Personal Plans

Care Plans

 

What are they?

A Care Plan is a working document developed by practitioners and completed with the families to record the child`s personal routines, interests and preferences, informing how the setting meets the child`s needs appropriately.

Information in the Care Plan should be reflected in the child’s learning journey, e.g. an interest in trains, playing with water or dinosaurs to show that children’s interests are being used to support their learning.

Care Plans should include:

  • Child’s name, date of birth and photograph
  • Space for the key worker/childminder and parents to sign and date to indicate the information has been reviewed (at least every 6 months)
  • Information about the child’s routines, e.g. sleeping and toileting routines
  • Information about the child’s family, significant people and friends in their life
  • Information about interests, favourite toys, and activities (this may be put into the child’s learning journey)
  • Information about feeding and eating habits – favourite foods, foods which are disliked, allergies or intolerances
  • Information about medical needs and medical conditions.
  • Information about the involvement of partner agencies, e.g. medication, SaLT
  • Information about the family’s home culture and religion
  • Information about ways the family supports their child’s behaviour

 

Key messages:

Anyone should be able to read the information and know how to support that child’s individual needs.

  • Children and families are central to gathering information to support children’s wellbeing through the health and wellbeing indicators embedded within their personal planning approach.
  • Personal care and learning needs reflect family preferences, for example, religious considerations, dietary requirements, family makeup or medical needs.
  • Sleep routines are reflective of individual children’s needs and family wishes.
  • Children’s interests and life experiences are used to create child-centred plans.
  • Practitioners have established strong, trusting partnerships with parents to share information about the child.
  • All practitioners recognise the importance of effective communications and implement this when children are experiencing any transition.
  • Practitioners use key information to effectively plan for both continuity and change in children’s care, play, and learning needs.
  • Key information to support children’s continuity and progression in their care and learning are shared appropriately, securely and in good time.
  • Care Plans often include an ‘All About Me’ section which details children’s interests, family, favourite toys, pets.  This section can also form part of the child’s learning journey so that it can be referenced easily to enable practitioners to use this knowledge when making provisions for the child.
  • Care Plans should use the health and wellbeing indicators to support the assessment of children’s needs and progress to ensure that the setting is Getting it Right for Every Child.

(A Quality Framework for Daycare of children, childminding and school-aged children, Care Inspectorate, 2021) 

 

Ways we can do this:

Spend time talking about the purpose of and completing the Care Plan with the parents (and child) before the child starts a setting or as soon after as possible.

Ensure that parents understand that there is an expectation that information will change as the child moves through the setting, and this is why the information needs to be reviewed.

Send Care Plans home or invite parents into the setting to review the contents every 6 months.

Parents complete new Care Plans annually to ensure the information has been thoroughly reviewed and reflects the child’s current needs, interests, and the child and family’s wishes.

Ensure all practitioners, especially the child’s keyworker, as appropriate, familiarise themselves with the contents of the Care Plan to support the child’s learning, interests and the child and family’s choices within their daily practice.

Ensure any changes to the information are updated immediately.  Changes should be highlighted and dated to ensure they are visible and easily noticed.  Add dates of reviews and auditing to Quality Assurance Calendar.

Share any important information such as food allergies with the relevant people, e.g. kitchen staff.

Care Plans must include information about medical needs, e.g. medication, medical contacts such as the GP, paediatrician or consultant.

Information about the involvement of partner agencies, e.g.  SaLT, social worker etc.

 

Linked Areas of Practice

Attachment

Child First

Children’s Rights

Child’s Voice

Chronologies

Family Partnerships

Inclusion

Learning Journeys

Medication

Personal Plans

Policies & Procedures

 

Tools  

Reflecting on Practice

SBC Guidance to support

National Guidance to support

Further Reading to support

Training to support

 

 

Follow link for acronyms used in presentations

This new SBC Care Plan (v2) MUST be sent home with this Privacy Notice.

Effective immediately, the SBC Care Plan (Version 2) should be implemented for all new children and for any adaptations to current plans.

Please note that there is no requirement to replace existing Care Plans with this new version. 

Example:
Guidance for completing a Care Plan +

Often in settings, we have children who need a more specific and considered approach to support their health and wellbeing. The Care Plan + was devised to support this.

