Nursery World - Feeling overwhelmed

Too many statutory requirements mean we are busy demonstrating compliance rather than getting on with our real job

I was listening to Sara Thornton, the chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), when she said officers should focus on ‘core policing’. Now this may sound some distance away from the trials and tribulations of the early years, but it struck a chord for me. The ever-growing list of responsibilities that draw services away from their prime objective is true of many sectors.

Things do seem to have become much more complicated. The increasing demands on schools and nurseries to tick a series of boxes – including GDPR (the mention of which simply induces a high-pitched whine in my ears), website compliance, British values, Prevent, paediatric first-aid training, allergens, dietary needs, asbestos registers, food hygiene, legionella testing and so much more – place so much accountability on the small setting. Now, I am not against the requirements to keep children safe and ensure that we don’t negligently fill the water tray with bleach, but I am worried that the regulations are counter-productive and keep us from focusing on children.

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