EYFS Policies and Procedures
Ofsted do not prescribe a way of writing Policies and Procedures, so it really is a matter of personal choice. My Policies and Procedures are in alphabetical order because that is the way I find easiest to set them out.
While written Policies and Procedures (apart from Complaints and Safeguarding) are not a statutory requirement of the EYFS for childminders, it is a requirement that you share your day-to-day working procedures and ethos with parents and passing Ofsted inspectors.
Statutory Policies and Procedures - Safeguarding and Child Protection including missing child procedure, failure to collect procedure, an explanation of the action to be taken in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff and the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting ... and Complaints.
Non-statutory - but very useful - Policies and Procedures include…
**Behaviour policy and procedure including information about biting and bullying
**Emergency evacuation procedures
**Equality of opportunity policy - this might also include accessibility and admissions information
**Medication administration policy
You will find sample policies from Childcare.co.uk here.
Other important policies and procedures
There will be other policies and procedures that you want to write which are related directly to the way you run your business. They will also help you to show Ofsted that you are running your business effectively. Here is my list of important policies and procedures - yours might be different because our businesses are unique to us…
**Accident procedures.
**Confidentiality policy.
**Fees policy - I would not work without a fees polkicy alongside my contract.
**Health and safety policy.
**Illness and infection procedures.
You will find more policies in my e-book on the Knutsford Childminding website.
It can be easy to get carried away and write too many policies which are never read because they are too wordy. You need to use a common sense approach – what do you want to say about your business and the way you intend to run it?
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EYFS permissions from parents
Permissions are detailed in this FREE Childminder guidance from Childcare.co.uk.
In my early years setting, I have a section on my permissions form which asks parents to sign to confirm they have read and understand the policies.