At Pen Green, our aim is to build close, trusting relationships with the children and families who use our nursery provision. We achieve this through various methods, all of which are underpinned by the principles of good practice.
* We recognise that parents are their child's first educators
* We share knowledge about an individual child's development in order to provide a rich and challenging provision in the setting and at home
* We engage in a dialogue that is equal, active and respectful
* We get to know each child
* We use each child's interests as the starting point for curriculum planning.
Practices that help us to build relationships with parents include:
* home visiting
* keyworking
* having a settling-in period
* organising daily chats
* having staggered starts each day
* gathering information from home
* making narrative observations in nursery of each child
* sharing narrative observations with parents
* curriculum planning for individual children
* organising special open evenings
* using photographs and video as a means of communication and reflection.
Home visiting
At Pen Green, staff visit children and their families on a regular basis.
There would be an initial visit by the keyworker before a child began attending the nursery and then two or three times each year after they have started. Often, information can be shared more effectively in the child's home, where the parents may feel more relaxed and confident. Many children live in reconstituted families and staff try to visit both parents whenever possible.
Keyworking
Having a keyworker helps the child to make a strong emotional attachment to one key member of staff. Keyworking also benefits parents and carers who might find it easier to share more intimate information or to ask for advice. The keyworker greets both child and parent individually. The parent has an opportunity to pass on information about home, new interests or concerns.
Settling-in period
At Pen Green all children have at least a two-week settling-in period when they are accompanied by an adult, who is a significant person for that child. This adult could be a parent, childminder, grandparent or other adult from the family. This settling-in period can be an important time when parents and staff can really share information and develop a relationship. Time spent in the nursery helps the adults to see how the nursery operates and see the relationships between children, workers and parents.
Daily chats
We have found it beneficial to make time for a daily chat with each parent or carer. The dialogue is an ongoing one and, over time, it helps us to build a picture of a child's vital interests and development.
Staggered starts
It is easier to have a chat with each parent or carer if children do not all arrive at the nursery at the same time. At Pen Green the nursery is open from 8.15am and families arrive from then until about 9.30am.
Parents can bring their child to nursery at a time that is convenient to them. They may have to get to work early or take another child to school first. This system enables keyworkers to greet parents and children individually and allows some time for parents to chat to workers or simply to spend time settling their child into nursery.
Gathering information
We have already mentioned several ways of gathering information from home.
We show we value the information parents give us by making notes in their child's Celebration of Achievements book and by using the information to provide something at nursery that links with their child's interest or fascination.
Making narrative observations
The Pen Green Nursery is set up as a workshop environment with opportunities for children to use many different materials; to build, to share stories, to engage in role play, to write and draw, and to visit a cafe for snacks. There is a science discovery area and outdoor area where children can ride, climb and run as well as engage in stories, role play and construction. There is also a beach area with buckets, spades, diggers, guttering, hosepipes and building blocks and planks. Many of the materials are open-ended, making the possibilities for creativity and problem-solving endless.
For most of the morning and afternoon, children move freely around the workshop environment, indoors and out, spending as long as they need in an area of their choice. Family workers are anchored in key areas. We build up a picture of what each child is learning through dialogue with their parents, and by making narrative observations of each child in a systematic way.
We target two children for close observation in each session. If the children come to the area where a member of staff is anchored, then they have the responsibility to make a written or video observation. At the end of the session, there are likely to be several observations of each target child. These observations can be pulled together to provide the story of that child's experience in the nursery.
Sharing narrative observations
We have found it most helpful to share narrative observations with parents.
These discussions happen informally at the end of the session or on a home visit, or during an open evening or family group meeting. Many parents borrow their child's Celebration of Achievement file for a weekend so that they can read it and discuss their child's learning journey with other members of the family.
Curriculum planning
We plan for each child's learning by making a 'possible lines of direction'
chart. The child's interests or persistent concerns are in the centre. We then link their interests with the six curriculum areas in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage.
We find parents are very much in tune with their child's deep interests as they know their children so well and have more opportunities to observe them at home.
Open evenings
Our open evenings are quite informal. We try to make parents feel welcome by having refreshments and a comfortable environment. We have found that sending out individualised invitations to mothers, fathers and other primary carers works well. This approach has certainly brought about an increase in fathers' involvement. We might invite them in to see a video clip of their child playing in the nursery, which not many parents can resist.
Photographs and video
We have found photographs and video vignettes to be valuable tools for sharing knowledge with parents, children and each other. They are vivid reminders that help us to reconstruct and to understand what has been going on for children both at nursery and at home. Photographs can be used to make books with children, to share ideas with parents, to chart progress over time and to capture processes as they are happening.
