Staff & vetting
Bring a new educator onto the floor properly
Nobody starts before they should, and nobody starts unsupported.
The risk with a new educator is not the paperwork you forget. It is the day you let someone start because you are short and the vetting has not landed yet.
Step 1 of 6
Treat vetting as a hard gate, not a formality
Garda vetting through the National Vetting Bureau clears before a person works unsupervised with children. Under pressure this is the rule that services bend, and it is the one that ends careers.
Do this nowWrite the start date only after the vetting disclosure is in your hand.
What it looks like from the outsideThis is the single fastest way an inspection goes badly wrong.
Step 2 of 6
Take up references in writing and keep them
A phone call you remember is not a reference. Two written references, on file, dated, is the standard the folder needs to show.
Do this nowSend the reference request the same day you make the offer.
Step 3 of 6
Check the qualification against the role
Confirm the award and the level, not just that a certificate exists. Keep a copy with the date you verified it and who verified it.
Do this nowPhotograph or scan the award and file it with a verification note.
Step 4 of 6
Give the first week a named shape
Who they shadow, which room, which policies they read, and when someone sits down with them. An induction that exists only as goodwill is the one that gets skipped in a busy week.
Do this nowWrite the five-day plan before day one and give them a copy.
Step 5 of 6
Cover the things that are nobody's job to explain
Allergies in the room, the fire assembly point, who to tell about a bruise, and how to raise a concern about a colleague. New staff rarely ask these and always need them.
Do this nowWalk the room and the exits in person on day one.
What it looks like from the outsideSafeguarding reporting routes should be known on day one, not week four.
Step 6 of 6
Put their expiry dates in the register immediately
First aid, qualification renewals and the vetting cycle your service runs to all start counting from now. Adding them later means adding them never.
Do this nowAdd all their dates to the single expiry register before the end of week one.
That is the whole guide.
Everything above is something a service can do without buying anything. If you would rather the expiry register, the ratio count and the subsidy line kept themselves, that is what AcornCloud is.