Parents have many opportunities to be involved at Sunshine Nursery and are actively encouraged to be partners in children's learning. Sunshine Nursery provides childcare for Seascape Sure Start Children's Centre in County Durham. The nursery was part of the original phase one pilot and has provided nearly 150 places for eligible two-year-olds since 2007.
The nursery identified very early in the pilot that many families who used free entitlement places for two-year-olds did not always have access to appropriate toys or resources to continue learning at home with their child.
Recognising that learning would not be achieved by resources alone, the nursery introduced a three-week course to support families with home learning using Every Child a Talker materials. The course aims to provide skills and confidence with a child's language development and wider learning at home. Home-to-nursery learning bags and diaries contain guidance notes and the resources families will need.
Nursery staff record children's interests each day and use this information to create room stories. Practitioners capture and build on children's interests and extend this learning to involve parents at home through the learning bags and diaries.
When an interest has been identified, the appropriate resources such as toys, equipment, activities and books are gathered into a home learning bag. The child's story is written on a postcard which goes home with the child that day. For example, a postcard may read: 'Today you shared the news that Dextor the Beagle puppy is joining your family this weekend. I wondered if you'd like to share some stories about dogs with Mummy and Daddy and take home some of our small-world dogs so you can explore the different sizes and colours of dogs. I know you are going to have so much fun this weekend as Dextor joins your family. We would love to see a photograph of him at nursery'.
The learning bag can stay at home for any length of time. When it is returned, parents and carers complete a return postcard which tells how resources have been used and the learning that has taken place. The postcard learning stories are then used to inform the next steps for children's development and held within their files.
This two-way communication and partnership has provided parents with an insight into their children's progress and supports their contribution to their learning and development records too.
Further information
James Hempsall is director of training and research provider Hempsalls (www.hempsallsconsultancies.com).
