Entry requirements for E Y E It has been confirmed that anyone who wishes to embark upon the new Early Years Educator programme (from September 2014) will need to have English and Maths GCSE at C grade or above. Staff holding existing qualifications will still be able to practice. The new requirements will not be applied retrospectively. This will ensure that practitioners already holding qualifications are not disadvantaged.

Crime Prevention for your Nursery

As the Christmas Holiday is nearly upon us and it is likely that many nurseries will be left unattended, this is a suitable time to consider if you are doing everything possible to avoid your nursery becoming a victim of crime.  Any crimes committed against the nursery are likely to have a financial impact due to the costs of replacing valuable items, making good any losses, and making repairs to the premises. Crime can also impinge on the reputation of the nursery, as many crimes will lead to a disruption in its daily operations. 

Preventing unauthorised access to the nursery premises

In addition to controlling access to children, preventing unauthorised access to the premises is a key component to preventing crime.

The nursery site requires a secure boundary fence to prevent people entering grounds of the premises. Ideally, it is recommended that the fence be of either palisade or weldmesh type, and around two metres high. This is to prevent people from climbing over the fence, but to make it still possible for people to see into the site, which is a deterrent to potential criminals.

To further prevent unauthorised access it is recommended that the number of gateways into the premises is limited. The gateway should be of a similar construction to the site fencing, and securely locked when not in use.

There should only be one main entrance into the building, which should be strictly controlled by a staff member. Suitable signage should indicate the location of the main entrance to give no justification for any unauthorised person to wander around the grounds of the premises.

Natural surveillance 

Natural surveillance is the ability to naturally overlook an area. Natural surveillance is a factor in crime prevention as criminals do not like to be seen when committing criminal acts. Care should be taken when planning the premises so that natural surveillance of the nursery buildings and grounds are maximised by avoiding obstructing views within the site and causing hidden areas. For example, to maintain natural surveillance of the nursery premises overgrown areas of planting and shrubbery will need to be cut down. 

In the hours of darkness, the premises should be sufficiently lit so that it is not possible for criminals to work under the cover of darkness.

The grounds of the premises

Consideration should be given to the grounds of the nursery premises. Playground equipment should be positioned away from the building so that it is not possible to use it to climb onto the roof of the premises. It should also be fireproof to avoid the risk of arson. Litterbins should be securely stored away from the building, again to risk the potential for arson.

The nursery building

The structure of the nursery's external doors should be solid. If the door does contain glass panels they should be reinforced glass panels preventing them from being broken to gain access to the premises.

To reduce the potential of risk of arson the nursery letterbox should discharge into a secure fireproof chamber.

The external windows of the premises should be lockable. Windows that are hidden from view are more vulnerable to being attacked and should be given special consideration. Such windows should be afforded further protection by using reinforced glass, shutters, or bars.

Roof lighting also poses a crime risk if it is located on a roof to which easy access can be gained. If a roof light is easily accessible then it should be protected by adding an internal mesh or grill to prevent unauthorised entry via that means.

Crime opportunities can arise from the failure of people using the building to properly secure all of the external doors and windows of the premises at the end of the day. It is imperative that a person is designated to ensure that all of the external doors and windows are secured at the end of each working day.

The nursery should have a key holder policy. A record should be kept of any keys issued by the nursery and the return of any such keys.

The management of valuable items

It is necessary to manage valuable items belonging to the nursery. Valuable items such as computers should not be kept in view near to windows. All valuable items owned by the nursery should be permanently marked with the details of the nursery. An inventory of valuable items owned by the nursery should be maintained. This should include a detailed description of the item including its serial number. These details are likely to be required by the police and your insurance company should the item ever be reported lost or stolen.

Cash handling

The nursery should implement a cash handling policy. Cash handling should be designated to one person. A clear system needs to be introduced recording all payments received and the removal of any cash in the form of petty cash.

Any cash received should be stored in a secure lockable container, ideally a safe or metal cash box, to which only the designated cash handler has access. To prevent any person removing the cash container it should be located in part of the building to which there is limited access. Ideally, it should also be firmly fixed to the fabric of the building.

Cash should not remain on the premises overnight and should be banked daily.

Nursery databases

It is likely that the nursery will store a reasonable amount of information that the nursery relies on to operate, such as pupil and staff records, financial information, and marketing material. Due to the legal requirements of the Data Protection Act, which will be discussed in detail later in this guide, it is essential that these records are held securely so that unauthorised people do not access them.

In many instances, nursery databases will be computerised. Computers are high value goods and very attractive to thieves. The theft of a computer and losing this type of information is likely to have an impact on the nursery as replacing it is likely to be time consuming. It is therefore essential that the nursery has a backup of any databases that it holds.

Information databases can be backed-up in many different ways, such as by using flash drives, external drives, or compact disc. However, the potential danger of using such devices is that they too may be stolen or lost.

