dorinda Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Hi we are just getting the kerpersons list ready for september. Do you use colours for staff members or how do you get the lists ready. Dorinda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 we just used lists... name and key children , this was posted on our noticeboard for parents. being sessional, and staff part time each person was allocated as main key person for the children they saw the most, then we had the second key person who was in on the days they were not... but we only had 5 staff so found it easy to organise... Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motherclanger Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 We use insects instead of colours, each keyperson has a picture/symbol of their insect on their name and picture. The list is then posted up on our parents noticeboard so they know who their childs keyperson is, the children have their own photo,name and keyworker symbol which they use for self registration. Motherclangerx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 We use colours that match the children's trays. So we have a blue, green, yellow, red and purple group - we can then shout 'Blue group come and put your shoes on' or whatever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 (edited) we have colours and animals, as we have the word 'Teddy' in our setting name our key groups are called Red Teddy bears Yellow koala bears Blue Polar bears Green Panda bears To give children a sense of belonging and to ensure they know the key group they are in the following items correspond with their key colour group snack cups/bowls name cards Trays Edited July 15, 2009 by cupcake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 We do use colours at the moment but we are looking into the possibility of having name cards, with their photos on for them to self registrate in the mornings but need more thought on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 We do use colours at the moment but we are looking into the possibility of having name cards, with their photos on for them to self registrate in the mornings but need more thought on this. our children have name cards for self registration, we have symbols alongside their name printed and laminated in their key colour, we find the symbol supports them to recognise their tray etc, such as 'Ben put your toy in your tray with the kite next to your name' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 We have just changed to flowers for Septemeber Lavender Rose Daisy Buttercup Sunflower Clover Poppy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 A few years ago when we only had two members of staff, children started with one key person and they were in 'Joeys', then when they were 3 we had a little ceremony and they changed groups and became a 'koala'. This meant that neither of us were overwhelmed with numbers and were were both working with groups of similar aged children which made planning and documenting slightly easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 A few years ago when we only had two members of staff, children started with one key person and they were in 'Joeys', then when they were 3 we had a little ceremony and they changed groups and became a 'koala'. This meant that neither of us were overwhelmed with numbers and were were both working with groups of similar aged children which made planning and documenting slightly easier Cait - this is something I've thought about for our group as keyworkers sometimes find it difficult having such a wide age range of children we have 2-5 yr olds. We have discussed and thought that children and parents would find it confusing and so we ditched the idea. You say you used to do it - would you mind saying what your reasoning for no longer doing it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 We now have 4 members of staff, so there is no need for things to be quite so tight now - what we do now is that I have the 'Pre-school' group - the ones in their last year before Reception, right from the start of the year. Parents know we do this, and by the time children get to that age they've been with us for a while and are secure with all the members of staff - most parents tend to come to me anyway so the 'transition' is easy. The younger children are 'shared' out between the other three members of staff depending on their working hours - no point putting 'Johnny' with Mrs Tasker if he comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she's not working. As new children join they go to either who they settle with best or who will see them most out of these three staff members. If it was a particularly large pre-school group (this year it's 10 so ok) then we'd share between 2 staff and 2 would take the younger ones. We also have 2 - 5 year olds. Parents didn't find it confusing as they knew about the ceremony and loved the certificate we did, children physically moved their tray from one area to another and loved the change in status! It's definitely something we'll do again if we are ever in a position to have only a few pre-schoolers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Thanks for that Cait - We only have 6 reception aged children this year perhaps it's something we could re-consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplepeanut Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Parents know we do this, and by the time children get to that age they've been with us for a while and are secure with all the members of staff - most parents tend to come to me anyway so the 'transition' is easy. Hi everyone. This is my first post but I would like to take the time to thank everyone for all the points of view, ideas and resources I have obtained from this site. The Foundation Stage Forum is an invaluable source of opinion and information which helps me a lot in the job that I do. The post from Cait interested me a lot because although we have a keyworker system in place the majority of parents still come to me for help/advice about their children. I am Deputy Manager of a day nursery and do make it my duty to know about all of the children's interests, likes/dislikes etc.. Not just the children in my key group. (although I sometimes feel all the children are in my 'key group'!!!)The children in our setting are also secure with all members of staff which I think is really important to the welfare of each child. (we run a very small nursery so this is easy to do) It would interest me to know how other settings allocate children into 'keygroups'. Our nursery allows each child a certain amount of time to get to know each practitioner and to develop a bond with everyone at the setting before putting them into a certain groups. Just as adults 'get on' better with certain people, we believe the same applies to children and we therefore elect the keyworker for the child on that basis. Thanks for listening everyone x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Absolutely purplepeanut (great name) There's always going to be a child you just 'don't gel with' and as long as another member of staff does, then it's not a problem. We allocate several different ways, at this time of year we know what staff shifts are going to be next year and put children with the staff who'll see them most (apart from my group of course who all are pre-school and have me anyway) We make sure that everyone has round about the same numbers of children and a 'share' of boys and girls - which just makes group time better for friendships, we find. Once we're all settled, if a child seems to be bonding better with another adult we ask them if they'd like to swap groups - as long as this doesn't mean that someone gets overwhelmed! Something else we take into account is friendship/neighbours. In the past, because we're a small village, we've found it better not to be a key person to the child next door, or to a good friend's child as it can harm relationships rather than build on them (it's happened in the past, so we just don't do it now - if you don't live in an insular village you might not understand that, I guess) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplepeanut Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Thanks Cait. I do realise what you mean about living in a close knit community. I live in London now but grew up in a tiny village. I can imagine that it could cause a slight conflict of interest if you lived next door to your key child or were close friends of the child's mother or father. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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