Nursery World - Policies & Procedures: Part 1 - Your values are the starting point

In part one of this new series, Laura Henry explores the importance of clarifying your nurseries' policies and procedures and ensuring that all staff have fully understood them.

I'm starting this new series on policies and procedures by focusing on what I believe is the most important aspect - making sure that staff fully understand your policies and procedures and reflect these in practice.

In previous articles I have referred to how important your values are. These should be the starting point for your policies and procedures, as your values are central to what you do and they should create a culture of quality practice.

However, you cannot begin to share your policies and procedures if you haven't got clarity about your values and what they mean to your setting. For instance, if within your value statement you say, 'We keep children safe at all times' but there was a safeguarding incident and your safeguarding procedure wasn't acted on, this means that you have gone against your values and, more importantly, children's welfare has been put at risk.

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