Supporting a Committee to register with CIW
When inducting a committee, some committee members may not have heard of Care Inspectorate Wales and so an opportunity arises to introduce them to the childcare sector’s regulatory body and explain how working with them can ensure the highest quality provision in the Cylch Meithrin.
We encourage the committee to familiarize itself with the National Minimum Standards and we are happy to explain and discuss any section of this document. Before beginning an application to register a Cylch Meithrin we ensure that the Responsible Individual is confident in discussing the quality of care, quality of the building, and health and safety aspects. Perhaps the most challenging thing for those lacking experience in childcare is understanding and implementing the staff: child ratios. “How many 2-year-old children may we have with 2 members of staff? How many 3-year-olds?” Numbers fly across the table in meetings!
Initially, the CIW’s “online” account may cause committees some concern, but it is easy enough to explain as we support individuals in creating an account. Sometimes we can go over the opening paperwork on the phone or through video chat, and sometimes this works better when done in a face-to-face meeting.
Experienced in offering support to a number of applications, we can advise beforehand the documents that need to be submitted with the application. We can support the committee in adapting the Mudiad’s policies for use in the Cylch Meithrin and provide information about all the templates available on our members’ intranet. Some documents take a little longer than others to prepare, but there are lots of resources to assist and examples to read.
It is useful to draw the committees’ attention to the elements which will take longer than others to prepare, for example, a medical letter certifying the suitability of the Responsible Individual, or the DBS check for the Person in Charge. We hope that by doing this we can have everything ready to submit in a timely manner.
Later on, it’s great to work with settings to help them prepare for CIW’s first visit and the Responsible Individual’s interview. If the inspector makes any recommendations, we can advise how to implement these and ensure that the Cylch Meithrin receives its registration number as quickly as possible.
After the Cylch has received its registration, the online account will look a little different, so we can then support the committee and Responsible Individual in familiarizing themselves with their CIW online account. It is vital to do this so that everybody understands how to make changes, such as changing the Person in Charge/ Responsible Individual, expanding the Cylch’s hours etc., in order to keep the account up to date.
