Planning and attendance?? Diary ??

[sharonmanc]

Am i ok to use a page per view diary to log times in and out by children and also do planning for that day.

I want to keep paperwork to a minimum, and was thinking this would be an easy way to do it.

Does anyone else use a diary?

[Bridey]

I haver done but soon got fed up with writing 13 names down every day (all part timers) LOL

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you are doing if that is how it works for you.

[sharonmanc]

Thanks, I hope it will be ok, i am not good with spreadsheets etc, and i want to cut down on using tonnes of paper,and printing out documents

[sarah707]

How would you show evidence to eg tax credits, a court in case of query, Ofsted inspector regarding a complaint etc if they wanted to see original details about 1 child... and you had more than 1 child's attendance noted on a page?

How would you maintain confidentiality for all children if 1 set of parents wanted to check their child's attendance times by looking at your diary as they were querying the bill?

How long are you prepared to keep your diaries once children leave? Remember that attendance records are your proof of when a child was / was not with you and for many model safeguarding policies from local authorities they have to be kept until the child reaches 21 (or even longer). If you were keeping them in a diary that would mean storing them until the youngest child noted was 21... which could be a lot of years.

There are lots of other reasons why it is better to keep individual records of attendance - these are just a few things to think about.

Hth :D

[pillows]

Sarah 707 has said exactly what I was thinking as i was reading down the thread.
I personally have had tax credits want proof of childs attendance on more than 1 occasion and it is so much easier to just look at one file instead of looking through a diary, page by page because you might even have to look back at more than a years worth,.and as Sarah commented you have to respect confidentiality also if you have a parent question times etc few months down line it is far easier to just show the one sheet rather than flicking through diary trying to cover everyone else.

hope this helps and good luck whichever you decide to do (I do know lots of c/m that do it the way you have asked ) but I personally prefer it the way sarah has mentioned .:)

[sharonmanc]

thanks ladies, is it ok to simply have a sheet with childs name and when they arrived and when they left in their file?

[loopyloopy]

Glad I read this post now, I write the times in my main diary too. Would parents have to sign the attendance sheet? Thinking I should draw one up now :blush:

[sharonmanc]

loopyloo i know signing is not a requirement, but alot have parents do it.

I think i will keep my diary for me with planning and just transfer info onto a sheet at end of week in personal files.

[pillows]

Yes there would be nothing wrong with you doing it that way.

This is how i do mine but please bear in mind i have an assistant work for me

I have a daily sheet with everyones name and times in/out but this is not for the parents this is to back myself up for ofsted that i didn't go over my numbers at all as i have my assistant on the same sheet and then I just bind that at the end of year, but i then have an individual sheet for assistant and child that stays in their file when it is full. I just have them all on a clipboard with a top cover so nobody can view .if they were overlooking .:)

[rickysmiths]

Glad I read this post now, I write the times in my main diary too. Would parents have to sign the attendance sheet? Thinking I should draw one up now :blush:

I have always got my parents to sign. I use the NCMA attendance register.

Some people think it is a bore and it is not required nor do Ofsted want to see it done.

However I had a complaint made about me last year, as part of the complaint the parent said I had not informed them about something.

Because they had signed my register I was able to prove beyond doubt that I had informed them because they had signed.

That was worth all the years of getting my parents to sign. :thumbsup: