A Full Day Care Service is an Early Years service offering structured day care services for children for more than 5 hours per day.
Full Day care services can also incorporate sessional or part-time services. A part-time service offers a structured day care programme for 3.5 - 5 hours per day.
Full day care services cater for infants up to school-going children and have to comply with a rigorous set of over 30 regulations. Services must have a comprehensive set of policies that comply with the regulations and accurately reflect practice.
The Minimum Policies required are:
- Statement of Purpose and Function
- Complaints
- Administration of Medication
- Infection Control
- Managing Behaviour (Supporting Positive Behaviour)
- Sleep
- Fire Safety
- Inclusion
- Outings (where children attending the service are brought on outings)
- Accidents and Incidents
- Authorisation to collect Children
- Healthy Eating
- Outdoor Play (where such play is provided to children attending the service)
- Overnight Services (where the service is an overnight preschool service)
- Staff Absences
- Internet, Photographic and Recording Devices Use
- Recruitment
- Risk Management
- Settling-in
- Staff Training
- Supervision