Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 Hi Can i just ask whether people are having any joy with building up links with other settings..... many of our children attend 2 settings. I have tried phoning the other setting, suggesting we visit each other to discuss key children, exchange paperwork... we have sent records but nobody else has... then my early years advisor tells me ofsted want to see evidence of how we work in partnership with other settings...how can we prove what we are trying to do.......when other settings don't seem to want to share.... Quote
Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 We are not having much luck at all. Lots of positive noises from many corners but then silence. I have decided to write again to them enclosing a copy of the shared child's playplan for the coming term, and reminding the other setting that we use a diary system which they are welcome to contribute to too. I plan to send these every term/half term depending on when we are completing them. However before sending them I will be making copies of these and filing them all together as evidence of our attempts to share information. Into this file I will add in anything that is sent to us, although I'm not holding out much hope for filling the thing! Our EY advisors have told us there is little more we can do as we can't force the other settings to share. Apparently we just have to hope the same inspector visits both settings and raises the questions of their lack of response. Quote
Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 Hi..we had exactly the same problem. Ofsted were happy when we explained our situation..and asked the name of the settings which wouldn't co-operate!!! As long as you have evidence of what YOU do in your setting..and even write somewhere on the paperwork that you have sent it to the other setting and had no response etc...tell it how it is..you cant go wrong really.. Good luck. Quote
Panders Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 I think if you show Ofsted how you are trying to build links what more can you do if the other settings don't want to play ball? It should be enough that you are instigating the process, you can't be held responsible for what other settings do. Do the parents get involved at all? Could they mediate for you with their child's other setting? Our difficulty has been we were quick on the up take with this and other settings are only now beginning to respond - however, whose system do you use - they have prepared the way they want to share info and so have we!! I feel as we instigated they should respond to our system but we now complete our way and try to respond to what they send as well. I did visit one setting when I was invited, but I did know that Key Worker as we had trained together many years ago. We had a great time swapping little anecdotes about our shared child and what we were doing etc. but she has moved on to another setting and the new person taking over our shared child does not keep us as informed. Quote
valp59 Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 I think that is the problem Panders - each setting has their own methods, ideas, daily diaries etc. I personally feel that we are expected to write too much and wouldn't want to complete two pieces of written information (or three where there is also a childminder) regarding the child's morning/week etc. We have a daily diary which we advise parents can be 'shared' with and contributed to by other settings but to date no one has done this. To be honest I am not 100% convinced that it has any long (or short) term benefit but would be interested to hear of examples which prove me wrong than maybe I could be motivated to try harder at this. We currently have a little boy with a Statement of Special Educational Needs who also attends a 'special needs' setting and for him there is a much greater degree of partnership between both settings and the parents because he has a greater need whereas I feel most of the children in our setting do not need this There is a danger that we spread ourselves too thinly putting measures in place for everyone regardless of need leaving insufficient time or resources for the extra input required by possibly only a small minority of children Quote
sunnyday Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 Hi simcity This is something I have tried to 'set up' with no sucess - I am determined, however that from September I will be sharing with other settings - even if they won't 'share with me'! If you do a 'forum search' you will find another thread about this very problem. Hope this helps and good luck Sunnyday Quote
Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 Hi all, We have been quite fortunate in that most of our shared children happen to be shared with a Nursery that has been rated as "Outstanding" across the board and are themselves very keen to forge links. Something worth considering, if you feel it is at all possible to accommodate such a thing, is to invite all of your shared-child settings to a multi-agency meeting at your own setting, so that you can sit down and share information that way. We were invited to just such a thing a little while ago at the above-mentioned nursery, as were a good 6 or 7 other settings. I was gobsmacked that, of all those who made the right noises and said they would attend, we were the only ones to turn up (other than 2 Children's Centres but they seem to have the necessary funding to do whatever they want anyway). The nursery manager had prepared a sheet with the names and settings of "confirmed" attendees which she asked us to sign. She signed it herself to confirm who had actually turned up and then gave us a copy of this very simple document. Little things like that will be pure evidence gold when Ofsted come knocking. I plan to do a similar thing in the Autumn term when we have a better idea of the new intake and the number of different settings we will be sharing care with. Hope that is of some help, DDC. Quote
valp59 Posted June 18, 2009 Posted June 18, 2009 That sounds like a very good idea - you could then discuss methods of information exchange/swap contact details etc. I assume that having regard to data protection etc no discussion of individual children would have taken place? Quote
Guest Posted June 18, 2009 Posted June 18, 2009 That sounds like a very good idea - you could then discuss methods of information exchange/swap contact details etc. I assume that having regard to data protection etc no discussion of individual children would have taken place? Both of our settings were given written permission from the parents to discuss our records relating to their children and compare notes. The other people who turned up from the Children's Centres were there to discuss different children and obviously we were not involved in that - we were all given a tour of the nursery and then taken off separately to meet our shared children's Key Person. It is perfectly fine to exchange information as long as you are only discussing the shared children for whom you have this permission from the parents/carers - records of other children in your setting should obviously be kept tucked away. DDC Quote
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