Staff/parent Communication

[Guest]

Hi,

Have been discussing recently how to improve our staff/ parent communication. It seems to be a problem that we are not doing enough, and I wondered how other pre-schools involve parents.

 

we have a newsletter once a term, and try to do at least one fundraising activity a term to which parents can come along. Thats all committee lead.

 

We don't have any diaries or comments books. Should we?Are they useful/hard work.

 

Would appreciate any ideas or advice.

 

Thanks

[HappyMaz]

We have home/school diaries - for children who are new we write in them every time the child attends. For settled children we commit to writing in them at least once, but more often if there is something to say. We read them every time the child attends, so parents can use them to let us know anything important/amusing/interesting etc. Some parents write in them often, others never write in them. We encourage parents to take them with the child to their other settings if we share care, so that we can share information.

 

We do find it a struggle sometimes to write in them, but one thing we've talked about is having some stickly labels pre-prepared to say things like "new pages in special books" or "we're going to the allotment for the day on Thursday: please make sure your child has wellies" or whatever.

 

For us its very much a work in progress, we just keep plodding on and trying to make it as streamlined as we can!

 

Maz

[hali]

i think home/nurery books are very useful for parents and staff to write in. Also do you use 6 weekly reviews? thats good to get parents input into. other settings use post it notes to send home with parents or things like holiday/festival slips for parents to fill in.

[finleysmaid]

i've had a comments box in the hall for 6 years (ofsted liked it!) i have NEVER once had a suggestion in it!!

[trekker]

we too have the same comments that we are not communicating enough...we do termly face to face keyperson meetings, written reports, monthly newsletters, notice board, diaries, general feedback on arrival / collection (when we can!), accident / incident forms, behaviour forms, WOW slips, copies of the EYFS, other leaflets giving info on early years issues... ..etc

What else do parents want?

Perhaps thats the question that needs to be asked individually...how do YOU want us to communicate with you, what specifically do you want to know and how often?...maybe then we'll get it right!

[Fredbear]

Hi we have a book club bit like going to the library each week, the children share this at home and then have a sheet with parent/child comment sheet, with things such as loved this book, didn't like etc children also have a section to draw a lovely picture, these all go in the children's learning journals. We have a info board, monthly newsletter, learning board where parents can contribute anything of interest about their child or something they may have done together. We also see parents daily where parents/carers get to talk to the child's keyperson. Always looking for new ideas so shall watch this post with interest.

[Guest]

Hi, we do the following, I will put beside each one how useful we find it:

 

Questionnaire - about twice a year - we find this really useful as parents give feedback and we can make changes in response. You always get one or two who will give really harsh (constructive?) responses but these are also often a boost for staff as most parents are happy and will say so. I also collate these into a summary for staff so they can see where the main areas for improvement are.

 

Website/email - mainly for publicity, parents a bit hesitant about this at the moment.

 

Text messages - great for quick and instant communication, parents love this.

 

Newsletters - once or twice a term, depending, they do read them and it is a useful way to get important stuff across.

 

Comments book - you have to hassle them to write in it, but worth doing and we also stick any thank you cards in here.

 

Parent noticeboard - useful for day to day messages, sometimes hard to get them to read this.

 

WOW slips and learning diaries in children's drawers - this takes persistence and you have to remind them but they do like these.

 

Informal chats - just have to make sure they don't interfere with session time, especially with committee/parent thing!!

 

Twice yearly consultations - these are now done with key person, useful and well received.

 

Chalkboard - for day to day notices, placed outside, but had a tendency to fall over, so we have replaced with ...

 

Brand new noticeboard by the front door - we are waiting to see but it looks lovely and it stamps our presence on the hall!

 

I was also doing a 'what are we learning this week' thing but it was taking up too much of my time. The parents loved this but tough, I don't get paid for this!

 

Can't think of anything else right now. Hope that helps.

[Cait]

Yes, we do those, we stick photos in the home/school books too - usually 'pogo' prints as they are handy. We have 'stay and chat' for parents to talk about what their child has done. We also go out for a meal twice a year with parents (Christmas and summer) and this is good to really get to know people and relax with them. We invite past parents to the Christmas one too, so we can all 'catch up' and the summer one is for saying goodbye.

 

Every Friday parents come in early (at both sessions) to join in with story and songtime. All the parents choose a song for us all to sing, and for those who can't think of one we have a mug with song suggestions printed on strips of paper for them to pull out at random.

 

We always encourage lonely parents to stay and play if they want to

[HoneyPancakes]

i've had a comments box in the hall for 6 years (ofsted liked it!) i have NEVER once had a suggestion in it!!

 

 

I remember being told that confidentiality needs to be maintained with Comments, Compliments and Complaints books. but I can't remember what the solution was.

 

Honey