Rochester Preschool aims to protect every child in their care until we safely hand the child over to their parent/carer. To ensure the safety of all children and staff the following procedures must be adhered to.

• Parents will bring their child into the setting.
• A member of staff will always be located at the main door and another at the internal door at arrival time and collection.
• Children self-register their name.
• When all children are in preschool all external doors must be kept locked at all times and all external gates closed.
• All internal doors must be kept closed and locked where applicable
• The person answering the door must identify the caller.
• If the visitor is not recognised, staff must check their identity before allowing them into the building and only when sufficient evidence has been provided
• All visitors to the Preschool must sign in and out of the visitor’s book stating their name, date, time and reason for being in the building.  This will be located in the main entrance.
• All children are signed in and out the daily register and the weekly register every session by a member of management team.
• The daily total of number of children is displayed on the wall when all registers have been completed. Every member of staff in the room is responsible for regular headcounts of children.
• No child will be given into the care of any person we do not know.
• No child shall be handed over unless it has been arranged by the parents prior to the collection and know the child’s individual password/ photo. 
• If, at any time, such issues arise management will deal with the situation and no contact will be permitted. 
• No adult will be left unattended with any child/children within the setting. 
• Children will not be handed over to any parent/ carer who are believed to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 
• No child will be allowed to leave with a minor. 

Procedures

Parents of children starting at the setting are asked to provide the following specific information, which is recorded on our Entry Profile form:

• Home address and telephone number for parents/ carers 
• Place of work, address and telephone number 
• The names, addresses and  phone numbers of two authorised emergency contacts  to collect their child from the setting
• Information about any person who does not have legal access to a child
• Parents will provide a unique password for their child. The person collecting must know this password and parents must also inform staff of the person who will be collecting for that session. 

If a child is not collected at the end of the session/day, we follow the following procedures below:

1. Reassure the child and begin to call parents and then emergency contacts if needed. 
2. Make sure at least two members of staff stay with the child if it is at the end of the day. A member of management will be one of these members of staff. The child will wait with the other children if it is a morning session.         
3. If all reasonable attempts are made to contact parents/carers or emergency contacts and there is no communication, after 30 minutes management will;

Inform the Police in the first instance on (01622) 690690 then telephone Medway First Response Team 01634 334466 (Out of Hours 24 hr contact number is 03000 419191) .

Ofsted will need to be informed on 0300 123 1231 if you involve  First Response, even if the parent/carer arrives before the child is taken into charge of Social Care.

They will seek an appropriate placement for the child. They will need to know the child’s name, address, date of birth and emergency numbers held.  Preschool will record the name of the Social Worker to who the details were given, and the preschool phone number will also be passed on to the First Response Team at Medway.

Under no circumstances will staff go and look for a parent/carer, nor do they take the child home with them. A full report of the incident will be recorded in the child’s individual file.

All children’s contact details can be found in the work phone, address book and on their individual entry profile forms. It is parents responsibility to notify management of any changes in contact details.

We reserve the right to charge parents for the additional hours worked by staff.