The Malvern School’s Commitment to Health and Safety
At The Malvern School, always putting the children – and their health and safety – first is more than something we say. It’s a responsibility that we are committed to delivering on every day.
Since our founding in 1998, the well-being of our students has been at the core of our culture, our operations and our programming. For more than two decades, our rigorous health and safety protocols have played a major role in building our team of 500+ teachers and staff and shaping nurturing learning environments for 40,000+ students.
Our health and safety standards exceed early childhood education requirements and are some of the most robust in the industry. As we continue to refine and enhance these standards, our commitment to ensuring all of our students are safe, happy and healthy is stronger than ever.
Health and Safety Starts with Hiring
An extremely selective hiring process is the first of many steps designed to ensure our educators and staff are highly qualified – and personally devoted – to providing the highest quality care for our students.
- All candidates are evaluated by a seasoned Human Resources team that thoroughly evaluates their credentials and cultural fit with our organization’s commitment to strict educational, health and safety standards.
- Our lead teachers are required to be college-educated in the field, and our assistant teachers are required to have at least 2,500 hours of documented experience working with young children.
- Our Executive Directors and Directors of Education are required to have a Bachelor’s degree, leadership experience, demonstrated strength in partnering with families and qualifications to manage every function of the school.
- In addition to conducting comprehensive reference checks, we require employees to undergo all state-required background checks (including child abuse and criminal background clearances), both upon hire and every three years thereafter.
Our Standards, Training and Resources
In many cases, our school-wide health and safety practices go above and beyond what’s required by health and state authorities, reflecting our commitment to our students’ wellbeing. We have zero tolerance for any behavior that doesn’t align with these Malvern School standards. To support our team’s devotion to upholding these protocols, multi-faceted training efforts begin upon hire and continue throughout the duration of their employment. These trainings and resources include:
- Live training on the policies and protocols outlined in our Health and Safety Manual, including: our requirement that every child be supervised through sight and sound by a teacher or Director at all times; health and wellness measures; illness policies; medication and life-threatening allergy procedures; food handling guidelines; cleaning, sanitizing and handwashing procedures; emergency preparedness plans; minor injuries, first aid and incident reporting; and mandated reporting requirements.
- Trained Health and Safety Coordinators who mentor team members and serve as additional internal resources in support of our health and safety standards.
- Mandatory education, including annual health and safety, fire safety, emergency preparedness, supervision and positive guidance training; bi-annual pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR training; training on the prevention and control of infectious diseases; mandated reporter training, provided and approved by the state, every three years, as well as training specific to early learning environments; abuse awareness and reasonable suspicion training; and at least 12 hours of training annually on topics that are relevant to each team member’s work, such as teaching strategies for specific age groups or children with special needs.
Schools Designed for Safety
Every inch of our schools is designed with safety in mind.
- Outside safety features include securely locked exterior doors, privacy fencing, cameras monitoring our play areas and age-appropriate playgrounds.
- Our schools are equipped with alert systems and door safety latches throughout the building for emergency situations. Each of our classrooms are custom-designed for age-appropriate activity and have observation windows that provide a direct view of what’s happening at all times.
- All of our classrooms have – or will soon have – safety cameras powered by WatchMeGrow, one of the most trusted camera systems in the child care field.
- Our quality assurance measures at every school include regular health and safety, staff and school observations/evaluations performed by The Malvern School’s leadership team.
Two-Way Communication
Partnering with our families is key. We value productive, two-way communication as the health and safety of our students is a priority both at and outside of school.
- We will notify families of health or safety incidents involving their child. This includes speaking to a parent or guardian and providing an incident report documenting the issue, when appropriate.
- Our Tadpoles communication system provides a secure platform for communication between home and school. It enables our team to send families timely information through a smartphone app, email and text messages. It also allows families to share notes with their child’s teacher, supplementing live conversations at drop-off, pickup and upon request.
- Families are encouraged to share any special considerations or concerns with our team. We take every concern very seriously as we work with families to put the best interests of their child first.
If you’re interested in learning more about The Malvern School’s commitment to health and safety, please reach out to your school Director or contact us and we will get in touch!
