Guest Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 hello I'm an accredited childminder caring for a child due to start school in september but will be continuing me with me approx 1 1/2 days a week as she is just 4 and has some developmental delay. I would like to work in partnership with the reception teacher to ensure that she is not disadvantaged by not attending fulltime and wondered if any of you reception teachers had any ideas on how you would manage this link if she were to start with you. As a childminder I sometimes feel i have a challenging time in getting other professionals to understand that I provide care and nursery education to my children - I have already had experinece of continuing with a child for their reception year and completing his FSP - with very little support and only 1 moderation visit with a cursory glance at my FSP evidence - so would like to suggest that I work alongside the teacher to provide evidence for the FSP and to work together with targets and next steps. would you welcome this involvement, could you suggest any other ways of working together sorry if this is in the wrong bit but I would particularly like to hear from reception teachers many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittycat1279 Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Find out if the school use scrapbooks as part of their learning journey type information, if that is the case then it could be a joint one with you to include those 'wow' moments and photos to really build a picture of where the child is. This will then piece everything together for the FSP. Maybe with the parent/s arrange a meeting with the school to discuss this - we would certainly welcome that sort of involvement in our school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Find out if the school use scrapbooks as part of their learning journey type information, if that is the case then it could be a joint one with you to include those 'wow' moments and photos to really build a picture of where the child is. This will then piece everything together for the FSP. Maybe with the parent/s arrange a meeting with the school to discuss this - we would certainly welcome that sort of involvement in our school. thankyou - that's useful to know. we have a transition meeting planned for all involved to attend so I think I'll find out what they use already and how I can contribute rather than saying "this is how I want to do things" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 As a reception teacher i'm always trying to get parents and carers to contributeas they are main life long educators , so i'd be very keen! Talk to the teacher and contribute observations and photos of what the child can do by themself. Then for more formal activity you can work towards the early learning goals. Maybe ask the teacher at the start of the week which sounds they will be learning so you can do them with your child? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thank you that's great, feel a bit more confident about meeting the teacher now I've had some ideas on what to suggest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest heleng Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I'm another teacher who would welcome your input about a child we both cared for. Definately have a look at what the school currently do and how you could contribute to that. Your observations of the child and things they can do would be really interesting and maybe another way that links can be set up between the two placements i.e if you said that X particularly enjoyed playing with the dinosaurs in sawdust maybe the teacher could include that in her plans and vice versa. Maybe the school could give you an overview of the topics they will be covering, or the skills they will be concentrating on for that half term/ term? Have you got a copy of Letters and Sounds (or find out what phonics scheme the school are using) and try and incorporate that into your planning. If she has a developmental delay she may still be working in phase 1 so knowing what kind of activities that involves, you could include it. Also phase 1 is ongoing so having a go at any of those activities would be advantageous. Would it be possible for you to take her in on one of the days when you have her or visit her in school on one of her school days? You might be able to give ideas to the teacher of strategies you use when you have her that could help her in school. Or help her take part in a special activity that the school is running on a day when she doesn't normally attend (I don't know if it would be possible due to other commitments but it might work?) Hope your meeting goes well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thankyou heleng - that's really helpful. I've just started including a phase 1 letters and sounds activity each week so i'll make sure I let the teacher know that. I'm hoping to continue meeting with the teacher regularly as the year goes on so that we are really working in partnership. I don't actually know much about how the school works really so do you think I should phone and speak to someone to find out about their routines and ethos before hand - ie. does the reception teacher make plans in advance, whats the balance of CI/AL activities, do they use themes and topics, how do they document learning? The transition meeting is multi agency and will focus on everyone sharing strengths and needs and possible barriers - feeling quite nervous as I am leading it and haven't done this before. I'm not sure how much time there will be to discuss how i'll work in partnership with the teacher!?! maybe i should have a pre meeting meeting!