Policies and Procedures

Early childhood service policies on everything are not always needed and are certainly not required. Managers and early childhood service staff can easily get caught

A policy template for early childhood education services on how they will respond to and manage traumatic incidents, with concern for the impact on staff, children, families, and the operation of the service. 

Traumatic incidents include death, serious injury, abuse, disasters such as earthquakes, intruder and violent incidents, and lockdowns.  

See a news article here about traumatic incidents at ECE services, to learn the nature of various incidents that may occur.

Traumatic incidents may occur at the service or outside of the service, and are witnessed or experienced by one or more children and adults who are part of the service.

1. Title: Trauma Policy

2. Policy statement

The Ministry of Education has identified non-compliance in services that don’t have a child protection policy with procedures that detail:

provisions for the identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect, and

information about how the service will keep children safe from abuseand neglect, and

how it will respond to suspected

Policy and procedures for excursions and outings.

An excursion is when children are taken outside the licensed premises as part of the learning and teaching programme while attending the service. It does not include an outing for emergency evacuations, drills, or to receive urgent medical attention (we provide a separate policy template for leaving the premises for these reasons).

RATIONALE:
In the rationale section of your written policy some things you may wish to include are:

ECE Service Lockdown Policy Template and Procedures.

The terror incident in Christchurch in March 2019 prompted many ECE services to review their lockdown procedures, leaving us questioning whether we are well-prepared for situations where we may need to go into lockdown. 

Some services in Christchurch found themselves unprepared, part

Prevent Child Escapes.

Having a child slip out of a gate un-noticed or being sent home with the wrong person is something that everyone would dread.

It is expected that children are safe in their ECE environment and cared for at all times.

So in terms of developing policy and involving parents and others to play their part in ensuring th

Separated Parents.

It can be tricky being caught between parents, new partners of parents, and lawyers and it’s never easy trying to determine what information if any you can and should share and where the line is between privacy rights and responsibilities and duties as a parent.

This article discusses key issues that have a

Early childhood service sun protection policy and guidance.

A few years ago I was a head teacher in a kindergarten. We prided ourselves on not allowing children outside without hats and sun screen. We deliberately created areas in the grounds that were shaded. One very hot February day we had a sprinkler out and the children had a wonderful

Social Media Policy.

How social media is used can have a significant influence on the reputation of an early childhood service and the safety of participants.

Social media technologies if used appropriately can become an excellent way to broaden and increase opportunities for communication as well as being a powerful marketing tool.