Mobile Phone and Electronic Device Use Policy

Mobile Phone and Electronic Device Use Policy

This policy refers to all electronic devices able to take pictures, record videos, send or receive calls and messages. This includes cameras, mobile telephones, tablets and any recording devices including smartwatches. More and more devices are technically capable of connecting us to the outside world. We will adapt the policy to include all devices we deem necessary to safeguard children.

Mobile phones and other devices that accept calls, messages and video calling

At Rabbit Patch Day Nursery, we promote the safety and welfare of all children in our care. We believe our staff should be completely attentive during their hours of working to ensure all children in the nursery receive good quality care and education.

To ensure the safety and well-being of children we do not allow staff to use personal mobile phones, smartwatches and/or fitness watches during working hours.

We use mobile phones supplied by the nursery only to provide a means of contact in certain circumstances, such as outings.

This policy should be used in conjunction with our Online safety policy and Acceptable internet use policy, to ensure children are kept safe when using the nursery devices online.

Staff must adhere to the following:

• Mobile phones, smartwatches and fitness watches are either turned off or on silent and not accessed during working hours

• Mobile phones, smartwatches and fitness watches can only be used on a designated break and then this must be away from the children

• Mobile phones, smartwatches and fitness watches must be stored safely in staff lockers or in the staff room at all times during working hours
• The use of nursery devices, such as tablets, must only be used for nursery purposes
• The nursery devices will not have any social media or messaging apps on them, except those used by management for nursery purposes only
• Any apps downloaded onto nursery devices must be done only by management. This will ensure only age and content appropriate apps are accessible to staff, or children using them
• Passwords and/or passcodes for nursery devices must not be shared or written down, and will be changed regularly
• During outings, staff must only use mobile phones belonging to the nursery
• Only nursery owned devices will be used to take photographs or film videos for training, marketing and observational purposes. Please see risk assessment.
• Nursery devices will not be taken home with staff and will remain secure at the setting when not in use. The management team may be allowed to take nursery devices home to work where applicable but only with prior permission from the manager.
• In case of emergencies managements own mobile phones may be used to contact parents where applicable.

Parent use of mobile phones and smartwatches

Parents are kindly asked to refrain from using their mobile telephones whilst in the nursery or when collecting or dropping off their children.  We will ask any parents using their phone inside the nursery premises to finish the call or take the call outside. We do this to ensure all children are safeguarded and the time for dropping off and picking up is a quality handover opportunity where we can share details about your child

Parents are requested not to allow their child to wear or bring in devices that may take photographs or record videos or voices. This includes smart watches with these capabilities, such as Vtech. This ensures all children are safeguarded and also protects their property as it may get damaged or misplaced at the nursery.

Visitors’ use of mobile phones and smartwatches

Visitors are not permitted to use their mobile phones or smart watches whilst at nursery and are asked to leave them in a safe secure place such as the nursery office for the duration of their visit.

Photographs and videos

At Rabbit Patch Day Nursery, we recognise that photographs and video recordings play a part in the life of the nursery. We ensure that any photographs or recordings (including CCTV) taken of children in our nursery are only done with prior written permission from each child’s parent and only share photos with parents in a secure manner. We will obtain this permission when each child is registered and update it on a regular basis to ensure that this permission is still valid.

We ask for individual permissions for photographs and video recordings for a range of purposes including use in the child’s learning journey, for display purposes, for promotion materials including our nursery website, brochure and the local press and for security in relation to CCTV and the different social media platforms we use. We ensure that parents understand that where their child is also on another child’s photograph, but not as the primary person, that may be used in another child’s learning journey. Photographs and videos will not be taken in areas where intimate care routines are carried out.

If a parent is not satisfied about one or more of these uses, we will respect their wishes and find alternative ways of recording their child’s play or learning.

Staff are not permitted to take any photographs or recordings of a child on their own information storage devices e.g. cameras, mobiles, tablets or smartwatches and may only use those provided by the nursery. The nursery manager will monitor all photographs and recordings to ensure that the parents’ wishes are met and children are safeguarded.

Photographs or videos recorded on nursery mobile devices will be transferred to the correct storage device to ensure no images are left on these mobile devices.

Parents and children are not permitted to use any recording device or camera (including those on mobile phones or smartwatches) on the nursery premises without the prior consent of the manager.

During special events, e.g. Christmas or leaving parties, staff may produce group photographs to distribute to parents on request. In this case we will gain individual permission for each child before the event. This will ensure all photographs taken are in line with parental choice. We ask that photos of events such as Christmas parties are not posted on any social media websites or other platforms areas without permission from the parents of all the children included in the picture.

Applicable for settings using online learning journals only

At Rabbit Patch Day Nursery, we use tablets in the rooms to take photos of the children and record these directly on to their electronic learning journeys. We ensure that these devices are used for this purpose only and do not install applications such as social media or messaging sites on to these devices.

We carry out routine checks to ensure that emails and text messages (where applicable) have not been sent from these devices and remind staff of the Whistleblowing policy if they observe staff breaching these safeguarding procedures.