Nursery in parent partnership first
Vesela Gladicheva
Friday, June 22, 2012
Stockport College-owned nursery Oliver Owls has become the first private day nursery in England to receive the Leading Parent Partnership Accreditation Award (LPPA).
The LPPA is a nationally recognised award that provides a framework through which schools, early years settings and other educational organisations can deliver effective parental engagement.
The accreditation award is beneficial for early years settings that have extensive good practice in parent partnership or that need more in-depth support with this.
Oliver Owls Nursery, which started working towards the award last October, had to present a portfolio of working with parents, which included the ways in which it communicates with the parents, through text messaging, emails, children’s guides, newsletters and information booklets. The award was funded by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.
The programme’s objectives include ensuring the setting is a welcoming and friendly place for parents, as well as promoting participation and enrichment opportunities for parents.
One of the changes the nursery made in the course of the programme was introducing a resource box for parents. Sharon Dymond-Muller, nursery manager at Oliver Owls Nursery, said, ‘We realised our children like the play, but maybe a lot of them don’t have the toys or resources at home. We sent boxes to parents at home explaining what the child will learn from them.’
The LPPA is a two-way partnership. The nursery informs parents of what their children like at nursery, and at the same time parents tell the setting about what their children enjoy doing at home.
Parent Anne-Marie Lomax said her relationship with the nursery has improved her confidence about engaging in home learning with her four-year-old daughter. ‘When you have that support, network and communication, it makes it really easy.’
Mrs Dymond Muller said, ‘A lot of our parents are not sure how important it is for children to sit down and eat at meal times. So we invite our parents in to sit with a group of children and have meal times; they can watch their child and serve themselves food.’
The best thing about the parent-nursery partnership is the consistency of it, said Mrs Lomax, 33. ‘It is a great benefit for a child to be secure and to know that what we’re doing every day is followed through at home and at nursery.’
She praised the support she received from the nursery. ‘When my daughter was having an operation on her ears, the nursery made a role play area and turned it into a hospital. That made her feel more secure and it was really helpful for me.’
The LPPA programme highlighted the need for Oliver Owls Nursery to set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account to improve communication with parents.
Nurseries interested in working towards the award need an LPPA toolkit to establish what good work is already taking place and to identify areas for further development that will enable them to achieve the LPPA national standard. The toolkit costs £95 plus postage.
Further information
http://www.lppa.co.uk/
The accreditation award is beneficial for early years settings that have extensive good practice in parent partnership or that need more in-depth support with this.
Oliver Owls Nursery, which started working towards the award last October, had to present a portfolio of working with parents, which included the ways in which it communicates with the parents, through text messaging, emails, children’s guides, newsletters and information booklets. The award was funded by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.
The programme’s objectives include ensuring the setting is a welcoming and friendly place for parents, as well as promoting participation and enrichment opportunities for parents.
One of the changes the nursery made in the course of the programme was introducing a resource box for parents. Sharon Dymond-Muller, nursery manager at Oliver Owls Nursery, said, ‘We realised our children like the play, but maybe a lot of them don’t have the toys or resources at home. We sent boxes to parents at home explaining what the child will learn from them.’
The LPPA is a two-way partnership. The nursery informs parents of what their children like at nursery, and at the same time parents tell the setting about what their children enjoy doing at home.
Parent Anne-Marie Lomax said her relationship with the nursery has improved her confidence about engaging in home learning with her four-year-old daughter. ‘When you have that support, network and communication, it makes it really easy.’
Mrs Dymond Muller said, ‘A lot of our parents are not sure how important it is for children to sit down and eat at meal times. So we invite our parents in to sit with a group of children and have meal times; they can watch their child and serve themselves food.’
The best thing about the parent-nursery partnership is the consistency of it, said Mrs Lomax, 33. ‘It is a great benefit for a child to be secure and to know that what we’re doing every day is followed through at home and at nursery.’
She praised the support she received from the nursery. ‘When my daughter was having an operation on her ears, the nursery made a role play area and turned it into a hospital. That made her feel more secure and it was really helpful for me.’
The LPPA programme highlighted the need for Oliver Owls Nursery to set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account to improve communication with parents.
Nurseries interested in working towards the award need an LPPA toolkit to establish what good work is already taking place and to identify areas for further development that will enable them to achieve the LPPA national standard. The toolkit costs £95 plus postage.
Further information
http://www.lppa.co.uk/
