The pack includes guidelines on behaviour management, staff development, child protection, special needs, admissions and settling in, parental involvement, complaints, curriculum, confidentiality and equal opportunities.
All the guidelines are new, apart from the SPPA's policy documents on child protection and complaints, which have been updated.
SPPA membership services officer Mags Harwood said, 'This was a result of demand from our member groups. We thought it would be useful to provide them with a model they can use off the sheet or adapt.' The behaviour management policy stresses that 'children will never be smacked, shaken, humiliated, ridiculed, isolated, threatened or made to feel unwanted or undervalued by any adult while in the care of the group', and says that the group will 'aim to treat everyone as an individual while encouraging self-awareness and an appreciation of how an individual's actions affect others'.
The guidelines on staff development say that all staff should have an annual appraisal and that each group should identify and promote opportunities for employees to gain accreditation towards a nationally recognised qualificaton.
The policy leaflets are available now and can be obtained by requesting the sales list from SPPA head office on 0141 221 4148. Non-members can also request a sales list. The whole set costs 7.90 for members and 9.50 for non-members, or individual policies can be bought for 1 each.
* The SPPA conference and AGM was held last Friday (28 September) at the West Park Centre in Dundee. Topics discussed included how much playworkers should be paid, whether a playgroup can survive with only ten children enrolled, and the new registration and inspection system. Delegates also discussed the support and survival of non-commissioned groups.