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jenpercy Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Thankyou heleng - that's really helpful.I've just started including a phase 1 letters and sounds activity each week so i'll make sure I let the teacher know that. I'm hoping to continue meeting with the teacher regularly as the year goes on so that we are really working in partnership. I don't actually know much about how the school works really so do you think I should phone and speak to someone to find out about their routines and ethos before hand - ie. does the reception teacher make plans in advance, whats the balance of CI/AL activities, do they use themes and topics, how do they document learning? The transition meeting is multi agency and will focus on everyone sharing strengths and needs and possible barriers - feeling quite nervous as I am leading it and haven't done this before. I'm not sure how much time there will be to discuss how i'll work in partnership with the teacher!?! maybe i should have a pre meeting meeting!!! I hope you got something from your school. I have 7 EYFS children in my after school club and can't get any information from the schools. They don't give me copies of letters home for parents, I have asked for info on what the child will be doing (perhaps it is because I said I wanted it in advance, but we have 30 children a night from 4 - 12 so on the fly is difficult). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Thankyou heleng - that's really helpful.I've just started including a phase 1 letters and sounds activity each week so i'll make sure I let the teacher know that. I'm hoping to continue meeting with the teacher regularly as the year goes on so that we are really working in partnership. I don't actually know much about how the school works really so do you think I should phone and speak to someone to find out about their routines and ethos before hand - ie. does the reception teacher make plans in advance, whats the balance of CI/AL activities, do they use themes and topics, how do they document learning? The transition meeting is multi agency and will focus on everyone sharing strengths and needs and possible barriers - feeling quite nervous as I am leading it and haven't done this before. I'm not sure how much time there will be to discuss how i'll work in partnership with the teacher!?! maybe i should have a pre meeting meeting!!! I think I would go for the meeting first and see what happens there. You might find you get a lot of time to talk to the teacher or you might not. If not at least you will have met her and you can suggest face to face a meeting to discuss the things you want to know. A phone call to a busy school with potentially hundreds of children to worry about might get lost in the system, plus the teacher wouldn't really have time to speak about these things in detail on the phone during a school day and anyone else wouldn't really have the full facts about what goes on in her classroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hi, I think its great you are so proactive! I wish all parents and child minders were like this! I have a parent who is an early years advisor so she has made me make sure I'm every thing right for her child! He has a child minder for a couple of days a week and what we do is have a link book. I put in the main learning we will be covering each week and she adds to it if she has any signifcant obs etc. She has her own scrap book at home I believe but sends in obs and photos of things she does related to my planning. She does on occasions tell me about his interests and I incorporate this into the planning. She is not as involved as what you are as he is full time and he only sees her 2 days a week but I think its fantastic to work together. I also do a link book for another child who attend a breakfast club and afternoon club - but they have never written in it!!! Good luck with it, I'm sure the teacher will so glad to work alongside you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jenpercy Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hi, I think its great you are so proactive! I wish all parents and child minders were like this! I have a parent who is an early years advisor so she has made me make sure I'm every thing right for her child! He has a child minder for a couple of days a week and what we do is have a link book. I put in the main learning we will be covering each week and she adds to it if she has any signifcant obs etc. She has her own scrap book at home I believe but sends in obs and photos of things she does related to my planning. She does on occasions tell me about his interests and I incorporate this into the planning. She is not as involved as what you are as he is full time and he only sees her 2 days a week but I think its fantastic to work together. I also do a link book for another child who attend a breakfast club and afternoon club - but they have never written in it!!! Good luck with it, I'm sure the teacher will so glad to work alongside you! glad you are so optimistic 2 years and 3 schools, ie 10 children and we can't get anything going withour schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 That is a real shame. I thought it was all part of EYFS!! Good luck xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Sorry,only just caught the new posts on this thread. Just to update you I get the distinct impression that my input is not particularly wanted, I feel completely devalued Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I feel sad that this is happening. I value all parental and child minders inputs. The child minder for a little boy in my class, looks at his individual plan (PLOD) and plans a few activities on that. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 oh dcn, how VERY frustrating!!! I sit through so many meetings and training courses where the trainers and early years advisers stress how uniquely placed we childminders are for knowing "our" children so well, being able to observe and assess in a small setting, ratios etc, etc and STILL this situation occurs Can't offer any magic solutions I'm afraid but plenty of empathy Nona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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