Visitors log

[mumofone]

I have a visitors log which is just a sheet of A4 but I'm a year of minding it only has one signature ever.
I don't tend to have visitors during minding hires do no friends or family so will this be accepted? I just feel like it should have more than one person on it but struggling to think who might have visited me during minding hours of anyone!
Also is a sheet of paper ok or is that frowned upon (or should it be a book)? Thank you!!

[Mouse]

Keeping a visitor log isn't a statutory requirement, so it's up to you if, or how, you do one. A piece of paper is fine if that's what works for you.

I have never had a specific book or sheet, but I do note any visitors in my diary. It might be a childminder friend, a non-childminder friend. family, someone from the LA, a workman etc. I note it in my diary under the names & hours of the children so I could easily see which children were present at the time. I don't get the visitors to sign. I just note their name, where they're from, the times in & out.

[Mouse]

I just feel like it should have more than one person on it but struggling to think who might have visited me during minding hours of anyone!`

HAve you had any parents come to visit while you're working?

Any workmen or women?

Any delivery people who have come into the house?

Anyone from your local authority?

[mumofone]

HAve you had any parents come to visit while you're working?

Any workmen or women?

Any delivery people who have come into the house?

Anyone from your local authority?

I has someone from the LA when I first started out and theyre the only ones to have ever signed (i think because they prompted me by asking!)

Delivery people don't come over the front step.

Probably workmen at some point but no way of tracking that now......

You say its not an EYFS requirement though - do OFSTED not ask to look at it when they inspect? I thought it was a must?

[loocyloo]

I has someone from the LA when I first started out and theyre the only ones to have ever signed (i think because they prompted me by asking!)

Delivery people don't come over the front step.

Probably workmen at some point but no way of tracking that now......

You say its not an EYFS requirement though - do OFSTED not ask to look at it when they inspect? I thought it was a must?

my visitors book lives by the front door. sometimes months go by without it being used. I only use it to log visitors when I am working, but that can be tradesman, prospective parents, settling visits, friends, relatives and OFSTED inspectors! I find it useful to be able to look up exactly when a particular tradesman last came!

[FloraDora]

I retired .....then started this business ...my retired friends bought me a luxury red leather bound book so that they could visit and sign the book.....only one has ever done this! As retired head teachers the last thing they want is coffee with toddlers!

So I do have a lovely book...it sits on my cloakroom bench - as you say I never have friends to visit..just workmen - only when I work 5 days a week, I generally try to book workmen for days without LO's. The LEA visitor is once a year and my hairdresser is 3 times a year - again just when I can't book her on non working days.
My inspector signed it on arrival and looked at the 4 names and I explained my policy of no visitors if I can help it.
It doesn't matter what it is on, a pice of paper is fine - it's to do with safeguarding- you have a record of who visited when if any accusations are made. Having it shows you are aware of safeguarding your children. Timing in and out.

[BallyH]

Mine is written on sheets, hole punched and placed in the front of my attendance book. I wrote in my sef that I try very hard not to have deliveries/workmen whilst I'm working but then it is ok for me as I work a 4 day week.

Mine hasn't many entries but they include prospectus parents, childminder friends and the gas man for my annual check.

After my inspection I noticed that my inspector had looked at mine because she got the last sheet of this and my 'fire evacuation' sheet mixed up and put them in the wrong place.

[Mouse]

You say its not an EYFS requirement though - do OFSTED not ask to look at it when they inspect? I thought it was a must?

I've never been asked for a visitors log. My safeguarding policy covers how I deal with visitors - I will try to arrange workmen outside working hours, won't leave anyone alone with the children etc. Although I do keep a record in my diary, it's not something I show the inspector. If you present it to an inspector they will look at it, but if you don't have one they won't ask.

[mumofone]

I've never been asked for a visitors log. My safeguarding policy covers how I deal with visitors - I will try to arrange workmen outside working hours, won't leave anyone alone with the children etc. Although I do keep a record in my diary, it's not something I show the inspector. If you present it to an inspector they will look at it, but if you don't have one they won't ask.

Oh cool, thanks mouse. I'll put it away then!! Thank you :-)

[Maza]

When I first started I bought a book especially for this purpose. My DO looked bemused and said it didn't need to be anything fancy, just a piece of paper in a file would have done. She was right! It was a waste of a lovely book and the paper inside it. Nearly six years later I still haven't filled up the first page! Like others have said, I don't have planned visitors when working. I ended up taking pages out of the book for other purposes as my PET HATE is wasted paper.

Totally digressing, but yesterday I was looking through the bag of school work that DD brought home from school a the end of term. It saddens me to see so much wasted paper - do they have to have separate exercise books for Geography and History - knowing that they won't fill up either of the books by the end of the year? It's the same in the school where I work. On the one hand we're teaching children about caring for the environment and the next minute we're throwing away good money and precious resources. Rant over.

[Bluebell]

I print my own attendance register sheet. On the side it has a space for notes - so if we go out I will say where we've gone and if we have visitors I make a note of who it is and the times. I also make a note of any costs (entrance fees, coffee) so I can go back through it when doing my finances. I don't see the point in getting signatures but if I have a parent attend for a visit or settling in session I just think its helpful to have some kind of record. I don't normally have visitors - if meeting up with other childminders we tend to meet up at park or something but would always make a note of it.