Nursery Management: Staff - Guide them in

Welcoming a new starter into the setting is a great opportunity to showcase your staff; your ethos; your achievements – and, most importantly, the relationships that staff have with the children in your care. First impressions are vital – and a well-planned induction which eases the new starter into the role, while helping them get to grips with policies and procedures – is key. But, as Debbie Garvey says in her book Performance Management in Early Years Settings, ‘it is now common practice to ask all new employees to read the tome of policies…and sign a piece of paper to signify they have read and understood [it]. In reality, this is often done in fear of litigation’.

Stella Ziolkowski, director of quality and workforce development at NDNA, says, ‘Practitioners who have experienced a thorough induction are more confident when time has been invested at the outset, and through the induction process, managers understand the strengths and areas of improvement of individuals.’

AIMS

All childcare providers have a legal requirement under the EYFS to ensure all staff receive induction training. The EYFS states, ‘Induction training must include information about emergency evacuation procedures, safeguarding, child protection, the provider’s equality policy, and health and safety issues.’

The aim of an induction is to help new employees settle into the nursery as soon as possible by familiarising them with their roles and responsibilities, the job and the work environment and the children and families they will be working with. Before the employee starts, ensure passwords for equipment such as PCs and mobile phones, if required, are ready and that they are briefed on their role in the induction.

Ruth Lewin, director of The Nursery HR People, explains, ‘There is nothing worse than an employee starting and no-one is organised or remembers their role in welcoming them and helping them to acclimatise to a new working environment.’

First impressions are ‘everlasting’, declares Ms Ziolkowski. ‘By making a good first impression, you are more likely to retain staff and even be an employer of choice. If a new member of staff has had a good experience, they will be an advocate for the setting, which is likely to attract better-quality staff.’

WHEN IT GOES WRONG

The risks of not carrying out a properly thought-out induction could be manifold, highlights Ms Lewin. ‘Not only will it take longer for the employee to become competent, but the employee may make unnecessary mistakes or leave. It could create a bad impression of management, leading to poor relationships and a lack of confidence in the setting.

‘On a more serious note, children could ultimately suffer as a result or not receive the best care possible. And on a wider scale, if an employee has not been given the right information or skills, parents could lose faith in the setting and it could create bad PR.’

CHILD PROTECTION

Child protection should be introduced early in the induction process. In another child-protection-centred sector, social care, a rigorous induction process is embedded in a Care Certificate, which should be achieved within 12 weeks of a new job. It is a set of minimum standards that should be covered as part of induction training: safeguarding, communication, equality and health and safety, among others. In Wales, a specific Early Years and Childcare Induction Framework is designed for managers to plan inductions against. It has eight outcomes that practitioners should demonstrate during their induction period, which are linked to Welsh Level 2 and 3 childcare qualifications.

When it comes to statutory responsibility, PVI managers and schools need to comply with the EYFS, and the Inspecting safeguarding in early years education and skills settingsguidance, which was amended in August 2016. These specify that a trained designated safeguarding officer, or appropriately trained deputy, should be contactable at all times during opening hours to discuss safeguarding concerns.

Last year for the first time, a detailed annex on safeguarding in schools was set out in the Keeping children safe in education guidance (September 2016). Safeguarding consultant Ann Marie Christian says all early years settings should read it. She explains, ‘Basically, for good practice, once the candidate has been through the vetting process, he or she should meet with the manager before or on the first day and be informed about the setting’s child protection policy, the name and role of the designated safeguarding lead, read the staff conduct policy and receive child protection training.’

WHAT TO COVER

The content of an induction will differ depending on the size of the setting. According to Ms Lewin, the core elements to cover are:

introductions – whoare the key people and what are their roles and contact details

health and safety – for example, information about emergency evacuation procedures (required in the EYFS)

a tour of the setting

anything specific to the setting and safeguarding and child protection

HR paperwork – for example, understanding the conditions of employment set out in the contract. An employee’s right to work in the UK and DBS certificate should also be verified prior to a job offer.

CHECKLIST

The NDNA recommends having an induction checklist broken down in weeks for the duration of a month, which should include what to cover each week and a box to add the date it was covered. Each time knowledge is checked with the inductee, this should also be noted on the checklist. At the end of the induction period, good practice is to ask the inductee to sign to say they have been fully inducted in all listed policies and processes.

Ms Ziolkowski says, ‘Prioritise key policies that the inductee needs to read first and then cover the rest over the course of a month.’

For example:

Week 1: Child protection/safeguarding, camera and mobile phones, accident and first aid, medication, sickness and illness, infection control, allergies, partnership with parents, inclusion and equality, promoting positive behaviour, confidentiality.

Week 2: Sun care, early learning opportunities statement, special educational needs, settling in, transitions, outdoor play, sleep.

Week 3: Complaints and compliments, late collection and non-collection, access and storage of data.

Week 4: Staff development and training, animal safety, visits and outings, adverse weather, etc.

QUIZ TIME

It is important that settings allow time for the new member to read and understand the policies, and time to check acquisition of knowledge through questioning.

Ms Ziolkowski adds, ‘To bring policies to life it is good practice to add these to staff meetings as an agenda item. Some settings have quizzes at staff meetings on their policies. Having a quiz helps practitioners to embed the knowledge in a fun way.’

Some settings use e-learning modules to test, for example, questions about safeguarding. Other settings have the new starter shadow someone or they buddy them with someone of the same grade for the first few days. A buddy will allow the inductee to seek clarification or ask questions that they might not be confident in asking a line manager.

A GOOD START: KIDS ALLOWED

Induction days at Kids Allowed, a group of six large nurseries in the North West employing more than 400 staff, are held on the first Monday of each month. Chief executive Jennie Johnson says, ‘We feel that induction is absolutely key to getting high-calibre colleagues. Inductions tie in with every new starter’s first day. There are usually six to 12 new employees in each session. Not only does this give them the chance to meet me, the owner, but it also gives me the opportunity to talk to them.’

At the meeting, every new colleague is given Ms Johnson’s business card with her direct line, mobile and email address.

She says, ‘I explain to them that if at any time they feel Kids Allowed is not delivering on what it’s set out to be as their employer, they can call me direct.’

The day itself has a very clear training agenda which ensures that when staff get in their rooms, they understand the basics around safeguarding and Kids Allowed’s approach to behaviour.

Each staff member then receives an induction booklet devised by the company. ‘It’s basically a 60-page booklet containing a set of competencies that we expect them to fulfil [in the form of coaching plans],’ Ms Johnson says. ‘Rather than overwhelming them with lots of information on day one, we set out all the things that every new starter, regardless of qualification, needs to evidence and be trained in. This helps them to become aware of what the company standard is and how we do things: they observe it, do it and get it signed off by the line or centre manager. It also contains little tests that they need to pass to make sure they have understood our policies and procedures, and we try to get them to engage with why we do things a certain way, instead of just learning it by rote.’

Within the first 12 weeks, each new employee will also need to pass a two-day, 12-hour paediatric training course, and meet with the centre manager at least three times. At the end of the induction process, they receive a handwritten card signed by the manager congratulating them on passing their induction.

FURTHER INFORMATION

NDNA’s Effective inductionsguide includes a suggested induction covering statutory requirements, which can be adapted for different roles, http://bit.ly/2gzZuXU

Safeguarding publications: Ofsted guidance, http://bit.ly/2eEmg3S; and Keeping children safe in education, http://bit.ly/1G9MFrs

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