The types of documentation that childcare facilities need and the information that needs to be included were the most challenging questions for me to answer. I assumed that I knew the information needed, such as child names, caregiver information, emergency services, and medical needs. However, in the test, I learned that different information is needed for several different types of emergencies, such as fire procedures and documents.

The complexity of ratios surprised me in the test, the different ratios for different age groups, sleep time ratios, evening ratios and more. Keeping and having ratios is so much more complicated than having enough adults per children. There are different factors that influence ratios and how to keep ratios. In my experience working in child care ratios were simple and we followed the recommended amount of children to adults but I did not know how many different rules and regulations are behind ratios.

The importance of safe handling of food, allergens and how to properly store food and labelling food. Along with the procedure that need to be followed when parents bring in food. How it is our responsibility to ensure the safety in food along with nutrition. What surprised me was having water accessible to children whenever needed. I have noticed in my experiences working in childcare that water is only sometimes available to children and is only given during eating or after outdoor play in the summer.

This section surprised me because I was able to refresh my memory on how many years records are to be kept. In many of my other jobs (group home & government job prior to this), also had different time frames on how long to keep files. I think it surprised me how each sector does this differently.

The different requirements and/or permissions required to put together a play ground is something that I didn’t full take into consideration. We have received donations before at my daycare and newer employees have been excited to just put the equipment donated to the centre on the yard without having it properly inspected. I also didn’t realize that it is a requirement to have it suitable for all children as yards can change etc. Also I know that it is important to keep different age group separate but I didn’t realize that it was actually a ministry requirement not a centre choice.

I think this section was on that surprised me the most because there is so much to know and be prepared for as these children are in our hands. I recently joined the health and safety team at work and learning the need for fire drills and the importance of having everyone know where the designated meeting spot is, is important.