Attendance book help pls!

**lorettacritchet** · 26-01-2012, 02:00 PM

A little confused even though been doing childminding for over a year lol....

the attendance book from the ncma has got me and i don't know why just now.

Do you complete this only when the child is in your care? i.e. I have a few clients who pay me from 10 to 7 but they might turn up 2 hours later or pick up earlier, so don't know if attendance should just mark the hours to be paid for or whether just to mark the time from when i have the child in my care till when they are out of my care regardless of if i have them in my setting or not.

Hope this makes sense!

**Tippy Toes** · 26-01-2012, 02:03 PM

You should mark it as the time the children arrive and are in your care and when they leave, not the times they should be there.

Hope this makes sense xx

**Minstrel** · 26-01-2012, 02:04 PM

Only mark in the times they are actually with you.

I glance at the clock when the doorbell rings and note down the exact time- ie 7.32am. When they are collected I shut the door and look back at the clock- 5.16pm. This is even if the contracted hours are 7.30-5.30pm and the paid for hours go on the contract and invoices.

**SandCastles** · 26-01-2012, 02:06 PM

I put the time they arrive and the time they leave rather than my invoiced hours.
e.g lo comes at 7am and I take them to nursery at 8:50 then pick up at 12:00 and they go home at 5:20
my ncma book says Time Arrived 7am - Time Departure 5:20 then in the Non-Attending hours box at the bottom of weekly column I say Nursery 8:50 till 12.00
I invoice parents 7am till 6pm, as I am still taking responsibility of lo while he is at nursery.
Hope that helps

**Linda Mc** · 26-01-2012, 05:50 PM

I use the NCMA one too & it had me confused at first!

You have to put the exact times the children are in your care mainly as a safeguarding measure. If something were to happen to them before or after they came to you you'd have proof that they were not in your care at that time.

I also put down on mine if the child was ill or on holiday on days they should have come to me.

Hope that makes sense

**miffy** · 26-01-2012, 05:53 PM

For Ofsted you need to record the exact times (to the minute) each child is on the premises.

For invoicing parents/your accounts you record the times they are contracted for plus any overtime you've done.

Miffy xx

**rickysmiths** · 26-01-2012, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by Linda Mc

I use the NCMA one too & it had me confused at first!

You have to put the exact times the children are in your care mainly as a safeguarding measure. If something were to happen to them before or after they came to you you'd have proof that they were not in your care at that time.

I also put down on mine if the child was ill or on holiday on days they should have come to me.

Hope that makes sense

This is what I do. I also mark in the days I am on holiday so the parent can see its coming up and they sign that week as well so they have acknowledged my holiday.

**peacebabe** · 27-01-2012, 03:12 PM

Do the parents have to sign the book each week (an ofsted requirement)? Or just good practice.
Thanks x

**Pauline** · 27-01-2012, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by peacebabe

Do the parents have to sign the book each week (an ofsted requirement)? Or just good practice.
Thanks x

It is not a requirement, I don't get them to sign.

**lorettacritchet** · 27-01-2012, 10:20 PM

I do get parents to sign the attendance register and i have usually been marking when they are actually at my premises but recently it occured to me that some kids are in my care from the moment i have them ie when i pick them up from school...so do i do it from that moment or when they reach my premises?