Statement of intent

The safety of the children and staff is of paramount importance.  We make our setting a secure place for children, staff, parents and volunteers.

Aim

We aim to minimize any hazard to children from unauthorized callers.

Methods

To ensure the safety of all children and staff the following procedures must be adhered to:

 

Answering the door
The person who answers the door must always look through the door to identify the caller.  If the caller is not known, the person must be asked for identification (i.e. name, reason for call, name of the person whom the caller is here to see, employment card), when the door is opened.  Before granting a caller access, always check with an authorized person.  Never grant access to anyone who is not known.

Visitors
any visitors, such as sales people, college assessors, gardener, handyman, must fill in the visitor’s book on arrival.

Authorized collectors
Each child must have at least two authorized collectors.  Parents are required to provide names of each authorized collector together with work, home and mobile phone numbers and a password (in case of an emergency), when starting at the Nursery.

Parents will be sent a letter regularly

a)  Reminding them that no-one else is allowed to collect their child, even in an emergency, unless they give the password.

b)  Asking them to check that all the contact details that are held by the nursery are correct.

c)  Asking them to confirm that the authorized collectors are unchanged from the previous term.

d)  For new parents, asking them to provide the names, password and phone numbers of their child’s authorized collectors.

Persons prohibited from collecting children
If a different person calls to collect a child, and the parents have not informed the nursery of this, then the password must be obtained before handing over the child, or parental permission sought.
All staff should be aware that some children are not allowed to come into contact with members of their own family.  In such circumstances a register is kept of each child and the names of those family members with whom that child is forbidden contact.  If one of these family members should call at the nursery they must not be granted access and an authorized person must deal with the situation and ensure that no contact is permitted.  The child’s primary carer must be informed of the incident immediately thereafter.