ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE POLICY
Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations the approved provider must ensure that policies and procedures are in place for the delivery of children to, and collection from, service premises and take reasonable steps to ensure those policies are followed. (ACECQA 2021).
Arrival and departure times are planned to promote a smooth transition between home and our Service. The opportunity to build secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships between children and families is promoted during arrival and departure times where educators have the opportunity to engage in conversations with families and support each child’s well-being.
To ensure the health and safety of children at our Service our Arrival and Departure Policy is strictly adhered to, allowing only nominated authorised persons to collect children at any time throughout the day. The daily sign in and out register is not only a legally required document to record children’s attendance as per National Law and Regulations but also used as a record of the children on the premises should an emergency evacuation berequired to be implemented.
NATIONAL QUALITY STANDARD (NQS)
| QUALITY AREA 2: CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY | ||
| 2.1.1 | Wellbeing and comfort | Each child’s wellbeing and comfort is provided for, including appropriate opportunities to meet each child’s needs for sleep, rest and relaxation. |
| 2.2 | Safety | Each child is protected. |
| 2.2.1 | Supervision | At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervision ensure children are protected from harm and hazard. |
| 2.2.2 | Incident and emergency management | Plans to effectively manage incidents and emergencies are developed in consultation with relevant authorities, practiced and implemented. |
| 2.2.3 | Child Protection | Management, educators and staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities to identify and respond to every child at risk of abuse or neglect. |
| EDUCATION AND CARE SERVICES NATIONAL REGULATIONS | |
| 84 | Awareness of child protection law |
| 86 | Notification to parents of incidents, injury, trauma and illness |
| 87 | Incident, injury, trauma and illness record |
| 99 | Children leaving the education and care service premises |
| 100 | Risk assessment must be conducted before excursion |
| 102 | Authorisations for excursions |
| 102C | Conduct of risk assessment for transporting children by education and care service |
| 102D | Authorisation for service to transport children |
| 122 | Educators must be working directly with children to be included in ratios |
| 123 | Educator to child ratios- centre-based services |
| 157 | Access for parents |
| 158 | Children’s attendance record to be kept by approved provider |
| 160 | Child enrolment records to be kept by approved provider and family day care educator |
| 161 | Authorisations to be kept in enrolment record |
| 168 | Education and care services must have policies and procedures |
| 170 | Policies and procedures to be followed |
| 171 | Policies and procedures to be kept available |
| 173 | Prescribed information to be displayed |
| 176 | Time to notify certain information to Regulatory Authority |
| 177 | Prescribed enrolment and other documents to be kept by approved provider |
| S162 (A) | Persons in day-to-day charge and nominated supervisors to have child protection training |
| S165 | Offence to inadequately supervise children |
| S167 | Offence relating to protection of children from harm or hazard |
| S170 | Offence relating to unathorised persons on education and care service premises |
RELATED POLICIES
| Acceptance and Refusal Authorisation Policy Administration of Medication Policy Child Protection Policy Child Safe Environment Policy Code of Conduct Policy Control of Infectious Diseases Policy Coronavirus (COVID-19) Management Policy Emergency Evacuation Policy Enrolment Policy | Handwashing Policy Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Policy Orientation of New Families Policy Privacy and Confidentiality Policy Safe Transportation Policy Sick Children Policy Termination of Enrolment Policy Work Health and Safety Policy |
PURPOSE
We aim to ensure the protection and safety of all children, staff members, and families accessing the Service. Educators and staff will only release children to an authorised person as named by the parent/guardian on the individual child’s enrolment form.
SCOPE
This policy applies to children, families, staff, management and visitors of the Service.
IMPLEMENTATION
Guidelines for delivery and collection of children are put in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of each individual child.
As part of our Risk Management process, our Service may introduce explicit control measures to minimise the risk of spreading infectious diseases/viruses such as coronavirus (COVID-19). Our risk assessment may result in changes to our Arrival and Departure Policy and are based on mitigating risks following the recommendations made by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), Safe Work Australia and the Department of Health. Control measures and changes to policies are reviewed in consultation with staff members and communicated clearly to parents, families and visitors.
