Arrivals and Departures Policy

At Little Phoenix Nursery we aim to give a consitently warm welcome and goodbye to every child and family on their daily arrival and departure, as well as ensuring the safety of children, parents, visitors, employees, volunteers and students.

Arrivals

Parents are requested:

to arrive on or after the start of their booked session
to pass the care of their child to a specific member of staff who will ensure his/her safety (this is usually a child’s key person)
to ensure the nursery has all necessary items/belongings for the day
to allow enough time to share essential information and respect the staff who make further enquiries; the welfare of the child is always their priority doing so.

Parents must:

Inform staff if someone other than those holding parental responsibility is collecting at the end of day.

Staff will:

immediately record an individual child’s arrival in the daily attendance register
make routine enquiries to ensure the very best care is provided each day, including but not limited to:
- Nappy changing [time of last change before arrival]
- Family [changes in working patterns or home life]
- Interests [new or continued interests to plan from]
- Experiences [special events, trips or celebrations]

A few minutes spent handing over helps us work together to give children the best nursery day possible.

Medications (see Medication Policy):

If any medication (prescribed or non-prescribed) has been administered 24 hours prior to arrival, or since the child last departed the previous day parents must record this via Famly and notify staff verbally on arrival, allowing us to ensure details can be viewed.
If a child requires medicine during the nursery day a medicine form must be sent in advance of their arrival.
Parents must personally hand this medicine to staff, it must not be left in a nursery bag, or similar.
Staff will ensure that the Medication procedure is followed.

Departures

Parents must arrive for collection no later than 5.50pm, this allows time for a verbal handover and for a calm end to the day for each child, with all belongings collected, while also respecting the staff teams working hours.

The child’s Key Person or other nominated staff member must plan the departure of the child.
This should include:
- opportunities to discuss the child’s day with the parent, it may include activities, interests, progress and friendships.
- a summary of meals, sleep time, care routines as recorded on Famly
- This must include:
- any accidents or incidents, and the appropriate records must be signed by the parent before departure
- sharing any administration of medicines where applicable, the record of administration must be signed by the parents
- all medicines should be recovered from the medicine box or fridge and handed personally to the parent.

On departure, the staff member releasing the child must mark the attendance register immediately to show that the child has left the premises and with whom

If the child is to be collected by someone who is not the parent at the end of the session, there is an agreed procedure that must be followed to identify the designated person.
- Confirmation of name
- Photographic identification
- A password

Parents are informed about these arrangements and reminded about them regularly. Other than the parents or a legal guardian of the child, we do not allow anyone under the age of 18 to collect. If anyone under the age of 18 arrives to collect a child, the parent will be contacted.

The nursery will not release a child to anyone other than the known parent unless a prior agreement has been made. In the case of any emergency such as a parent being delayed and arranging for a designated adult to collect a child, the parent should inform the designated adult of the agreed procedure and contact the nursery about the arrangements as soon as possible. If in any doubt the nursery will check the person’s identity by ringing the child’s parent or their emergency contact number (please refer to the Late Collection and Non-Collection of Children Policy).

Entry Systems

Parents will be informed and reminded not to allow any other person onto the premises when dropping off or collecting to ensure safety at all times.

In the unlikely event that someone gains unauthorised access to the premises and if it feels safe to do so, a member of staff will ask the person the purpose of their visit. If needed, our Lockdown Procedure will be initiated by staff and the police will be called. In any cases where someone has gained unauthorised access to the premises, we will revisit all procedures for arrivals and departures, and related risk assessments.

Adults arriving under the influence of alcohol or drugs

Please refer to the Alcohol and Substance Misuse Policy.

Arrivals and departures of visitors

For arrivals and departures of visitors the nursery requires appropriate records to be completed on entry and exit, e.g. in the visitors book. Please refer to the Supervision of Visitors Policy for further information.

Staff, students and volunteers

Staff, students and volunteers are responsible for ensuring they sign themselves in and out of the building, including on breaks and lunchtimes.