Visitors Book ?

[Mrs Argyle]

Hi.

Is it a statutory requirement for us to have a visitor's book. If so what do we put in it, do we need to put why we have visitors etc ?

[sarah707]

No it's not a statutory requirement.

It is good practice for fire regulations and to show Ofsted / parents who is in your house when you are working.

Mine says - date, name of visitor, reason for visit, time in, time out.

It also contains a copy of my visitor policy :D

[Mrs Argyle]

Thanks Sarah. :)

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I used to do one but it was always the same people, so now I don't do it and put any unusual (boiler repair man etc) in my diary

[Nicki L]

No it's not a statutory requirement.

It is good practice for fire regulations and to show Ofsted / parents who is in your house when you are working.

Mine says - date, name of visitor, reason for visit, time in, time out.

It also contains a copy of my visitor policy :D

Sarah please help!!! i went on a 4 themed workshop ran by NCMA and the lady tutor told us that everything in that book is statutory. She said its easy to think that its just good practice as its not at the top with the statutory bits but it is still manditory and we have to do it!!!!

She has really confused me as i thought that the bits at the top of each page are the bits we really had to do and the bits at the bottom would earn us brownie points if we did do it but were not compulsory

[sarah707]

The statutory requirements are statutory... written in law.

The rest is guidance... yes, it's good practice and if you're aiming for outstanding, then make sure it's in place.

But it is not required...

The guidance for visitors says providers should consider ...

the use of a system to verify the identity of any visitors, record their names, the purpose of the visit, and details of arrival and departure times;

I have a visitors book... a lot of childminders do... but it is not statutory.

Hope this clarifies :D

[Nicki L]

The statutory requirements are statutory... written in law.

The rest is guidance... yes, it's good practice and if you're aiming for outstanding, then make sure it's in place.

But it is not required...

The guidance for visitors says providers should consider ...

the use of a system to verify the identity of any visitors, record their names, the purpose of the visit, and details of arrival and departure times;

I have a visitors book... a lot of childminders do... but it is not statutory.

Hope this clarifies :D

Thank you. I have a visitors book too. I was just worried as the tutor told us the whole book had to be done. When we asked her why then it was divided into bits we must do and then guidance? she then said that that was the bit that was confusing everybody, we should be doing all of the book, that is why it says statutory on the front cover. It is all law!!!!

[sarah707]

There is an awful lot of misunderstanding about unfortunately. However, as I said, the higher the grade you are aiming for at inspection time, the more of the guidance bits you will want to have in place.

If you read through some reports on the Ofsted website and just look at the improvement bits, you will find a lot of helpful tips on what Ofsted inspectors are looking for when they are inspecting :D

[Nicki L]

There is an awful lot of misunderstanding about unfortunately. However, as I said, the higher the grade you are aiming for at inspection time, the more of the guidance bits you will want to have in place.

If you read through some reports on the Ofsted website and just look at the improvement bits, you will find a lot of helpful tips on what Ofsted inspectors are looking for when they are inspecting :D

Thank you Sarah x will have a look at that.:thumbsup: