parent partnerships

parent partnerships

by: Clarelou - 04-11-08 21:03

Please could anyone give me their ideas of what an ideal parent partnership should be like.  I am doing EY Foundation Degree unit and would welcome knowing the aspects you feel are really important.  Do you struggle to get parents involved?  How involved are the Dad's?  Do you feel you have sufficient time to discuss the progress of individual children?  Do you feel valued as a carer by the parents?  Would be really grateful for any feedback.  Thank you.

by: Twinkle22

The nursery I used to work in was brilliant or partnerships with parents - even recognised by Ofsted. As staff we used to make an effort to really listen to the parents and their views and react accordingly. For instance a parent who was distressed at leaving their child for the first time would get a phone call at 20mins/1hour etc to put their mind at rest. Whereas a parent who was used to leaving their child would of course be reassured their child was fine but not to the extent of the first case. Oh and making birthday/get well cards for loved ones was always a hit. Also inviting the parents to help on the annual trip (farm/zoo etc) and stressing the value of their attendance was always a good way to build relationships.

RE: RE: parent partnerships - 12-11-08 17:14

by: Clarelou

Thanks for your information.  It's a great idea to always phone to let parents know how things are going.  Love the rest of your ideas too.  Many thanks.

by: allie

Hi,

there is a document called 'Every Parent Matters' I'm sure this will help your research. Also local children centres may offer 'stay and play sessions' and dads mornings. Hope this helps.

by: Clarelou

Thanks for the info.  Will have a look at the brochure sure it will help.  Many thanks again.

by: timmylums

Hi Clarelou

I have experienced settings were there are strong parent partnerships and others were the parents are not particularly forthcoming in getting involved but as a parent myself i can honestly say that it is really appreciated when staff show an interest in your child at home. there are the obvious things like keeping parents informed of how the child has spent their day but I think it goes a long way to involve parents information in individual planning. If a parents shares information about  their child ask if you can include it in their obs. file and subsequently feed it into planning after all developing learning around the child's interests means knowing what they like to do at home. When parents read a child's file or daily sheet I am sure that they would be impressed to see that they have shared information that has influenced the child's learning, it also means that they are aware that the planning is individual and personal to the child. If you  use a simple 'post it' note system for obs you can easily mark it as 'observed/informed by mum/dad/gran etc.       

by: VickiG

Hi Clarelou, and timmylums,

 I think those ideas about getting parents involved in planning are excellent.  To extend this maybe a daily diary that went home from parents and nursery to use as effective two-way communication that could inform planning if parents included activities they and child had been invoved in and current interests/ patterns of behaviour of their child.  This would give parents the opportnity to communicate with you if they are in a rush mornings and evenings. Also  how about workshops to talk about the practices and philosophy of the setting and the activities it provides for the children, Stay and play sessions, Invite parents helpers,  newsletters, notice board, social evenings etc?

by: timmylums

Hi VickiG

Yes I agree with you daily diaries are very popular in some settings but are totally avoided in others. If settings are full of children from working parents/carers it can be difficult to get time to communicate in person but writing things down can be seen as time consuming on both parts, I have even heard some managers say that they don't like some staff to write in diaries as their standards of literacy is not good enough and is a bad advert for the settings, others have said that having to write things down that the children have done means that they have to vary the  planned activities as there is a record to be looked back on if things become to  repetative. I don't know what you think but to me these excuses make for a great way to evaluate  and imporve practice.