Parent Information

Illness policy

At JJ’s Kiddycare we aim to maintain a safe and healthy environment for our children, staff and visitors. Therefore, as a general rule, children who are ill should not attend the setting.  A common early sign of an illness is a raised temperature and we would not allow children to attend with a temperature above 38 degrees. 

Please note that medication can only be administered by staff if a Doctor has prescribed it and must have been started 24 hours prior to your child returning to the club. 

If your child becomes unwell whilst in our care, we will make every effort to contact you.  You will be advised of the circumstances and in most cases, ask for the collection of your child to be arranged.  

We may administer Calpol (once only in an emergency of high temperature), if we feel this will help (only, if a declaration has been signed by the parent/carer on the registration form and following a phone call to you beforehand), however, we do have the right to refuse this if we feel that your child is generally unwell and would be a lot happier at home.  If a child needs more than one dose of calpol a day, they are deemed too ill and should not attend nursery. 

If we cannot contact the main carers of the child, we will contact the emergency contacts, as provided on the child’s registration form and under no circumstances will we administer medication on their say so. 

To minimize spread of infection we address the following:

• Clean toys weekly that have been used during the week.  (Extra vigilance on virus outbreaks) 
• Adhere to a strict hygiene routine, including cleaning tables before and after meals and mopping up spillages etc.
• Regularly washing hands throughout the day.
• Encourage children to take an active role with their own personal hygiene by helping them to understand about germs and the importance of good personal hygiene, using age appropriate language and learning experiences. 
• Use protective equipment such as gloves and aprons when dealing with bodily fluids such as blood, sick or when changing nappies. 

The whole nursery and out of school club premises are cleaned every evening, using colour coded equipment and cleaning chemicals designed for each specific use. 

JJ’s has an exclusion period for illnesses, as shown overleaf.  We ask that parents follow these guidelines, which will help prevent the spread of infection within the nursery.

Illness Exclusion Chart

Complaints and Compliments procedure

EYFS: 3.74, 3.75

 At JJ’s Kiddycare we believe that parents are entitled to expect courtesy and prompt, careful attention to their individual needs and wishes. We hope that at all times parents are happy with the service provided and we encourage parents to voice their appreciation to the staff concerned. 

We record all compliments and share these with staff. 

We welcome any suggestions from parents on how we can improve our services and will give prompt and serious attention to any concerns that parents may have. Any concerns will be dealt with professionally and promptly to ensure that any issues arising from them are handled effectively and to ensure the welfare of all children, enable ongoing cooperative partnership with parents and to continually improve the quality of the nursery. 

We have a formal procedure for dealing with complaints where we are not able to resolve a concern. Where any concern or complaint relates to child protection, we follow our *Safeguarding/Child Protection Policy.

Internal complaints procedure

 Stage 1

If any parent should have cause for concern or any queries, they should in the first instance take it up with the child’s key person or a senior member of staff/room leader.  

 Stage 2

If the issue remains unresolved or parents feel they have received an unsatisfactory outcome, then they must present their concerns in writing as a formal complaint to one of the nursery managers. A manager will then investigate the complaint and report back to the parent within 10 working days.  The manager will document the complaint fully and the actions taken in relation to it, then file in our ‘compliments and complaints file’.   

(Most complaints are usually resolved informally at stage 1 or 2.)

 Stage 3

If the matter is still not resolved, the nursery will hold a formal meeting between the manager, parent and a senior staff member to ensure that it is dealt with comprehensively. The nursery will make a record of the meeting and document any actions.  All parties present at the meeting will review the accuracy of the record and be asked to sign to agree it and receive a copy. This will signify the conclusion of the procedure.

Stage 4 

If the matter cannot be resolved to their satisfaction, then parents have the right to raise the matter with Ofsted.  Parents are made aware that they can contact Ofsted at any time they have a concern, including at all stages of the complaints procedure and are given information on how to contact Ofsted. Ofsted is the registering authority for nurseries in England and investigates all complaints that suggest a provider may not be meeting the requirements of the nursery’s registration. It risk assesses all complaints made and may visit the nursery to carry out a full inspection where it believes requirements are not met. 

A record of complaints will be kept in the nursery. The record will include the name of the complainant, the nature of the complaint, date and time complaint received, action(s) taken, result of any investigations and any information given to the complainant including a dated response. 

 Parents will be able to access this record if they wish to; however, all personal details relating to any complaint will be stored confidentially and will be only accessible by the parties involved. Ofsted inspectors will have access to this record at any time during visits to ensure actions have been met appropriately. 

 Contact details for Ofsted: 

Email: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 123 1231   

By post:Ofsted
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester
M1 2WD  

Our Ofsted reference number is EY384013  

Parents will also be informed if the nursery becomes aware that they are going to be inspected and after inspection the nursery will provide a copy of the report to parents and/or carers of children attending on a regular basis. 

