New NCMA Attendance Register

[AskABusyPerson]

I posted in the thread looneytune started about Ofsted and their inconsistencies etc, about the new NCMA attendance book which states in the front that contractual hours should be recorded, not actual hours the mindees attend.

I then emailed NCMA about this as I was concerned an Inspector might see that I had been over my numbers (eg where a mindee on contracted hours had been collected half way through the day, which I'd known about in advance, and therefore been able to take on another mindee in his/her place) and NCMA emailed back to say that in this situation I should mark the time the contracted-hours mindee actually went, thereby avoiding the looking-like-I-am-over-my-numbers scenario......so a tad inconsistent of the NCMA there then.....although generally I can't fault them. They've found me a place on EYFS and CAF training courses so I can get them done before my baby arrives (I'm due early March!).

Anyone else use the Attendance Registers? I know Katymac replied on the other thread to say she uses a page-per-day diary and gets parents to write in arrival and collection time and sign it.

Think they've advised you badly and need to review the wording on their books.

Surely the whole point of an attendance form is to record the times of attendance. The contracted times are on the contracts already, so what would be the point of buying NCMA's forms - just to duplicate the times stated on our contracts?

I use my own forms - I do preprint some with the contracted times, eg the ones that come 9-3:15 are rarely more than a minute or 2 off contracted times. I hand write the actual times adjacent.

You're right to be concerned. Its important to show you have kept within your numbers but also you never know when you might need to refer back to when a mindee was or wasn't in your care.

When I had my Ofsted inspection she said that they wanted to see the actual times as it gives you backup in case there is an incident with a child and it shows accurately whether the child was in or out of your care at the time of the incident, iyswim.

As said previously, what is the point in writing down contracted hours when that is already in the contract?!

Thank you ladies, I have printed off the email from NCMA which says to use the actual times, and stuck that over the bit in the attendance register which says use contracted hours as a record. When my current register book is full I shall create my own to use in future!!