Administration

Data Protection Policy

The Data Protection Act 1989 establishes a framework of rights and duties which are designed to safeguard personal data.


Purpose of Policy

 

Building   Blocks is wholly committed to ensuring that information relating to children, parents, carers & staff is kept as secure as is reasonably practicable. We will ensure that where information is stored or processed steps are taken to ensure that the personal information is stored or processed in accordance with the Data protection Act 1989.

 

Who is Responsible?

 

It is the responsibility of all members of staff to ensure that information relating to the children, their families and fellow colleagues is not shared with individuals outside of the setting (see Information sharing below). All staff are responsible to ensure personal information held by Building   Blocks is used only for the purpose for which it was obtained. It is the Early Years Managers responsibility to ensure that the information stored within the setting is kept safe and secure and complies with Building   Blocks policy on Data protection.

 

What is Personal Information?

 

Personal information is defined by; ‘Any information relating to an ‘identifiable living individual’ therefore it

applies to all children, their parents/carers, employees, clients and suppliers.


Information relating to Children/parents/carers

  • Registration forms
  • Accident/Incident forms
  • Medication forms
  • Registers
  • Personal development folders/planning
  • Security forms
  • Address and contact numbers
  • Webcams
  • Photo’s
  • Observations


Information relating to staff:

  • Application form
  • Recruitment pack
  • Address, contact numbers and e-mail addresses
  • Doctors information
  • Bank details
  • Salary information
  • Health/Staff declaration forms
  • DBS
  • Supervision/appraisal/Review information/CPD folders
  • Disciplinary information

 

Building Blocks will ensure that the information held will be treated in line with the Data Protection Principles;

  • Fairly and legally processed
  • Not excessive in detail
  • Maintained and kept accurate
  • Be relevant to the needs of the setting
  • Not be kept longer than the period required by law
  • Securely kept
  • Only be used in accordance with the individual’s subject rights.
  • Not transferred outside of the UK without adequate protection


How is Information Stored?

Personal paper documents relating to children, families and staff will be kept in a secure locked filing cabinet on   Building   Blocks   premises. Children’s personal developmental folders/planning records which are kept in the rooms may from time to time be taken off site by key carers (see guidance on processing personal data whilst off Building Blocks premises).


Personal information that is kept on the computer will be kept securely and will be password protected. Access to this information will only be accessed by the Early Years Manager or Deputy Early Years Manager in their absence. Relevant administrative staff and the Senior Management Team. 

 

Building   Blocks   has an internal postal service between each nursery setting and the office, we will endeavour to ensure that all correspondence will be delivered securely and confidentially.

 

How Long Information will be kept?

 

Children’s/staff information

Information relating to the children will be kept for 6yrs from their last date of attendance at Building  Blocks.

In any instance where a safeguarding or child protection issue has been raised or there has been a need to take a child to hospital due to an accident/incident information will be kept until the child reaches the age of 24 years old.


Building   Blocks will review information held on an individual staff member after he/she has left the company and will only retain information for referencing purposes such as start and end date, position held and attendance record. All other documents will be kept for a period of 6 years and will then be destroyed unless the member of staff is dismissed in relation to a child protection issue in which case the information relating to the incident will be kept until the child concerned reaches the age of 24.


All employee’s Wages/salary records including additional paid hours of overtime, bonuses and expenses will be kept for a minimum of 6yrs after the member of staff has left Building Blocks, this is in line with the Taxes management act 1970.


Accidents/medical records as specified by the control of substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) these will be kept 40 years from the date of the last entry.


Assessments under Health and safety regulations and records of consultations with safety representatives and committees will be kept permanently.


Employee’s right to access their personnel file

 

If you wish to see your personnel file please request this, in writing, to your Early Years Manager who in turn will organise this. A fee of £10 will be charged and the information made available for you to view within 28 working days, once the fee has been paid and sufficient detail provided to help locate the information and identify you.


Information Sharing

Building   Blocks may from time to time be required to share personal data. Information will be shared where there is a legal obligation to do so such as in a child protection investigation or with the police in order to prevent or detect crime.

 

Changes to Personal Information

It is the responsibility of all individuals to inform the Early Years Manager of any changes to their personal details.


Complaints

Any concerns about any aspect of the management of personal data within the nursery/company can be raised in a fair and equal way to the Early Years Manager, Operations Manager or Operations Director.


Guidance on processing personal data whilst off  Building  Blocks Premises

 

Data security breaches occur when personal data is removed from work premises, when working from home for example. While it is permitted to take personal data off Building   Blocks   premises for work purposes, staff must take appropriate security measures to protect against the loss or theft of that data.

 

Staff Responsibilities

Under the Data Protection Act, personal data can only be processed off Building Blocks premises if all of the following conditions are met:


  • the personal data is used or processed to carry out the duties of the member of staff and for no other purpose
  • the processing is carried out only for legitimate purposes related to Building  Blocks business
  • the Data Protection Principles are followed strictly
  • adequate security is maintained to protect against the loss or theft of the personal data.

 

Any breach of these responsibilities could lead to disciplinary action and Building Blocks receiving a fine of up to

£500,000 from the Information Commissioner.


Use of non  Building Blocks owned computing equipment

 

Accessing the Building Blocks remote desktop from a personally owned computer/device is acceptable as this is simply accessing the company network remotely and no data should be retained on your computer/device. When using the remote desktop, it is important to ensure that no data is copied or saved to any end user computer/device.


Do not send documents including personal data to a private, non- Building   Blocks email address to access these documents remotely – storing personal data with an unauthorised third party (without consent) is likely to be a breach of the Data Protection Act. Similarly, storing personal data with third party cloud storage providers is not permitted.

