Happy Little Angels Day Nursery

Late Collection and Non-collection

All parents agree an approximate arrival time at the nursery and are informed of procedures to follow if they expect to be late. These include:
Calling the nursery as soon as possible to advise of their situation
Asking a designated person to collect their child wherever possible
Informing the nursery of this person’s identity so the nursery can talk to the child if appropriate. This will help to reduce or eliminate the distress that may be caused by this situation
If the designated person is not known to the nursery staff the parent must provide a detailed description of this person, including their date of birth where known. This designated person must know the individual child’s safety password in order for the nursery to release the child into their care. This is the responsibility of the parent.
If a child has not been collected from the nursery after a reasonable amount of time, ½ hour has been allowed for lateness, the following procedure will be initiated by staff:
The nursery manager will be informed that a child has not been collected
The manager will check for any information regarding changes to normal routines, parents’ work patterns or general information. If there is no information recorded, the parents will be contacted on the numbers provided for their mobile, home or work. If this fails the emergency contacts will then be contacted as per the child’s records
The manager/staff member in charge and one other member of staff must stay behind with the child (if outside normal operating hours). During normal operating times, staff ratios must be met and planned for accordingly
If the parents have still not collected the child, the manager will telephone all contact numbers available every 10 minutes until contact is made. These calls need to be logged on a full incident record
In the event of no contact being made after one hour has lapsed, the person in charge will ring the Social Services Emergency Duty Team
Ofsted will also be advised of the situation as soon as convenient
The two members of staff will remain in the building until suitable arrangements have been made for the collection of the child
The child’s welfare and needs will be met at all times and to minimise distress staff will distract, comfort and reassure the child during the process
In order to provide this additional care a late fee of £15 will be charged to parents. This will pay for any additional operational costs that caring for a child outside their normal nursery hours may incur.