Parents As Partners

[mac20]

Does anyone have any systems that they feel are good for sharing information between parents and school? I am working on my dissertation on the area of parent partnership, and am particularly interested in how parents are kept up to date with how their child is doing on a regular basis and also how they are encouraged to contribute what they know about their child in an ongoing way. Any ideas welcome!

[Guest]

Hey, we recently introduced a system for the Eyfs in which we give out "all about me" sheets to two childrens parents on a monday. They bring them back on friday, we then use them to inform the planning for the following week!

 

The sheet is split into two sections, the childs keyworker fills out the top bit and the parents fill out the bottom bit which has questions like... At home my favourite thing to do is...? and At home i can now...?.

 

So the planning is based partly on the childrens individual interests and the parents get a regular opportunity to contribute to their childrens learning at nursery!

 

I think that makes sense xx

[Andreamay]

we do similair asking them to fill in a questionaire each term. So each key person will obs a child a week requesting info from parents/carers. on top of this are committee run, have newsletters,termly meetings with parents if they want, information boards etc in the foyer.

[Guest]

We have recently started using an exercise book for the parents, ourselves and any other carers to use as a diary. For those parents who have taken it up it seems to be working well, if a little time consuming, but not all parents have bothered. We are hoping that come September with new children and their families there will be more interest. We try to make a comment about the activities we have been doing as a group, something specific to the individual, perhaps about what they have done in the setting or outside, and we also use them as starters for conversations with our less forthcoming children, by mentioning something the parent has noted in the diary. For those parents who don't feel able to ask "was s/he alright today?" on every visit I think it s proving to be reassuring.

[Guest Wolfie]

We also have a home/nursery diary for all our children and their families - it doesn't suit everyone and some parents have never used it, but we have several parents who just don't have much time to stand and chat about their children at the beginning or end of the day and they really make the most of this avenue of communication and are gald that we introduced it.

 

I think it's all about flexibility and giving parents different kinds of opportunities to share observations and information about their child - what suits one family isn't always feasible or preferable for another. I also think that a good mix of formal and informal opportunities is good. Some parents relish the opportunity to book some time at a pre-arranged open day/morning/evening, etc. to have a 1:1 chat with their child's key person, whereas that kind of thing makes others feel uncomfortable and they would rather have short, informal chats.

[mac20]

Thank you all! xx

[Guest]

We also have what we call "wow vouchers", these are vouchers we have near the booking in register and parents can fill them in for anything the child may have achieved at home. We then take these "wow vouchers" and slot them straight into the hild's profile. We also have a parent link board where staff write on there ideas for the parents continuing the theme/topic at home. Plus we have the usual; monthly newsletters, parents evenings, inviting parents in for special days etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all! xx