Paperwork and water butts!

[Emra81]

Eek! All my checks are done, course is finished, just waiting for Mrs O to call to arrange my pre reg visit now! Excited?!? Moi!??! Be warned that I shall be throwing lots of questions (probably mostly stupid ones!) at you guys so please bear with me and my ignorance!

So, I'm well into sorting out all the paperwork and feel fairly happy about that side of things although I've got a lot to do. However, I want to get a few bits n pieces from pacey (contracts, accidents forms, child record forms etc) while I get my head around what they should have in them and obviously want to pay the cheaper member prices. I see that you can join even if you're pre reg as long as you provide your registration number within 90 days so that's fine BUT will Mrs O expect me to have all that jazz? Or will it be enough if I list what I intend to buy and where from? I'm not keen on spending yet MORE money until she/he says they'll approve my registration, just incase it doesn't happen for some stupid reason. Should I just stop faffing about and buy the stuff I need or should I wait and check my registration actually goes through?

AND, we're doing various jobs to get the house and garden ready based on my risk assessments and I'm stumped as to what to do about the water butt in the corner of our garden! Or indeed if I need to do anything. It sits on top of a stand as they normally do and is fairly sturdy, dh would struggle to shift it, never mind a small child. BUT I'm sure I read somewhere that they should be fenced off/inaccessible plus I can't figure out how I'd stop the kids messing with the tap at the bottom (other than telling them not to whenever they clock it!) - so what sort of situation are your water butts in?! It'll be a pig to cordon off if that's what I should do

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer me

[AliceK]

We have a water butt in the garden but our garden is sectioned off into childrens garden and dogs garden and luckily the water butt is in the dogs section. I have not got a RA for it. It's highly unlikely a child would be able to move it as they are really heavy and they usually have a lockable lid (twist and lock type thing). As for the tap, if you tell the children enough not to touch it then hopefully they wont. (using this theory as this is what I did when I took my stairgate down and now none of the children even attempt to climb the stairs)

xxxx

[Bumble Beez]

Ok...firstly..fab news that all is ready to go
Secondly...there are no stupid questions...ask away and we will all do our best to answer and give some advice as best we can
Thirdly...personally I would hang fire on buying paperwork, memberships etc until nearer the time - however just put together a simple plan of things you intend to buy before you start and present Mrs O with this when she visits.

Finally...the RA for the water butt...

Risk:
Water Butts

What risks:
Drinking
Washing Hands
Water borne bugs/ infections
Drowning

Who's at risk?:
Childminder and children

Information:
Water butts only to be installed if this is in line with the chidminders own Health & Safety Policy.
Such butts must have child proof, locked lids and should be firmly secured on a stable surface.

Notes:
Children must not wash their hands or wash garden produce to eat with water from the butts.
When using water from the butts for watering then childminder and children must wash their hands afterwards.
Water butts should be emptied and scrubbed out once a year. This job should be carried out by an adult with gloves.
Water butts to be kept in cool position as far as practically possible.

My advice for kind of sectioning it off would be to put pots with plants in around it to disguise it slightly...should discourage children from fiddling however if they are told from the start what the rules are then it shouldn't be a problem

Hope that helps

[mummyMia]

I have a water butt in my garden and I let the children freely fill up their watering cans from it and water my plants. It keeps them busy for ages! In fact they have done so much watering that the water butt is now completely empty and they all keep asking me when it is going to rain so that it will fill up again.

[Samcat]

We have 2 on our greenhouse. The only thing Mrs O said was to make sure they have covers on them, nothing more. They are fairly well camouflaged by plants, so the LOs have never noticed them.

[Emra81]

Thanks for the replies.....I did think it would be a bit much to have to fence the water butt off but I thought I'd heard it mentioned somewhere so figured it best to check.

I like the idea of using a few strategically placed pots to camouflage it though -another idea 'magpied'. Thank you!

[Chatterbox Childcare]

My water butt had a lid on it and the guttering runs into it. No need for fencing off and the little ones use the water from it too.

As to all your paperwork - don't pay for the membership and insurance yet, wait until you are ready to start.

[emma04]

My water butt has a child proof lid. I wouldnt fence if off even if it didn't.

Risks are present every day and children need to be made aware of them and not have them hidden!! Removal of danger is impossible, therefore children should be educated and/or supervised appropriately.

[moggy]

...
So, I'm well into sorting out all the paperwork and feel fairly happy about that side of things although I've got a lot to do. However, I want to get a few bits n pieces from pacey (contracts, accidents forms, child record forms etc) while I get my head around what they should have in them and obviously want to pay the cheaper member prices. I see that you can join even if you're pre reg as long as you provide your registration number within 90 days so that's fine BUT will Mrs O expect me to have all that jazz? Or will it be enough if I list what I intend to buy and where from? I'm not keen on spending yet MORE money until she/he says they'll approve my registration, just incase it doesn't happen for some stupid reason. Should I just stop faffing about and buy the stuff I need or should I wait and check my registration actually goes through?

...

Paperwork- no need to purchase before pre-reg, for reasons you mentioned yourself. As long as you know why you need these forms and what you will do with them that is fine.

And water butts- I have one against back wall of house specially for the children to use. I have secured it to wall by screwing a wide luggage strap to the wall and buckling round water butt, because when empty it can be unstable (light), but when full no one could budge it!