Student Placements Policy
Policy Statement
We recognise that qualifications and training make an important contribution to the quality of the care and education delivered by early years providers. As part of our commitment to quality, we consider requests for placements from students undertaking early years qualifications and training. We also consider placements for school pupils on work experience.
For students on placement with us, we aim to provide experiences that contribute to the successful completion of their studies and that provide examples of quality practice in early years care and education.
We recognise that students on placement with us can bring new ideas, personalities and perspectives into the pre-school and that these can offer beneficial learning experiences for the children in our care.
Procedures
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We require students on qualification courses, who will have a regular or long-term participation in our pre-school, to complete Disclosure and Barring Service checks.
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We require students in our setting to have a sufficient command of English to contribute to the well-being of children in our care.
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We require schools placing students under the age of 17 years with the setting to vouch for their good character.
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We supervise students under the age of 17 years at all times and specifically do not allow them to have unsupervised access to children.
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Students who are placed in our setting on a short-term basis are not counted in our staffing ratios.
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Trainee staff employed by the setting and students over the age of 17 may be included in the ratios if they are deemed competent and responsible.
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We take out employers’ liability insurance and public liability insurance, which covers students and voluntary helpers.
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We require students and voluntary helpers to comply with our policies and procedures.
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We co-operate with students’ tutors to help students to fulfil the requirements of their course of study.
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We provide students, at the first session of their placement, with a short induction on how our setting is managed, how our sessions are organised and our policies and procedures.
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We make the needs of the children paramount by involving students in our work in ways which are beneficial to the children in our care and not admitting students in numbers that hinder the essential work of the setting.
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We ensure that students placed with us are engaged in bona fide early years training, which provides the necessary background understanding of children’s development and activities.
Changes
- 2013-11-25 - Correct spelling mistake in title: missing ‘t’ in ‘student’