Policy: a policy lays out the key principles and values that guide this aspect of practice. Procedures: provide details of what will be done, or steps that will be followed.

1. You have recently joined the staff of a small private nursery school. Heather is nearly four years old and has been attending the school for six months. She is an articulate girl and has started to talk with you about what she has done at the weekend or the previous evening. In a conversation with you yesterday, Heather described a fi lm she had watched on television that you know did not start until 11 pm. You said to her, ‘You were up very late, Heather. Did Mummy know you were watching that fi lm?’ Heather replied, ‘Oh, Mummy was with John. They were in the bedroom, doing … well, you know what.’