The Approved Provider/Nominated Supervisor/Responsible Person will ensure:
- adequate supervision is provided when children arrive and depart the service premises
- relevant educator to child ratios are adhered to at all times
- accurate attendance records are kept
- children only leave the education and care premises in the care of a parent /guardian or authorised person or in accordance with written authorisation as per Regulation 99
- enrolment records are kept for each child enrolled in the Service including the name, address and contact details of
- any emergency contacts
- any authorised nominee
- any person authorised to consent to medical treatment or administration of medication
- any person authorised to give permission to the educator to take the child off the premises
- any person who is authorised to authorize the education and care service to transport the child or arrange transportation
- details of any court order, parenting orders or parenting plan
- authorisations for the service to take the child on regular outings
- authorisations for the service to take the child on regular transportation
- any medical management plan, anaphylaxis medical management plan or risk minimisation plan
- should any serious incident occur, an Incident, injury, trauma or illness record must be completed (see Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Policy and Procedure)
- in the case of a serious incident occurring, the regulatory authority must be notified within 24 hours through the NQA IT System
- all new educators and staff are provided with an induction to the Service including an understanding of this policy
- all educators and staff are provided with procedures and training on how they will verify the identity of an authorised nominee or a person authorised by the parent or authorised nominee to collect the child (including procedures of what to do when an unauthorised person attempts to collect a child)
Arrival at Service
Our Service has an obligation to ensure the health and safety of employees, children and visitors in our workplace, so far as reasonably practicable. Our Service has implemented the following measures:
- regarding their child’s care, these should be conducted via phone or email where possible
- If educators cannot verify the person’s identity, they may be unable to release the child into that person’s care, even if the person is named on the enrolment form
- NQA IT System
-
Visitors
- to ensure we meet Work Health and Safety requirements and ensure a child safe environment, individuals visiting our Service must sign in when they arrive at the service and sign out when they leave
- to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19, our Service may restrict the number of visitors to our premises including students on work placements, volunteers, additional family members, delivery of goods or contractors
- signage will clearly indicate who is permitted to enter the Service
- signage will alert all adults to adhere to physical distancing requirements
- all visitors must adhere to our Handwashing Policy and wash their hands upon arrival and departure of the Service.
Late Collection of Children:
- if there are children still present at the Service upon closing, it is best practice to ensure a minimum of two educators remain until all children are collected.
- instruction to parents; “Please remember that our educators have families to go home to and their own children to collect by a designated time. If you are late to collect your child two educators have to stay behind and therefore both have to be paid overtime. To cover this, a late fee of $15 per 15 minutes or part thereof will be charged (e.g., if you are 5 minutes late you will be charged for a 15-minute block. If you are 20 minutes late you will be charged for two 15-minute blocks, etc.)”.
- if parents/guardians know that they are going to be late, they must notify the Service. If possible, they should make arrangements for someone else to collect their child.
- if they have not arrived by 6:00pm the service will attempt to contact them via phone. If parents/authorised persons are unable to be contactedthe Nominated Supervisor will call alternative contacts as listed on the enrolment form to organise collection of the child.
- due to licensing and insurance purposes, if by 6pm neither the parent or any of the authorised nominee are available or contactable, the Service may need to contact the police and other relevant authorities
- if the child is taken to an alternative safe location for example: Police Station, a sign will be displayed at the Service notifying parents/guardian of the child’s whereabouts. If this occurs, the Service will be obligated to contact relevant Child Protection Agencies and notify the Regulatory Authority.
- where families are continually late to collect children, a Late Collection of Children letter will be presented to parents/guardians
- should this non-compliance continue, the service reserves the right to terminate a child’s enrolment.
SOURCE
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2014).
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). 20201. Policy and Procedure Guidelines. Delivery to, and Collection from Education and Care Services.
Australian Government. Department of Education, Skills and Employment. Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Framework for Australia. (2009)
Australian Government Department of Health Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC)
Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics. (2016).
Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010. (Amended 2018).
Education and Care Services National Regulations. (2011)
Guide to the Education and Care Services National Law and the Education and Care Services National Regulations. (2017).
Guide to the National Quality Framework. (2018). (Amended 2020).
National Health and Medical Research Council. (2013). Staying healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early
childhood education and care services. (5th Ed.).
Revised National Quality Standard. (2018).
Safe Work Australia (2020)
REVIEW
| POLICY REVIEWED BY | [NAME] | [POSITION] | [DATE] | |
| POLICY REVIEWED | OCTOBER 2021/JAN2022 | NEXT REVIEW DATE | JANUARY 2023 | |
| MODIFICATIONS | Policy reviewed to align with Policy Guidelines from ACECQA August 2021Additional section added for Approved Provider/Nominated Supervisor/Responsible Person rolesminor edits to reflect changes to ECEC services re: COVID-19- statements in redmust be contextualised to each service.Policy reviewed as part of annual review cycle. No additional changes | |||
| POLICY REVIEWED | PREVIOUS MODIFICATIONS | NEXT REVIEW DATE | ||
| JANUARY 2021 | review of policy regarding COVID-19 restrictions/guidelines for ECEC services- statements in may be adjusted to suit individual services in each state/territorysources checked for currencyminor edits | JANUARY 2022 | ||
| JUNE 2020 | addition to introduction of policyupdated to include risk mitigation measures for arrival and departure due to COVID-19additional hygiene procedures added- re handwashingadditional related policiesadditional sources added | JANUARY 2021 | ||
| JANUARY 2020 | Additional relevant regulations addedRelated policies updatedLate Collection information added and rewordedSources checked for currency | JANUARY 2021 | ||
| JANUARY 2019 | Introductory statement and purpose re-writtenRearranged the order of points for better flowPoints added (Highlighted).Sources/references alphabetised. | JANUARY 2020 | ||
| JANUARY 2018 | Minor changes made to support complianceRelated policy section added | JANUARY 2019 | ||
| OCTOBER 2017 | Updated the references to comply with revised National Quality Standard | SEPTEMBER 2018 | ||
| JANUARY 2017 | Regulation amendments have been incorporated | JANUARY 2018 | ||