Halo Employer · Resource guide
Governance and Family Circle
Supporting the management condition through employee participation.
Resource guide
Governance and Family Circle
Supporting the management condition through employee participation
Employers must remain genuinely involved in the management of their workplace nursery provision.
Participating employees—known as Halo caregivers—support this involvement by taking part in relevant nursery governance as representatives of their employer.
What is Family Circle?
Family Circle is an app for nurseries and Halo caregivers. It gives them a shared place to communicate, participate in relevant discussions and build evidence of governance engagement.
Family Circle is available for nurseries and Halo caregivers to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The nursery remains responsible for the childcare it provides and the decisions it makes. The employer does not use the Family Circle app or have access to information about an individual child.
Family Circle is available for nurseries and Halo caregivers on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
How governance is evidenced
Halo caregivers can evidence their participation in workplace nursery governance in two ways:
- Through relevant activity in the Family Circle app
- By attending a quarterly Family Circle meeting when required
A separate meeting is not automatically required every quarter.
Governance through the app
Nurseries share relevant posts, questions and polls through Family Circle. Posts connected with workplace nursery governance are automatically tagged to the appropriate governance topic.
Halo caregivers can participate by:
- Commenting on relevant posts
- Responding to questions
- Reacting to updates
- Voting in polls
- Taking part in Family Circle Fund activity
Relevant participation is recorded and contributes to the governance evidence gathered during the quarter.
Governance topics may include:
- Staffing and continuity
- Conditions of care
- Funding and parent support
- Hours and extent of care
- Places and allocation
Everyday nursery communication only contributes to the governance record when it relates to a relevant governance topic.
Governance through a meeting
At the end of each quarter, Family Circle checks whether enough meaningful governance evidence has been gathered through the app.
If sufficient evidence has been recorded, a separate quarterly meeting is not required.
If there is not enough evidence, the app tells the nursery that a Family Circle meeting must be arranged.
The nursery is responsible for:
- Arranging and hosting the meeting
- Inviting its Halo caregivers
- Leading the governance discussion
- Recording attendance, discussion and actions in the app
Halo caregivers attend and participate as representatives of their employer. They are not responsible for organising, running or recording the meeting.
The employer's role
The employer does not need to attend Family Circle meetings or use the Family Circle app.
Through the Halo Employer Portal, the employer can review aggregated information about:
- Participation by Halo caregivers
- Governance topics discussed
- Whether enough evidence has been gathered
- Whether a meeting was required
- Governance decisions and actions
- Evidence of participation and meetings
The employer should support employees in fulfilling their representative role, review the governance evidence shown in Halo and respond to any actions requiring employer input.
Reviewing governance in Halo
Open Compliance → Management and Finance to review the governance evidence connected with your nurseries.
Family Circle helps create an ongoing record of meaningful engagement through relevant app participation and, where needed, quarterly meetings.