Hopscotch values its staff highly. We acknowledge it is in the interests of Hopscotch, the children we care, for each staff member to be given the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and skills in caring for children and develop their personal skills to their full potential.
To facilitate this we:
- Ensure all our processes provide equal opportunities for all.
- Carry out an induction process to welcome new staff and introduce them to the Hopscotch ethos, procedures and policies, and then monitor staff’s progress in the first few weeks/months.
- Ensure all staff have access to training for full and relevant qualifications, if applicable.
- Provide opportunities and secure funding, where possible, for staff to gain further qualifications.
- Provide the opportunity for staff to attend external training courses
- Hold internal training courses as appropriate.
- Hold regular staff meetings and give staff the opportunity to contribute to these meetings.
- Carry out regular appraisals to identify training needs and performance goals.
- Implement development plans for staff to achieve performance goals, when appropriate.
- Allow time to discuss issues concerning children’s development or well-being.
- Create a culture of support, teamwork and improvement.
- Supervise and coach staff regularly, reviewing and reflecting on practice.
We are committed to ensuring that all staff, including students, volunteers and any agency/supply staff are suitable to fulfil the requirements of their role in order to work with or be in regular contact with children. We have effective systems in place to ensure that this includes deciding about suitability, as part of the recruitment process and monitoring continued suitability, as part of regular staff and/or student supervision. Ongoing assessment of staff suitability is the responsibility of all members of staff and if anyone has any concerns, they should share these with their manager or another senior colleague at the earliest opportunity.
It is our duty to investigate any allegations made against Hopscotch staff. This may lead to suspension pending investigation. This does not infer any guilt on the alleged staff member, this ensures that Hopscotch has time to investigate the allegation properly, which is in the interests of all parties. See Safeguarding Policy for more information. At Hopscotch Children’s Nurseries we implement a system of supervision for all of our staff (including Nursery Management Teams) following their induction and probation period. Supervision is part of the nursery’s overall performance management system and promotes a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement. It encourages the confidential discussion of sensitive issues including the opportunity for staff and their managers to:
- Discuss any issues – particularly concerning children’s development or well-being, including child protection concerns
- Identify solutions to address issues as they arise
- Receive coaching to improve their personal effectiveness
- Develop their own skills in order to progress in their role
- Discuss any concerns relating to changes in personal circumstances that might affect an individual’s ability/suitability to work with children.
The frequency of supervision meetings is organised according to individual needs. A template agenda is used in all meetings to ensure consistency across the nursery. This clearly sets out who does what and the timeframe, i.e. what the manager is responsible for and what the practitioner needs to do.
There should always be something that a member of staff can discuss, e.g. a particular child’s development, strengths or concerns. However, if there are times where staff may be struggling to identify areas to discuss in a supervision we will ask them to identify three things they have enjoyed about their job/done well since the last supervision and one thing they have least enjoyed/requires further improvement. They will be asked to complete this prior to supervision (as set out in their responsibilities).
There may be times when supervision may be increased for members of the team as and when needed, i.e. if they have particular concerns about a child or if they are going through personal circumstances at home, for new starters, staff returning after long-term illness, on request from staff.
It is the responsibility of the manager to plan time to ensure that all staff have supervisions. Supervisions should be carried out by a member of the nursery management team i.e. the manager or deputy manager. Occasionally another suitable member of staff might be chosen to assist with supervisions. If for any reason a supervision is cancelled a new date will be rearranged as quick as is reasonably practicable.
Supervisions with Nursery Managers will be undertaken by Hopscotch Senior Management (company Managing Director and Operations Manager) and these will be undertaken face-to-face at the relevant nursery.
All members of staff responsible for carrying out supervisions are trained and supported prior to carrying these out.
Supervision meetings also offer regular opportunities for members of staff to raise any changes in their personal circumstances that may affect their suitability to work with children. This should include any incidents resulting in a reprimand, caution or prosecution by the police, any court orders or changes to their health. These changes are recorded as a declaration on the individual member of staff’s supervision form and appropriate action is taken, where applicable, in line with the safeguarding/child protection and disciplinary procedure.
Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they are available for supervision meetings and that the necessary paperwork is complete. Information shared in supervision sessions is confidential. The supervision process will be evaluated once/twice a year through staff feedback and is used as part of the overall performance monitoring system at the nursery.
A full salary and status review is held by Senior Management each year. However, salary reviews are discretionary and are not guaranteed. In general, each member of staff will be performance assessed. Individual members of staff will be informed in writing of any change in contract.
However, if a vacancy or opportunity for promotion arises during the course of the working year, staff members are invited to apply in writing to the HR & Payroll Manager after discussion with their Line Manager. Candidates may be interviewed and the successful staff member will be issued with a letter and new contract stating the new terms and conditions.
An employee's contract of employment will determine their notice period. Any notice must be in writing addressed to the nursery manager. The HR & Payroll manager will then confirm the employee’s last day at the company and any outstanding entitlements.
On termination of employment we will deduct from your final salary payment an amount equal to any sums you owe to us such as excess holiday taken or any overpayments which have been made to you for any reason. If your final salary payment has already been made by the time we have become aware of the overpayments then you will still be required to repay the overpaid sum as a repayment. Hopscotch will recover from your salary, fees incurred for Disclosure and Barring Scheme checks should your contract be terminated by either side, up to and including 365 days of your start date. Should it be necessary to renew your DBS check during your employment, Hopscotch will recover fees incurred should your contract be terminated by either side within 365 days of the date of the renewal.
If you resign from your role, you will be sent an exit survey. The purpose of this exit survey is to gain feedback from you regarding your employment experience. This feedback is incredibly useful as it helps us to understand what we do well and what we could do better so we strongly encourage you to participate. You will receive the survey to your personal email with a link to our online exit survey via Microsoft Forms.