents initial by the side, to keep a record of who it actually was doing the collecting and dropping.

The only time I actually ever have to look back at them, is when I get the attendance report from my daughters school, saying she was absent on so and so date. I can look and say, she was representing the school at football that day, on a trip that day, etc

I have one form that fits fits all. I do not get it signed.

I find it works really well for me

SammyL
30-11-2012, 12:41 PM
Thanks for all of your responses.

I'm using the NCMA one at the moment but when the book has finished I will probably use my own version.

Thanks :)

MrsP2C
30-11-2012, 09:00 PM
I use my own - 1 sheet per week with all children listed - I have an 'extra hours column' and only ask those parents who have gone over their contracted hours to sign at the end of week as I use this info to add extra fees the next month & like to have this record in case if a query. As everyone pays in advance, those who come & go as per their contracted hours, I just tick myself.

rickysmiths
30-11-2012, 09:37 PM
I don't get mine signed but I think some minders do.
I think rickysmiths bought up a good reason to get them signed a while back as evidence that the child attended in future.:thumbsup:

I really couldn't be bothered to get signatures off everyone weekly and if you do it monthly then like genesis said above, they will probably just sign it without even going through it. It's just another piece of paperwork for me so I don't bother with signatures.

My register is handmade and has everyone's names on so I couldn't send mine home with parents as a safeguarding reason and they would probably forget to return it the next day anyway.
But if its just the child's individual register than sending it home would probably be a good idea, as long as they can't change it and remember to return it

Yes it was me!!

Safeguarding is the main reason so if the parent has signed then they are confirming that their child was with you those hours. If an allegation is made as happened to me last year, it was made about a specific day and apparently I hadn't informed the parents. I was able to send a signed copy of the register to Ofsted which proved the child was with me at a time the parent had said they were not and that I had informed the parent about times because they had signed the register. If I had not had this it would have been my word against theirs.

It can also be helpful if a parents is always late or early. If the parent signs to confirm this then there can be no argument when you send an increased invoice.

I have had the NCMA register for all the 18yrs I have been minding and have always got it signed. It has never been a problem because I talk about at interview level, there is a blank page in my parents info folder so when parents start with me they expect to sign it every week.

Oh the other reason I love the NCMA one is because all the children's hours and days are recorded in ages in the front along with address, contact details and GP. This means if I had to evacuate in a hurry I can grab my register and it has all the info I need in it. It also means I can remove my contracts from the flies when I am inspected because most of the info on them is confidential and about the money and none of Ofsted's business. With the Register I have all the addresses and contacts elsewhere.

rickysmiths
30-11-2012, 09:45 PM
I use my own - 1 sheet per week with all children listed - I have an 'extra hours column' and only ask those parents who have gone over their contracted hours to sign at the end of week as I use this info to add extra fees the next month & like to have this record in case if a query. As everyone pays in advance, those who come & go as per their contracted hours, I just tick myself.

I would not recommend having all the children on the same sheet because it would be difficult to separate if you needed to if there was an issue like the one I had. If you have a number of children on your books you can use an index tag down the side with initials on so you can find the right page quickly.

wellybelly
30-11-2012, 10:19 PM
I get mine to sign a monthly sheet I made myself. Its so important to get parents to sign something to confirm the hours their children attend.