NCMA Attendance Register

[pinklady756]

I'm really hoping someone can help with me with the NCMA attendance register as I'm a bit confused about what I should be doing.

I know we have to record exact times of attendance, arrival and departures. I'm a bit confused with the example sheet and the notes on the NCMA Register. When a child is in a club these are non-attending hours which I understand, but on the attendance register example it has the arrival time of 3.15pm despite the fact the child did not arrive then as the club finishes at 4.00pm. Surely that's wrong isn't it? It should state the arrival time is 4.00pm shouldn't it?

My other problem is my chargeable period after school starts at 3.00pm, but the child isn't in my care until 3.15, so the total hours per week on the attendance register are significantly different to the actual chargeable hours (which is an addition 1 1/4 hours). I have a parent paying for a minimum number of hours over a week as pick up time varies each day/week and any additional hours are charged separately. When the parent signs the attendance register it says for example that this week was 1 hour over contracted hours, but I would need to charge for 2 1/4 to cover the chargeable times.

I hope that makes sense and wonder if anyone else has ended up complicating things for themselves in this way.

[Maria Pia]

I must say I found the Register quite confusing too!

To start with I was used to add up all the actually attended hours each week (getting in a muddle since I cannot add up minutes very well!).

Then I realised that as far as Ofsted (and the parents) are concerned, the important bits are arrival and departure time every day, so I gave up the adding up and just record the actual arrival and departure time.

If I pick up a child from school after an after school club, I put the actual pick up time (e.g. 4pm) but if I take a child to a club after school elsewhere (e.g. swimming) and I do not stay on the premises for the duration of the class but just turn up at the end of it, I then record the time of the club in the non-attending box (e.g. arrival time = 3.15pm / departure time = 6pm / non-atteding hours 4.30pm to 5.30pm swimming club).

I hope the above makes sense and I am doing it right!

Maria x

[pinklady756]

Phew I'm not the only one!

Thanks Maria, that's what I think it should be too and I'm beginning to think I should just forget trying to total up all the hours, I think it would certainly make things less complicated.

Within the NCMA register is a summary of all childminded children and then details of all the childminded children with addresses. Is it a requirement to have these? I'm making a ratio timetable which will show how I keep within my numbers, and will have this information elsewhere but do I need these summaries as well? I'm just thinking about confidentiality as the details pages have names and addresses on. If a requirement or useful for Ofsted, should I complete them, remove from register and keep locked away?

[miffy]

Within the NCMA register is a summary of all childminded children and then details of all the childminded children with addresses. Is it a requirement to have these? I'm making a ratio timetable which will show how I keep within my numbers, and will have this information elsewhere but do I need these summaries as well? I'm just thinking about confidentiality as the details pages have names and addresses on. If a requirement or useful for Ofsted, should I complete them, remove from register and keep locked away?

I don't use the NCMA attendance register anymore but you don't have to complete that page.

It is a legal requirement though to have the names, addresses and contact numbers of parents/carers/guardians but you can record this elsewhere.

Miffy xxx

[a_bugs_wife]

Just a quick thing. Do you put the time the child enters your home or the time the parent leaves?

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I put in the time the parent leaves in the morning and arrives to collect - anything outside of this is the parent responsibility.