This Complaints and compliments policy cross references to many other policies including Data Protection and Confidentiality, Privacy notice, Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Staff induction policies, etc

Procedure reviewed 22.5.18

By Jenni Cheney, Partner

We believe that the standard terms and conditions reflect the custom and practice of other private day care providers.  The rules about notice and payment of fees are designed to promote stability, assist forward planning and the correct resourcing of JJ’s.  Nothing within the terms and conditions affects the parents’ statutory rights.  To enable us to provide and maintain the highest standards of care, we require all parents to be aware of, and abide by the following conditions: –

• Minimum attendance for Nursery and Pre-school children is 15hrs per week. Minimum attendance for before/after school club children is 2 sessions per week each.
• Full fees are still payable during periods of your child’s illness/absence, this includes any isolation period due to covid/19
• If you decide to leave or reduce the level of attendance long term, four weeks’ written notice and fees are required.
• An admin and registration fee of £95 per child 0-4 yrs (Nursery).  This fee is non-refundable and secures your child’s place.
• Fees are payable if there is a delay in taking up the registered place as this has been reserved for your child and no-one else can take it. (e.g. on holiday, moving into the area or starting back to work after maternity later than planned)
• Fees are invoiced on a monthly basis at the start of each calendar month and payment is required to be cleared in JJ’s account by the 10^th of that month. We accept cash, online bank transfer, employer childcare vouchers or tax-free childcare payments.  If invoices are not paid by this date, you will incur a £25.00 late payment charge up to the first 5 workings days per child.  Every week thereafter, a £25.00 charge will be added to each child’s account until full payment is received.  Fees and charges more than 2 weeks overdue, will result in your child not being able to attend JJ’s until fees are up to date.  
• JJ’s claims the government funded entitlement on your behalf (2, 3 & 4 year olds) but it is your responsibility to check your eligibility for 2 year funding and the 3 & 4 year additional hours and make sure your eligibility code is valid for us to make the claim. We can’t claim the additional funding without a valid code.  Any extra sessions/hours taken over the entitlement will be invoiced accordingly.  We charge a supplement fee per funded session towards consumables, craft items, resources, extra support sessions, sing & sign, etc.
• For unauthorised late collection of children – The charge is £7.00 per 15 minutes or part of. It is our policy that if a child has not been collected after 1 hour and we have not heard anything from you or unable to get hold of you/your emergency contacts, then Social Services will be contacted.
• For unauthorised early drop off of children without prior booking – Charges are £7.00 per 15 minutes or part of.
• We are often asked to write letters to 3^rd parties, e.g, tax credit office, family solicitors, schools, DLA, EHCP reports, etc or sign passports. We charge a £25 admin fee for these types of administrative services. 
• School Holiday Clubs – Once holiday club sessions for school age children have been confirmed via email, they are chargeable. If you cancel any sessions booked, you will still be charged.  If any extra sessions are taken over the holidays, these will be added to your next invoice. 
• Our fees are reviewed on an annual basis each summer, with parents/carers being informed of new prices one month in advance. New fees will come into effect from 1^st September each year.
• Senior staff will ring the emergency contact numbers on your registration form if your child becomes ill during a session. Please make sure that you and your child’s emergency contacts are familiar with collection procedures.  If your child has an accident, then we will follow our procedure for administering first aid ourselves or by a qualified medical team.
• You must advise us in advance if the person collecting your child is new to us. The new person who is collecting your child must give the agreed password before we release your child.
• If your child’s details change during their time with us, you must inform us of this change on our communication app. (e.g. new phone numbers, change of address, allergies etc). It is your responsibility to update us on any changes.
• It is your responsibility to call/message via app if your child is unable to attend on their designated days due to illness, appointments, etc.
• Written permission is required for any prescription medicines required to be given to your child. The medicine must be in the original container otherwise our staff will not be able to administer it. (Consent form must be completed via the app before staff can administer)
• JJ’s Kiddycare is obliged by law to report to Social Services any concerns or incidences where we consider a child may have been neglected or abused. This may be done without informing the parent/guardian.
• We will not administer Calpol unless it is in an emergency situation to reduce their temperature. If children need Calpol regularly throughout the day, they are deemed too ill to attend JJ’s until they are better.  Please do not administer Calpol before your child attends the session, as it could mask Covid symptoms or other infectious diseases and therefore potentially spread infection.
• We ask that toys or games are not brought in from home as they can get lost/damaged and cause squabbles. JJ’s cannot take responsibility for this happening.  Comforters are still permitted for sleep times and during settling in periods initially.

Sometimes nurseries are put into a difficult position where parents have headhunted staff from them.  This can be damaging for the business and has a great impact on the level of care and efficiency of the nursery.

• Members of staff are prohibited from working for parents during what would normally be working hours, i.e. Monday to Friday 7.30 am – 6.30 pm, paid or unpaid. Parents are requested to respect this and not ask members of staff to break their employment contracts in this respect.
• JJ’s staff may be separately employed by yourselves outside of these hours, e.g. babysitting in the evening or weekends, but this must be arranged outside of JJ’s hours between yourself and the babysitter, therefore nothing to do with your families contract with JJ’s Kiddycare and should not be discussed at the gates at drop off/collection times.

In recognition of this, parents’ acceptance of these terms balances the needs of all concerned.