What is a Key Person?
A “Key Person” is a named member of my setting with whom a child has more contact than other adults. This adult shows a special interest in the child through close personal interaction day to day. They also have special responsibilities for working with a number of children, giving them reassurance to feel safe and cared for.
Main duties and role of a Key Person
In my setting, we all share in all aspects of the work involved in looking and caring after children. Within this, the key person has particular duties. These are:
To help your child settle in our setting when new or when upset for some reason.
Talk with the parents about their child
Keeping an extra special eye open on your child during the day
Assist the child to integrate into the setting if necessary
To provide emotional needs to your child as required
To make sure that the child’s race, culture, religion, language and family values are being met in accordance with parents/cares wishes
To observe, keep records and monitor the child’s progress and talking and encouraging parents to participate in their child’s development
To feed back information that might be important to parents or any worries the key worker has come across
To continue to respect that the parent/carer and child’s information is remaining confidential
To work in conjunction with the parents/carers in a statutory and professional manner
Things Key Person does NOT do
Key persons are the lynchpins of child care in my setting. They shoulder the responsibility for creating the atmosphere in which children can thrive. Just because they are names as a key person, they DO NOT:
Shadow the children throughout the session
Only work with the key children they have been given
Prevent other adults from developing a relationship with the key children they have been given
When setting up the key person system, I have to take into account the sessions that your child attends, the hours my assistant works and the compatibility between the child, parent/carer and my assistant. I might change the key person at times but you will be kept informed of this change if it happens.
In summary
If you are unsure who the key person is for your child then please do ask me or check the register behind the door. Next to your child’s name there will be the initials of the key person. You can have access to your child’s information at any time and can discuss any areas that you would like us to work on within my setting. If you would like to have a meeting with your child’s key worker, then again, please do ask. Any decisions about your child or changes in the way we are supporting them will be discussed with you.
