1 .Does your handbook acknowledge and respect the part that parents play in their children's education?
2 .Are parents encouraged to share their observations and assessments of their children's learning? Are these recorded and given the same status as those completed by staff members?
3 .When you organise educational visits, do you meet with parents so that everyone can share ideas about the learning opportunities and intended learning outcomes for the trip?
4 .Are observations about children's learning kept in a range of forms which are accessible to parents? Videos and displays that include photographs of children at work are a useful supplement to the more traditional written records of children's achievements.
5 .Do you plan with parents so children's learning can be enhanced through experiences at home and in your setting?
6 .Is information translated so that it is accessible to parents whose main language is not English?
7 .Are there different ways for parents to become involved in your planning and assessments? Some parents might want to work alongside their children within your setting. Others might prefer to exchange information about their child's learning in a diary, or with photos.
8 .Do staff in your setting feel confident enough about their own practice to acknowledge and respond positively to the different ideas that parents may have about how children learn?
9 .Can families borrow resources from your setting to extend their children's learning?
10 .Are parents given opportunities to find out about the thinking behind your setting's way of planning and working with children? For example, some settings organise workshops to help parents gain an insight into the early years curriculum.