It is strongly recommended that the nursery invests in an online storage data vault. The advantages of online data storage is that the nursery databases are easily backed-up and that a copy of the nursery’s data is held securely off the premises.

Intruder alarms

To deter burglaries at the nursery premises an intruder alarm should be considered. In most instances, the cheapest type of intruder alarm to install in a nursery premises will be an audible only alarm that is not monitored by a monitoring centre. However, the police have a national policy of only attending to audible intruder alarms that are not connected to an authorised monitoring centre when additional information has been received that may indicate that a crime is in progress. This type of alarm may be of some limited deterrence to some criminals. However, the lack of a guaranteed police response may allow a criminal to burgle the premises without being interrupted, so this type of intruder alarm does have some serious limitations in preventing the nursery from becoming a victim of crime.

The obvious benefit of an intruder alarm that is connected to an authorised monitoring station is that if the intruder alarm is activated it leads to a police response.

Care must be taken when purchasing an intruder alarm if a police response is required. Intruder alarms will only receive a police response when they have met strict criteria. The intruder alarm must be of the correct standard, it must be installed, and then maintained, by an authorised installation company to a set standard, and the alarm must be monitored by a monitoring station that meets the required police standards.

If the nursery chooses to install an intruder alarm that is monitored by a monitoring station it must be remembered that in addition to the costs of installing the intruder alarm system, further annual or monthly costs will be incurred as the alarm system will have to be maintained to a set standard. Furthermore, the monitoring company will charge a fee for their monitoring services.

Additionally, the nursery will have to ensure that they can provide the details of two key holders who can be notified if the intruder alarm is activated. It is a police requirement that one of the key holders must be able to attend at the premises within twenty minutes of the alarm being activated. Failure to meet this requirement on a number of occasions will result in the police response being removed.

The nursery will also have to adopt working procedures to ensure that the alarm is not falsely activated. If the police attend the premises due to false alarm activations, initially the speed of the police response to the alarm will be downgraded, and if the problem persist, the police may completely withdraw their response.

If the nursery is considering purchasing and installing an intruder alarm that is to receive a police response it is recommended that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Security Systems Policy is consulted. Additional advice can also be sought from your local police force’s alarms administrator.

The ACPO Security Systems Policy is available on the Secured by Design website:
http://www.securedbydesign.com/security-systems/index.aspx

The contact details for your local police force can be found on the police UK website: http://www.police.uk

CCTV systems

A recording CCTV system assists in monitoring people on the premises. The quality of CCTV systems greatly varies and professional advice should be sought regarding the type of system that is most suitable for your nursery. Ideally, to be totally effective the CCTV camera plan should be designed so that it covers all areas of the premises. The cameras should be positioned so that they are not vulnerable to being moved or attacked. The location where the CCTV images are stored should be secure so that criminals do not have the opportunity to remove any images captured of them.

It is important that the footage that the CCTV system provides is suitable to be used in evidence in court if the nursery is unfortunate enough to become a victim of crime. The CCTV footage will have to be of sufficient quality so that it is possible to identify any offenders. It is also important that the footage contains on it the correct time and date.

If CCTV footage is to be used in court as evidence it is also important that it is handled correctly. If the CCTV footage is stored on removable media such as a video cassette, or a DVD a written record should be kept regarding who placed the media into the CCTV system, and who removed it.

Alternatively, if the CCTV footage is stored on a hard drive it is important to maintain a record as to who copied it on to a removable format such as a DVD.

The CCTV system must also be used in such a manner so as to comply with the Data Protection Act. The reason for this is that footage that identifies a person is defined as data under the Data Protection Act.

DaC Childcare offers a full range of courses to suit the needs of every students from beginners starting their childcare career to supervisors and managers of nursery and early years childcare settings.

If you require crime prevention and risk assessment advice, our partner company, DaC & Partners has a long proven history of providing this type of advice to a variety of companies.

Important Changes for Childcare Students in England

Important changes are being made to childcare courses in England, and it is essential that students who wish to study childcare courses after September 2014 are fully aware of them.

The Government asked Professor Cathy Nutbrown to review the quality of both early education and childcare qualification, and to make recommendations to the government about any change that should be considered. The recommendations made by the Nutbrown review have been published by Professor Nutbrown in a report titled, "Foundation for Quality".

On the 29th January 2013 the Department of Education published their reply to the Nutbrown Review in a report titled, "More great Childcare: Raising quality and giving parents more choice".

Amongst the key changes arising from this report is that some changes will have to be made to current childcare courses so that they meet the standards required in these reports.  The major childcare awarding bodies Edexcel (BTEC) and CACHE have already started to work towards making changes to their courses to fulfil these high standards.  Both of the awarding bodies expect to have the changes to their courses in place by September 2014.