This document should be created in consultation with parents/ carers or shared on completion in order for them to feed in if needed.

The approach used here is strengths based. Practitioners should identify any significant challenges the child is currently facing in ELC and use their interests and strengths to support them to overcome these challenges.

Practitioners should identify strategies to support the child develop skills that encourage a positive outcome in these situations.

All practitioners should read and discuss the strategies to ensure a consistent approach.

The above approach will encourage success, as with interactions based around interests and strengths, the child will feel heard and seen and with predictability, the child will feel safe.

Depending on the child, the length of time that the strategies are needed or are effective for will differ. For example, if the child is distressed by loud noises (and this is a sensory sensitivity) this plan will most likely be in place for longer than if the distress is leaving a parent as they transition into ELC.

The Care Plan + needs to be reviewed regularly for this reason.

If the strategies are ineffective then they should be reviewed and adapted to encourage success.

Guidance for completing an SBC Care Plan +  (Individualised Support Plan)

Once a child has been identified as needing a Care Plan +:

The team should complete the Care Plan +:

  • Discuss child’s interests and skills
  • Plan focussed observations – at different times/days, ensuring it is factual  
  • Analyse observations – identify key strengths and needs of the child
  • Agree areas they may need to support and behaviours displayed when needing support
  • Identify possible strategies which could support child’s needs to ensure positive outcomes
  • The plan should build skills step-by-step to improve success and give children and young people a chance to test strategies out and receive encouragement and feedback.
  • Ensure strategies are clear, age and stage appropriate, manageable, which are respectful of the individual. Strategies may include additional guidance from allied professionals – e.g SaLT, OT, home support teacher.
  • Ensure that all practitioners & parents/carers recognise potential stressors, such as changes in behaviour, mood, or relationships, of both children and staff, and then implement strategies to strengthen coping mechanisms and resilience.
  • EYO &/or Key Worker work together with parents/carers to discuss the creation of the Care Plan + and above points
  • Meet with any professionals currently involved (eg. Health visitor, pre-school home link worker etc.) to agree the creation of the Care Plan + and above points.

Holistic and consistent approaches are crucial for meeting all children’s needs and supporting positive outcomes.

 

Implementation

Once the document has been drafted it must then be shared, agreed and signed by all parties (ELC team, parents/carers and any other health professionals) and reviewed regularly.

  • All practitioners should ensure consistent implementation within the setting. The plan must be available for all visiting staff, e.g. supply practitioners.
  • Up-skill parents in how to use the key strategies at home, thus providing the child with a consistent approach from all adults e.g. giving them the same visual symbols to use at home / information around Keys to Communication, helpful links etc.
  • Regularly check-in with parents should discuss the manageability and effectiveness of strategies being implemented at home.
  • Bear in mind that the length of time that the strategies are needed for or are effective for, will differ depending on the needs of the child. For example, if the child is distressed by loud noises (and this is a sensory sensitivity) this plan will most likely be in place for longer than if the distress is leaving a parent as they transition into ELC.
  • If the strategies are ineffective, they should be reviewed as needed and adapted to encourage success.

 

The review process

  • Dates for revisiting and reflecting on the information must be planned, recorded in chronologies, or on the Quality Assurance Calendar – all parties should be aware of the review processes and reflect upon the efficacy of the intervention/ series of strategies in place.
  • As this is a live document, changes can be made – minutes of the meeting should detail key points from the review and why changes are being made. It is best practice to minute all meetings – it may feel tedious, but this will ensure a clear record of the processes in place and the rationale for changes – which will support any further input / referral process.​
  • It is important to celebrate achievements, and strengths which the child is developing as part of the review process. The child should be aware of how they are developing in an appropriate way such as verbal praise and positive visual aids, – so that they are a part of the process and can see how the supportive strategies are helping them to be more engaged/ more regulated (UNCRC article 12)
  • Ensure the whole team is aware of all information and any edits made and the rationale for the changes.
  • During these reviews, strategies must be assessed, achievements noted and any developments must be updated on the revised Care Plan +. Staff should sign that they have read, agree new developments and a copy shared with parents.