Policies and Signatures

[bubbly]

I have all my policies written but just need one question answering. Do parents need to sign and date them all?

I had some parents come to visit on Friday and the signing got a bit ridiculous. The parents didn't mind but I began to wonder if it was all necessary. The Parental Permissions obviously need each part signing but what about Food & Drink, Child Protection, Uncollected Children etc? Would it not just be possible to let parents have a copy and leave it at that?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[morgan]

Hi,

You are right in that it takes forever to sign everything. What i do is get them to sign the contract first, then i give them the policies/permissions etc to take home to read, sign if they agree with them (or discuss with me if they have problems with them) then bring back to me before i start minding. I find that otherwise they just skim them without really reading them because they are so rushed. The first time i did paperwork with a parent we ended up missing out signing one of the policies because there was so much to do.

Tracy

[bubbly]

Thanks very much Tracy.

I normally mail out the policies in my welcome pack so parents can spend a bit of time reading through before we meet. Maybe I should point out in my covering letter that parents can sign them BEFORE we meet to save a bit of time.

Also, we had to sign 2 sets - 1 for the parents and 1 for myself. Would it be ok just to sign the copy the parents keep? Would Ofsted mind if I didn't have my own set of fully signed copies (obviously I would need my own Parental Permissions copy)?

[manjay]

I do the same as Tracy. Parents have an overview of some of my policies in my prospectus. They then come to see me. If we sign a contract I then give them full copies of the policies (but made much smaller than the fancy ones I have in my portfolio - font size, not content) and ask them to take away, read, sign every one and return before minding starts. I then copy, keep the originals and return the copy to the parents. I know not everyone does it this way and may just get a signed sheet detailing all the policies given.

Unfortunately I am really sceptical (maybe unnecessarily) and for my peace of mind want a signature on every piece of paper. I would hate for a parent to come back later and accuse me of changing the policy after they had signed.

This works for me now and who knows when I get more experience I may change my mind! I think it just a case of what you feel comfortable with.

Amanda xx

[manjay]

I personally wouldn't send out full copies of policies with my welcome pack. Not from experience but listening to everyone here there appears to be lots of unscrupulous people out there who just want your policies to copy or I would feel it was a waste if the parents were just ringing round and never came back.

I have a prospectus I send which as I said has an overview of some of the main policies and they get the rest if they come to see me.

HTH

Amanda xx

[deeb66]

I used to get the parents to sign each individual policy but then it started to get ridiculous so now I just get them to sign a top sheet to say that they have seen and read all the listed policies.

Of course I still get them to sign all individual permission forms.

Dee

[nadmaj]

one of my parents signed the contract without even reading it but i explained everything as i went along and then when it came to give me notice to end the contract she wasn't even aware that she had to pay me notice fee if she ended the notice period early - i did tell her to read the contract carefully but she was too busy chatting away and not concentrating on what she was signing.

I've bought some carbon paper so that parents only sign the top sheet and not my copy aswll so atleast it halves the signing process.

[jmoff]

I do the same as Dee. I have so many policies!

Jana x

[miffy]

I do the same as Dee - parents have a copy of each policy and sign a sheet to say they have received them.

Miffy

[bubbly]

deeb66 said:

I used to get the parents to sign each individual policy but then it started to get ridiculous so now I just get them to sign a top sheet

That's a really good idea. Thanks.

[bubbly]

deeb66 said:

I used to get the parents to sign each individual policy but then it started to get ridiculous so now I just get them to sign a top sheet to say that they have seen and read all the listed policies.

Of course I still get them to sign all individual permission forms.

Dee

Once again excellent advice. I've spent this evening preparing a top sheet and I'm sure this will work out much better. Why didn't I think of that ;D lol? Thanks Dee.

[deeb66]

Thats ok Bubbly - no problems

I will let you in to a secret - sshh don't tell everyone as they may think I am a bit dim - it has taken me a few years to work out this would be a better system - lol!!!!

Dee