Daily Info For Parents Sheets

[Guest]

Hi

 

Hoping some of you nursery professionals can help answer this question!

 

My daughters nursery used to send home daily record sheets which detailed activities done that day, toileting, food eaten etc. We have been told this week that these will no longer be sent home to "cut down on staff admin time". Instead the policy is to now display weekly activities and menus on the notice board and all other issues will be delt with verbally at the end of the day.

 

I am fine with the activities and menus being up on the board but the verbal info handover just isnt working. ...

 

Staff cannot always remember if she has eaten her lunch (one will say yes another will say actually no she didn't!)

Nappy chats are a bit hit and miss too and at the end of the day when there are 2 or 3 people collecting children it is very hectic.

 

What do you all think?

 

Don't want to approach them about if if you think I am being unreasonable and just wondered if there was a minimum requirement for end of day info for under 3s?

[Sue R]

Hi, I'm in a DN, although based in Pre-school.

 

We fill in daily diaries for children in Babies and Toddlers, which detail food, drink, sleep, activities and nappy changes. These are not sent home but are kept in case of issues arising, but they are all, without exception, gone over with the collecting adult, who can make notes so they can inform others. In practice this means there can sometimes be parents/carers waiting to speak to the Keyworker/Head of Room (only qualified staff do these handovers), but we've never had a complaint about that!

 

The diaries are very complete, but shouldn't be a hassle to fill in, as it should be done as things occur. I think this is a legal requirement, but it's certainly good practice!

 

When the children come to Pre-school, they have a weekly diary which covers their activities throughout the week with space for the Teacher's input as well as the keyworker. There is also a section for next week's focus and parents comments (although this is rarely completed!). Each sheet is filed in the child's diary folder to go home over the weekend and be returned the following week. Matters such as food, drink, toileting are usually covered in the verbal handover which always happens, as the child is not allowed to go without the Senior present being aware.

 

Any help?

 

Sue

[Guest]

We have keyworker books. The babies books are more detailed, and as the children get older they have less and less informatio in them. The 3 to 5 year old books only go home occassionally.

 

We discussed their use as a team recently, as some staff were spending more time filling in information, than interacting with the children. We agreed as a team that we were going to concentrate on communicating more with the parents, to hand over the information.

 

I would much rather my team spend their time being with the children, than writing. Only 1 parent has asked to speak to me about the lack of information in theeir child's book, and when I explained it, she understood.

 

We have recently set up a display for parents showing what was for lunch, breakfast, snack, etc.

[Sue R]

Forgot to say that the menus are displayed in Reception and there is also a copy of the five week menu for all age groups in each child's diary. Parents are also given one when they book a place.

 

Sue

[Guest]

Thanks - nice to know what other nurseries do - As a KS1 teacher I desperately don't want to turn into a fussy parent but equally do want to have the correct info about my daughter at the end of the day ( I don't get much reliable information from a 2 year old! )

 

Does anyone know what the legal requirement is?

 

Is just verbal handover OK/good practice for under 3s or is it reccommended that there is some form of written evidence?

[Guest]

I am a registered childminder, but work in a setting with 3 other childminders so similar to a small day nursery.

I also have a part time job in the early years dept of the local authority.

And I am mum to a 2 year old still in nappies!

I have been hitting my head against a brick wall trying to convince my local auth colleagues that there is still a need for written notes re sleep times, nappy changes, food eaten etc.

They only take 5 minutes to complete if they are set up properly, and its vital information.

As a parent, I need to know if my child has had a poo, and when, so that i know if she is staying regular, if i am due a dirty nappy, if she is constipated etc.

I need to know how well she ate so that i know to be concerned if she eats badly at tea time , or whether to do another cooked meal if she didnt eat much cooked at lunchtime etc.

I need to know how long she slept, and when, so that I know if she needs an early night, or if she isnt tired at bedtime its because she had a late sleep during the day or perhaps slept for longer etc.

