First Self Assessment

[Kirsteen]

Hi there!

I registered at the end of last year and i am going through my first self assessment. It all looks straight forward enough, and i've been doing bits of it as i went along so i actually don't have much left to do before the deadline (yay) but the bit i am unsure about is the involving parents in assessing the quality statements. What do i need to do about that???

2-3 months after starting i got parents and kids to complete feedback/evaluation forms. parents are happy to write/email a reference/glowing report if that's needed, or even to chat to the inspector. But is that enough? i was thinking about issuing a questionaire with the quality statements on getting parents to tick where they think i am, but i only want to give extra paperwork at this point if i need to, as they are paperworked out! And if i did do that do i need to supply a copy of the care standards too?

Any advice appreciated! Also i believe as this is my first inspection that the inspector will be out sharp. Does that mean that i can safely assume it will be in april sometime? How much notice do they give for a first inspection? Also i am going on holiday in april, so should i contact them to tell them incase they plan in inspect about that time???

Thank you! :)

[sarah707]

Yes when you involve parents in assessing the quality standards it's about making sure parents understand what you do with their children and why and are consulted on different areas of your service to give their views.

So it's about newsletters giving info about changes and asking for feedback, questionnaires, comment sheets... anything that show a regular, ongoing open honest dialogue between you and the children's families.

hth :D

[Kirsteen]

So just to confirm...it's evidence of ongoing communication that they are looking for here as opposed to asking parents at self assessment time to comment on how we are doing against quality standards????



Yes when you involve parents in assessing the quality standards it's about making sure parents understand what you do with their children and why and are consulted on different areas of your service to give their views.

So it's about newsletters giving info about changes and asking for feedback, questionnaires, comment sheets... anything that show a regular, ongoing open honest dialogue between you and the children's families.

hth :D

[sarah707]

My understanding is that the SA question is about ongoing communication - working with parents is a key Scottish inspection area.

However you are right you also need to talk to parents pre-inspection and get their views and now is a good time to do that as you can include some of their comments in your SAF.

Hth :D

[Kirsteen]

I think we might be at corss purposes a little which is probably my fault. I'm not taling about a particulat SA question, but about the email/letter that gets issued to open submissions. It said on that to make sure and consult parents on the quality statements???? (marginally paraphrased) :)

[danasdaycare]

Yeah I got confused here too. I asked experienced CM, she said it is just to use surveys regularly, get feedback when you can, note any comments from parents.

But no, don't need to sit down with parent and show them your self assessment.

If it is the sentence, 'service users should be consulted', well they will be, via the parent questionnaires the Care Inspectorate send to you to hand out to them (obviously as long as they are ok to do so, it can't be forced)

HTH

Dana

[kellib]

I got stuck on this bit too but then sat and really thought about it, decided it meant any forms of communication from parents so even though they don't comment much in the child's daily diary they do email me a lot. So I've printed off all emails and put them in child's folder along with Thank You cards I've had from them.

Hopefully I'm on the right track, if not then oh well :laughing: