KEY PERSON POLICY

Key Person Policy

This policy will define the roles and responsibilities of a key person and how this translates to practice.

What is a key person?

A key person is a named member of staff assigned to every child. Parents/carers are informed of their child’s key person and their role is explained.

What is the role of the key person?

To build a positive relationship with the child and their parents/carers
To be a family’s main point of contact
To communicate information about a child to appropriate parties eg. other colleagues, other childcare settings, specific professionals
To ensure each child settles smoothly into The Crown Nursery
To monitor the welfare of each child to ensure they feel cared for, happy and safe
To ensure each child experiences a smooth transition between rooms in nursery
To ensure each child is stimulated and engaged in learning so make progress and reach their full potential
To support a child’s transition onto school

What are the responsibilities of the key person?

Welfare

gathering information from parents/carers relating to the children’s welfare
seek to engage parents/carers in guiding their child’s development at home
information should be recorded on the child’s initial individual care plan
SLT/all staff should be informed of any issues/requirements related to the child eg. food allergies, additional needs
ensure that parents/carers are kept informed of the child’s day to day experiences eg. sleep times, meal times and anything exciting or notable that happened during
change and check key children’s nappies as required and to assist with potty training and other toileting or intimate care needs.
valuing linguistic diversity and provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in their play and learning.

Learning

gathering information from parents/carers relating to their individual children’s knowledge and understanding, skills and interests
staff will develop a full and accurate picture of each child’s level in order to plan to closely match provision to individual learning needs
information should be recorded on individual children
support the nurseries long term planning
plan and provide a range of stimulating and age appropriate activities to assist with learning and progression
conduct and promote ‘in the moment planning’ to extend learning
communicate issues/requirements relating to individual children to management staff

Assessment

conduct a baseline assessment with parents/carers
share knowledge of children with all staff
assess key children through observation and discussion
relate their observations and assessments directly to ‘in the moment planning’
completing a ‘Two Year Old Check’ in the term the child turns 2. Arrange a meeting with the parent to discuss the child’s progress and/or any developmental concerns raised. Discuss development concerns with additional appropriate professionals with parents’ consent.

Reporting

reporting to parents/carers informally on a daily basis about the child’s day
reporting to parents/careers on observational assessments in a brief termly written report and at the Two Year Old Check
communicating with colleagues if a child attends other early years settings and other professionals
when the child is due to leave nursery, the key person must ensure that their learning journey profile is fully up to date and that it is handed to the child’s parent/carer

Management

At The Crown Nursery all staff are responsible for and will build relationships with all children. If a key person is absent, their parents/carers will be informed. Key children will be cared for by other staff, who will be required to communicate relevant information with parents/carers. All staff will monitor children’s records of development, learning and progress and staff will be supported in their ‘key person’ role.

The nursery is fully committed to continually evaluating its key person practice to ensure that each child feels safe and secure and able to learn.