Employment

Policy statement

We meet the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, ensuring that our staff and volunteers are appropriately qualified, and we carry out checks for criminal and other records through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in accordance with statutory requirements.

Procedures

Vetting and staff selection

§  We work towards offering equality of opportunity by using non-discriminatory procedures for staff recruitment and selection.

§  All our staff have job descriptions, which set out their roles and responsibilities.

§  We welcome applications from all sections of the community. Applicants will be considered on the basis of their suitability for the post, regardless of disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, age, marriage or civil partnership. Applicants will not be placed at a disadvantage by our imposing conditions or requirements that are not justifiable.

§  We follow the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and Ofsted guidance on checking the suitability of all staff and volunteers who will have unsupervised access to children. This includes obtaining references and ensuring they have a satisfactory enhanced criminal records check with barred list(s) check through the DBS. This is in accordance with requirements under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and the Protection of Freedoms Act (2012) for the vetting and barring scheme.

§  During our recruitment process we explore candidate use of spoken and written English allowing us to met the standards of the EYFS. 

§  Where an individual is subscribed to the DBS Update Service We carry out a status check of their DBS certificate, after checking their identity and viewing their original enhanced DBS certificate to ensure that it does not reveal any information that would affect their suitability for the post.

§  We keep all records relating to the employment of our staff and volunteers; in particular those demonstrating that suitability checks have been done, including the date of issue, name, type of DBS check and unique reference number from the DBS certificate, along with details of our suitability decision. 

§  We require that all our staff and volunteers keep their DBS check up-to-date by subscribing to the DBS Update Service throughout the duration of their employment with us.  

§  Our staff are expected to disclose any convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands and warnings which may affect their suitability to work with children – whether received before, or at any time during, their employment with us . 

§  We obtain consent from our staff and volunteers to carry out on-going status checks of the Update Service to establish that their DBS certificate is up-to-date for the duration of their employment with us.

§  Where we become aware of any relevant information which may lead to the disqualification of an employee, We will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of children. In the event of disqualification, that person’s employment with us will be terminated.

Notifying Ofsted of changes

•   We inform Ofsted of any changes to our Registered Person trustees/director(s)/owner(s) our provision) and/or our manager.

Training and staff development

§  Our manager and deputy hold the CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce or an equivalent qualification and at least half of our other staff members hold the CACHE Level 2 Certificate for the Children and Young People’s Workforce or an equivalent or higher qualification.

§  We provide regular in-service training to all our staff - whether paid staff or volunteers - through the local authority and external agencies.

§  Our budget allocates resources to training.

§  We provide our staff with induction training in the first week of their employment. This induction includes our Health and Safety Policy and Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy. Other policies and procedures are introduced within an induction plan.

§  We support the work of our staff by holding regular supervision meetings and appraisals.

§  We are committed to recruiting, appointing and employing staff in accordance with all relevant legislation and best practice.

Staff taking medication/other substances

§  If a member of staff is taking medication which may affect their ability to care for children, We ensure that they seek further medical advice. Our staff will only work directly with the children if medical advice confirms that the medication is unlikely to impair their ability to look after children properly.

§  Staff medication on the premises will be stored in the medication cupboard at reception and kept out of reach of the children at all times.

§  If we have reason to believe that a member of our staff is under the influence of alcohol or any other substance that may affect their ability to care for children, they will not be allowed to work directly with the children and further action will be taken.

Managing staff absences and contingency plans for emergencies

• Our manager organises our staff annual leave so that ratios are not compromised. 
• Where our staff are unwell and take sick leave in accordance with their contract of employment, we organise cover to ensure ratios are maintained.
• Sick leave is monitored and action is taken where necessary, in accordance with the individual’s contract of employment.
• We have contingency plans to cover staff absences, as follows:

Fairyland Nursery Staff absence /sickness contingency plan.

Contingencies we will consider in the event of staff absence/emergencies 

• Contact our own relief team / part time staff
• Cover from our preferred bank staff agency 
• Cover from the management team

Absence with prior knowledge such as annual leave/ appointments.

• The member of staff will follow the correct procedures for applying for leave.
• A member of the management team will then arrange cover by contacting our relief team. If unsuccessful we will then contact bank staff agency for a qualified level 3

Absence without prior knowledge: - e.g.  sick leave

• A member of the management team will be informed at the start of the day/staff shift on the first day of absence.
•  Manger will first look at the existing deployment of staff across the nursery and if there is capacity (staying within ratios) a member of the team will be deployed into the absent staff members place. 
• If we need additional cover for later in that day then our own relief staff will be contacted.
• In the event that they cannot cover then we will ring our preferred agency.  Our initial preferred agency is Staff Bank . preferably a person who has worked in our nursery before, so that they are familiar with our settings, policies and procedures. 

• Our back up agency is Tinies Both agencies undertake appropriate suitability checks and send us details with photo ID of each potential worker. 

Under no circumstances would we run a nursery without the correct child/adult ratio and without qualified and experienced staff. In the event of severe weather and if as a result we have fewer staff attending work then we would not allow parents to leave children unless we were guaranteed the correct staffing bodies to meet the correct adult to child ratios.