attendance register?

[Cammie Doodle]

Agreed but in over 20 years childminding I have only ever been asked once to officially give hours of attendance of a child and that was by tax credits who accepted my written version (not the actual register).

If the evidence was needed by courts there are ways of providing it without others details being seen.

Miffy xx

Hubby agrees Miffy, he has attended court many times and only the relevent info is shown, with any other info being blanked out.
He works with highly confidential paperwork on a daily basis .

[sweets]

i use one my sister made up for me (as i am rubbish at that sort of thing!)

its one page for each child but has 2 months on it. Its in the free downloads.

it looks big when you look at it but it prints fine onto one page.

[Sara T]

I have a clipboard with my 3 mindees sheets ( one each ) for that month.

Name at top and the month
Date, time in, Parents sig, my sig, time out, parent sig, my sig
then 30 ish lines for each day. Each child has one A4 sheet per month.
I did it myself using word

I sometimes sign and put a note in who collected/ dropped if for some reason the person dropping/ collects cant do it or forgets.

I was worried about confidentiality as have had a mindee off sick a few times and sent home, other mums asking where X is and Ive said gone home, made a note on register that absent, but the other parents would be able to see that when they look to sign their sheet.

I showed ofsted recently at my inspection and she didnt bring this up as an issue, but I guess in a small setting the other mums know if another child is there or not...

Im just wondering with sickness/ absence it is a confidentiality issue when the other parents could see that info when signing their child in and out ( as one parents sheet is behind the others etc and Im sure there are quite a few nosey parents out there!!

wondering if I should change it

Sara

[rickysmiths]

Parents should not be able to see each others sheets. It is non of the other parents business to see such details.

[Chimps Childminding]

I'm with Miffy here!! I have one sheet, each child's christian name only on it. I log times in and out and parent's don't sign it so no problem about seeing who is or isn't here! Plus several of mine tend to arrive at drop off/pick up at the same time so know which children are here anyway!!

Until I am told I have to have a seperate sheet for each child and get parents to sign I will carry on doing as I have been for the past 10+ years! I am aready drowning under a paper mountain as it is

[Ali56]

I used to use ncma attendance but then they stopped doing the book for 12 children. I have quite a few part timers, for 1 or 2 days a week and that meant I'd have to buy 3 books for 6 children in each-14 children on books!
Then I moved to a calendar style format. Mrs O saw and said it was absolutely fine, all children together on each day.
Since last September I now do individual family sheets for a month at a time. On the bottom I have a bit for fees paid, so that when I sign and parents sign each month then that also counts as our acknowledgement of payment made. Saves on receipts!

[a_bugs_wife]

I just have a ring binder with a divider between each child.
On Excel I made up a sheet with the childs name on top and what days and times they were contracted for.
I then split it into 5 columns;

1. Date
2. Time dropped off or picked up from school
3. Time collected
4. Total number of hrs & mins in my care
5. Parents signature

At the end of each month I put the sheets into my paperwork folder with my accounts for that month too and start a new sheet for each child.

HTH

For clarification purposes do you put the exact time to the nearest minute on your register then?

[sarah707]

Yes you should record the time to the nearest minute

[Demonjill]

I use SCMA attendance register as im in Scotland

It has 52 seperate pages - 1 for each week and space for eight children this is all on 1 page.
It isnt a huge book so unless you had lots of time to scrutinise the book it would be unlikely other parents would see other details.

What i like is fact that if there was a fire or other reason to evacuate (or fire drill for practise) and im able to grab this register then i can check off everyone ok and all on same page for that week

space for arrival time, depart time, daily hours, total hours for the week and parent signs at end of week

[Sara T]

I have just changed my attendance register to a folder with dividers with each childs first name on .

As I have full time, part time and school/ nursery mindees it looks neater and is easier for parents to sign and prevents them looking at others sheets ( hopefully )

Can I get this straight then, as long as WE document the times of arrival and departure then the parents dont actually have to sign?

because that would be easier for me!! and for them. Most days parents are busy getting to work and I have children all around and we sometimes forget to do the sign in / out thing, but I always put the times down myself and ask parents to sign when they get a minute.

It would be so much easier if I just wrote the times in

Would Ofsted be ok with this as long as a record of attendance is kept?

:-)

[rickysmiths]

Ofsted only require a record of attendance times to be kept. They don't care if it is signed or not.

Ncma, if you have your insurance with them expect you to use their Attendance register and have it signed. If it is not signed they may not represent you in a legal case.

I have for the last 17 years had mine signed and no parent has ever complained because I make it clear at interview stage that this is what I do so they don't now any other way.

It, I feel is good practice and it protects me because the parent signing confirms they agree with the recorded times so if an allegation were made it protects me. It also means that they have agreed the ours they won't get a shock when they get a bill for extra hours! They often forget and so I have the times signed for in the register.

[annabee]

I've just had my inspection and Mrs O said that it was good practice to get the register signed by the parent in case there was an incident involving the child. Then you have confirmed proof of the time they were with you. This should be to the nearest minute and not the contracted hours. The register should also show the exact times you drop off and pick up from nursery, pre-school or school.

I glad to say my register was fine!

Anna

[Sara T]

thats great, Ill stick with what Im doing then and keep them signing! If they do forget I just get them to check over the sheet and sign in a block what they have missed, but I always note the times to the nearest minute/ 5 minutes every morning.

I do also write down if Ive collected or dropped to school .

When they came for my inspection she asked to see my attendance and she said everything was in order, so Ill just stick with it.

the separate dividers is definitely better than the clipboard style I had before since I now have 7 children on my books at different times!