 

Security measures

If taking personal data off Building Blocks premises, it is the responsibility of individual members of staff to ensure that they have adequate security measures in place to protect against loss or theft.


Security of data when in transit;

  • Are you using public transport? If so, there is a greater risk of loss or theft
  • If driving, is the data safe if your car were to be stolen or broken in to?
  • If you are hand delivering personal data, ensure it is handed to the recipient or put through the letterbox - do not leave a package in a porch or similar.

 

Security of data at home;

  • Where are you working at home?
  • Have you taken precautions against burglary and unauthorised access by family members?
  • Do you have a “safe space” for storing personal data?

Waiting List and Place Allocation Policy & Procedure: Wimbledon

Joining our Waiting List

We very much hope that once you have received and read our information and attended a Learning Walk at the setting that you will want to join our waiting list. To do this, a one off non-refundable £30.00 admin fee (one-per family) is required. (See bank details below.) This fee is not a deposit to secure a place and does not guarantee your child a place at your preferred start date. This fee covers the maintenance of the waiting list and all communication with families. 

There is no admin fee for Holiday Club only families (Reception to year 2.)


Metro Bank

Building Blocks Childcare (Dundonald Road) Limited 

Sort Code: 23-05-80

Account Number: 34654026


Please put your child’s surname as a reference. 


Your child/ren will enter onto the waiting list in accordance with the date the admin fee is received. Siblings will be entered onto the waiting list in accordance with the date their enquiry is received.


Waiting List Procedure

We offer places in the following order; 


  1. Children of staff
  2. Children in the room (internal waiting list)
  3. Siblings (older child still attends)
  4. Siblings (older child was attending when sibling joined the waiting list) 
  5. External Families


  • A minimum of 8 weeks prior to your preferred start date you will be contacted via email to let you know if there is a place for your child. (Siblings are not guaranteed a place at the same time.)
  • If a place is offered, you will be given a deadline to respond, letting us know whether you wish to accept, decline or to request an extension to the deadline. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of Early Years Admissions.
  • If we cannot offer your child a place, you decline the place or do not respond within the deadline set, we will move to the next person on the list and you will remain on the waiting list and be contacted when a place next becomes available.
  • If at any point your circumstances change and you no longer require a nursery place then you will be given the option to move onto the Kids Club waiting list for when your child joins reception. If you do not require this then you will be permanently removed from the waiting list.
  • Full days will always take priority over half days for our Beautiful Babies/Outstanding Ones.



Kids Club

When offering Kids Club we will follow the priority criteria as stated above, however, please note that consideration will also be given to current numbers on the school runs as this may impact our offering. 

Automatic entry onto the waiting list will take place on your child’s first day in the nursery and in the April before your child starts Reception you will receive an email asking you to confirm if you still wish to be considered for a place in our Kids Club.


Accepting a Place

Once you accept a place with us, a deposit will be required to secure this. £200 for 1-2 days and £500 for 3-5 days. This will be refunded to you approximately 4-6 weeks after your child’s last day provided that notice is given in line with our terms and conditions and your account is up to date. Deposits are not required for fully funded places.


Important note: Once your deposit has been received, should you then decide not to start with us unfortunately your deposit will not be returned.

Waiting List and Place Allocation Policy & Procedure:  Teddington

Joining our Waiting List

We very much hope that once you have received and read our information and attended a Learning Walk at the setting that you will want to join our waiting list. To do this, a one off non-refundable £30.00 admin fee (one-per family) is required. (See bank details below.) This fee is not a deposit to secure a place and does not guarantee your child a place at your preferred start date. This fee covers the maintenance of the waiting list and all communication with families. 

There is no admin fee for Holiday Club only families (Reception to year 2.)


Metro Bank

Building Blocks Child Care (Fulwell Road) Limited

Sort Code: 23-05-80

Account Number: 34659265


Please put your child’s surname as a reference. 


Your child/ren will enter onto the waiting list in accordance with the date the admin fee is received. Siblings will be entered onto the waiting list in accordance with the date their enquiry is received. 


Waiting List Procedure

We offer places in the following order; 


  1. Children of staff
  2. Children in the room (internal waiting list)
  3. Siblings (older child still attends)
  4. Siblings (older child was attending when sibling joined the waiting list) 
  5. External Families


  • A minimum of 8 weeks prior to your preferred start date you will be contacted via email to let you know if there is a place for your child. (Siblings are not guaranteed a place at the same time.)
  • If a place is offered, you will be given a deadline to respond, letting us know whether you wish to accept, decline or to request an extension to the deadline. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of Early Years Admissions.
  • If we cannot offer your child a place, you decline the place or do not respond within the deadline set, we will move to the next person on the list and you will remain on the waiting list and be contacted when a place next becomes available.
  • If at any point your circumstances change and you no longer require a nursery place then you will be given the option to move onto the Kids Club waiting list for when your child joins reception. If you do not require this then you will be permanently removed from the waiting list.
  • Full days will always take priority over half days for our Beautiful Babies/Outstanding Ones.


Kids Club

When offering Kids Club places, we will follow the priority criteria as stated above, however, please note that consideration will also be given to current numbers on the school runs as this may impact our offering. 

Automatic entry onto the waiting list will take place on your child’s first day in the nursery and in the April before your child starts Reception you will receive an email asking you to confirm if you still wish to be considered for a place in our Kids Club.


Accepting a Place

Once you accept a place with us, a deposit will be required to secure this. £200 for 1-2 days and £500 for 3-5 days. This will be refunded to you approximately 4-6 weeks after your child’s last day provided that notice is given in line with our terms and conditions and your account is up to date. Deposits are not required for fully funded places.


Important note: Once your deposit has been received, should you then decide not to start with us unfortunately your deposit will not be returned.