Edexcel (BTEC) intends to meet the requirements of the reports through their BTEC Level 3 National Certificate and Diploma in Children's Play, Learning and Development.

CACHE intends to meet the requirements of the reports through their CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Education and Care (Early Years Educator), although the course title has yet to be confirmed.

Students entering these courses post-September 2014 must have achieved at least a grade C in GCSE Mathematics and English. It is therefore essential that students in England wishing to study these childcare courses after September 2014 must ensure that they make every effort to study and achieve a minimum of grade C in GCSE Mathematics and English, to avoid the possibility of being disappointed because they do not meet the necessary criteria for being accepted on these childcare courses.

Whilst at this time the changes only affect students studying childcare in England, it is possible that these recommendations might in the future be implemented elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Should you have any questions or concerns about how these changes may affect your studies, please feel free to contact Margaret Cronin at DaC Childcare Training.

Do you really want to study childcare at your local college?

When many potential students initially think about attending a childcare course, they think that this will mean them attending classes at a local further education college, at the same time and place every week during term-time.  The question that you should consider is, "Do you really want to study childcare at your local college?"

At DaC Childcare Training we recognise that many students do not want to attend a childcare training course at their local college, for their own personal reasons or circumstances.  Indeed, at DaC Childcare Training we believe that not attending your local college has many attractive benefits!

Students attending a college to study childcare will in most instances have to attend classes at a set time and place during the college term-time. The time and place that you have to study is very inflexible, therefore a college course might not easily fit around your current lifestyle.

At DaC Childcare Training we do not have classes or terms, as our courses are studied by distance learning.  This means that your time and place of study is totally flexible and will definitely fit around your lifestyle.  You can study at your own pace, and if you wish, the lack of college term-time and

holidays at our centre means that you can achieve your childcare qualification much quicker than in a college.

Distance learning does not mean that you are alone in your studies. Whereby a college might only be able to help you during classes, and then only in term-time, a further advantage of our childcare courses is that we have an experienced childcare tutor who can answer any of your questions, everyday, including weekends, between 8am and 9pm, something that colleges do not offer!

The range of accredited CACHE & BTEC childcare courses that we offer are identical to those offered by most local colleges, and are instantly recognised by employers as being of a high standard.

Our full range of CACHE & BTEC childcare courses can be viewed on our website.  If you would like free advice about the course that would most meet your needs, please feel free to contact us for a no obligation informal discussion by calling 01978 366336 or 07811 357035, or by sending us an email.

Choosing the Right Childcare Course : The Importance of Course Accreditation

whatever level of childcare course you decide to undertake it is probable that you will want to use the qualification to either prove to an employer that you are the right candidate for the job or the person who should be promoted.

The employer will want to be fully satisfied that your childcare qualification means that you have  sufficient knowledge, training and experience to meet the expectations of the job.  This means that the employer must recognise the qualification. If after studying for a course you find that your childcare qualification is not recognised by employers it will disappointingly hamper your success in proceeding in your chosen career. Additionally, the money, time and effort that you have taken working toward the childcare qualification will have been wasted.

When choosing a childcare course it absolutely essential that the qualification that you will receive on successfully completing the childcare course is widely recognised by employers as being of a high standard, and that you have completed the course with a training centre accredited to award you with that qualification.


At DaC Childcare Training, we are proud to be a fully accredited training centre for two of the most respected childcare qualification awarding bodies, CACHE and BTEC

Cache started its life as the well-known and respected National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB), in 1945.  After a number of key mergers with the Council for Early Years Awards and the National Association for Maternal & Child Welfare, it has formed into a very experienced and specialist awarding body.

Cache courses are written by experts in the field of study. With employers the Cache qualifications have gained a reputation for excellence and leadership, and have also helped to raise professional standards in the sector.  Such is the high reputation of Cache qualifications 1000 colleges and training providers in both the United Kingdom and abroad have chosen to provide Cache qualifications.


BTEC has around 30 years of experience as an awarding body. It is one of the most recognised qualifications by schools, colleges, universities, employers and professional bodies, not only in the United Kingdom, but additionally in over 100 countries worldwide!

Again, BTEC courses are developed and continually updated in partnership with key industry representatives, to provide employers with qualified employees that have a high standard of practical knowledge in childcare.

DaC Childcare Training has a proud reputation of helping students from a wide range of backgrounds achieve success in both BTEC and Cache childcare courses.  Dac Childcare Training offers a full range of childcare courses from entry level to foundation degree level.  The full range of our courses can be viewed on our website.

Still unsure about Cache and BTEC?  Follow the links for more information about Cache & BTEC!

Welcome

A very warm welcome to DaC Childcare Training's new blog.  We are currently working on creating the blog so please be patient with us!

In the meantime, if you wish to find out more about DaC Childcare training, please visit our website. The DaC Childcare website will answer all of your questions about the courses that we offer and all about us.