pre-school rota duty - siblings and fines!

[banjosoo]

Hello - I feel really cross because we have to do rota duty at the pre-school and we have just been told that if the child at the pre-school has younger siblings, we can't take them in and have to find childcare or pay someone else to do the rota duty which costs £12. I have been taking in my younger child since last Sept but they said it has always been policy and now they are enforcing it as it is too difficult for them having younger children around.
I feel it is so un-child friendly! I don't have family nearby who can look after my younger one so I will have to pay for someone else to do my rota duty. It is a shame as my son who is at the pre-school loves me going in.
How do other pre-schools do it??

Couls you not swap children with another mum ?

He is only 18mths and he is not very good at going with other people. He goes to a childminder once a week and he cries every time we leave him.

Were you not given a welcome pack which explained all this? If you really haven't been told then YANBU?

I think I would be finding another pre-school pretty quickly. What about working parents or mums with breastfed babies.

It is totally discriminatory.

I seriously don't get this.

The Welfare Requirements of the EYFS state that for three and four year old children there should be a minimum adult : child ratio of 1:8. (Similar rules for 2 year olds but I only take 3-4 y.o so I'm not that clued up on other ratios)

Of these adults, the room leader must be qualified to a minimum of NVQ level 3 in childcare, or an equivalent qualification.

Of the remaining adults, at least 50% of them must be qualified to a minimum of NVQ level 2, or equivalent.

So in short, if your preschool are not meeting these ratios and minimum qualification levels, they are in breach of Ofsted's rules.

They really shouldn't be relying on parent helpers to make up any shortfall here.

Parent helpers are always welcome and useful, but it's no substitute for planning your staffing properly. You can't always rely on parent helpers, and for good reason, e.g. sick children, domestic crises and so on.

Also (one more time, sorry, I know this is my pet subject), your child's free entitlement has to mean free. If it is costing you, be it in fines or in childcare costs, for your child to attend that preschool, then that is not allowed.

Ask to see their written policy about this.
Ask to see their Inclusivity Policy, which should refer to the steps they will take to make all parents welcome and able to access the preschool's services equally, irrespective of family background, culture, employment status, sexuality, etc etc etc.
If you still get nowhere, write to the Chair of the preschool outlining your concerns, and asking them to resolve the matter within 7 days or you will complain to Ofsted (they have to have a Complaints policy which tells you how to do this, too )

It is in the welcome pack and policy although they have been quite relaxed about it for the last few years but now say that it is too hard for them running the pre-school with younger ones wandering around even though the mum is there!
The problem is everyone is too scared to make a fuss as it is a small village and if you complain about anything you tend to get bitched about. The good thing about the pre-school is that the majority of the children who go there go to the school in the village as well so they know a lot of the children when they start school.
I think I will get in touch with the LEA, loopymumsy, thanks for the tip.
Working mums have to pay anyway to have their rota covered.
ExpectoPatronum - pre-school is meeting ratios, parent helpers aren't included in ratios, they just help out with snacks and clearing up.

banjosoo Mon 04-Apr-11 11:56:51
"pre-school is meeting ratios, parent helpers aren't included in ratios, they just help out with snacks and clearing up".

In which case, while they're helpful, they're not essential to the legal running of the preschool, therefore they have even less justification for fining people if they can't be on the rota.

The pre-school we went to was exactly the same re the parents tota(although there was an exemption for pregnant mums and those with babies under 1).Quite of ten dads and grandparents did it instead of mums and it only worked out once per half term.If yoiu couldn't do it or swap you paid a fine equivalent to one session's fees.
That was a village pre-school run as a registered charity

personally i think its awful that your having to do it or pay for it!
what if your child is at nursery so you can work? are you expected to take the time off work? madnessor if you have a baby? you are to leave them with a stranger (who you would probably have to pay)?

i would speak to the playleader and explain that you will be looking for another pre-school if this is the way it works!
surely there must be more than just you with the same issue?
what happens if you are paying for your childs place?do you still have to do parent duty or pay the £12 on top of the fee you are already paying?or is it only if your child has a funded place?

our playgroup we have the option of helping,we cant take younger siblings in with us (very small playgroup with max numbers of 16), but we dont have to do a duty,theres a list of willing volunteers,who are called upon if needed.
we are also in the same situation as you and i have a 2yo,and no-one nearby who i would leave my son with,i certainly wouldnt pay a stranger to look after him so i could do a playgroup duty!

surely not compulsory, i wouldn't do it. I can understand them not wanting a lot of little people there, but realistically if i was paying for the session i would expect them to sort out any staff/helpers.

It's probably someone's idea of making sure everyone contributes rather than only the mum's that always do. Several working mum's use that to get out of the rota here while they could easily send along dad or grandparent to help out instead. So it might them more likely to think about it if they are asked to pay instead. Can';t imagine they can enforce that though.

They may say it's compulsory but in reality it won't be.
The play leader won't want any gossip going round about this, so I would question them and the policy a bit more (as advised above) and ask them to look at it again as 'people are unhappy' - say that even if it's just you :)

You'll probably find that the reason younger siblings can't come is down to one or two whose dc act up and they're probably trying to find away to say don't bring them without offending those parents. Unfortunately everyone gets lumped into it.

I know of a pre-school near me that requires parents to do a rota. The pre-school's fees are much lower than other private nurseries nearby and parents provide some of the ratio of staff to children required - obviously they have qualified full-time workers there as well. This keeps costs down and provides a value-for-money option for parents who are able to participate in the rota. It is virtually impossible for any pre-school in our area to provide a genuinely free nursery place without subsidy of some sort so this pre-school has found a way of doing it by having a parent rota. I suspect your pre-school may be charging lower fees than others by having the parent rota. If you can't manage it then your alternative is to find another local nursery that doesn't have this requirement but then perhaps to have to pay higher fees. Alternatively, you may find that the £12 charge that you have to pay for not doing the rota might still be cheaper than paying the fees of an alternative nursery that doesn't have a parent rota.