These are all really important things to me as a parent, and the local authority are suggesting that settings put the option to parents in this way

"would you rather we carried on completing your daily record book with details such as nappy changes, or spend more time interacting with your child?"

Now that is blackmail I feel, as parents would feel awful saying that they wanted them to keep doing the records, and spend less time with their child.

These records take 5 minutes - I know, as i do them for my child,minded children, and they are extremely useful to parents.

Sorry to have got on my soap box, but i wear many hats on this subject, and I will continue to take 5 minutes to complete these basic records, as i would struggle to remember when each child had a poo, etc. Much easier to jot it down, and be sure of the information parents need to know. It also leaves me free to discuss less routine things about the children I care for when parents come to collect, such as funny things they may have said, or steps forward in their development etc.. as well as improve the relationship with the parents because i have more time to "chat2 about everything else rather than nappies, sleep etc.

Ellie

[Guest]

I was talking to some of our local childminders yesterday and they had just attended a birth to three course and one of them was not happy because they were told they had to make notes about what the children did during the day and plan next steps etc. to share with the parents.

 

We only do nursery age so I can't help you any more than that really

Sue

[Guest]

I don't think you are being fussy, but also feel that 'daily' information shared needs to be confined to what is in the best interest of the child in terms of continuity of care. Everyone I would think may interpret this differently, ie: one parent may want to know exactly what their child ate for lunch because they are monitoring their, for example, daily carbohydrate intake, whereas another parent may not see this information as crucial as long as they feel confident that the DN has provided a well balanced, healthy meal. If my son consistently didn't eat his lunch then I would want to be informed, yet if he picked at it on just one or two occasions I wouldn't necessarily feel the need to be told this.

 

I am a preschool, so haven't really experienced the younger age range with regards to the logistics of recording information for parents, such as bottle feeds etc. Within a practitioners day there is a lot of recording to be done, across all aspects of the days occurances, nappy changes, individual childrens development records, time in and out of the setting, cleaning checks, fridge temperatures, accident / incident / records, who's accessed the snack bar or not, developmental observations, misc - ie: changes of info from parents, ie who is going to pick up, change of telephone number etc etc. These need to be managed in a way that does not take too much time away from the children.

 

To see what are the legal requirements regarding information sharing, the best place to look is the National Standards, which can be found on the Ofsted website. The statutory requirements are indicated by an asterix.

 

When I register children into my preschool, I do a home visit and as well as a child profile also complete a questionairre with the parents, one of my questions is: What information do you expect to receive, and how often? This gives us a discussion point that provides for the familys individual communication needs. It also gives me an opportunity to explain our communication methods, ie: termly parent evenings, newsletters, etc, they have the option to receive one or more of written, verbal, e-mail etc methods of communication. needs also vary with regard to amount and frequency of the need for info, a new child / parent is reassured by more information as the child settles and the parent gets to know us, as their time with us progresses parents become more aware of everyday policies and practices, and therefore may only need specific info of their childs current emotional, social, physical needs / experiences etc.

 

I write on a whiteboard the daily info such as what activities children have accessed, the adult led activities, who was the snack bar helper and what foods were provided, plus also try to make time to talk to every parent on arrival and departure ( keeping in mind that confidentiality is difficult to maintain at these two times unless the parent is taken away from the entrance, which unless crucial, I don't like to do as this act in itself can let others know I need to talk to a parent, much rather contact the parent not in front of others, so to speak)

 

 

Hope this helps, maybe if you could have a chat with your daughters keyworker and discuss what information would be most useful for you and how often you would like to receive it, this may help.

I have policies regarding parental involvement including conveying information but as with every other area of our service, these are blanket policies in which the procedures also respect each childs/ parents individual requirements.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Thanks everybody for all your advice - useful stuff

 

Ellie you are saying exactly what me and other parents are saying - nappy and food info is so hard to remember but impacts on our day when we collect our children and take them home - it is important info and I would rather we had it in a simple written form (nothing time consuming just ticks crosses and times - everything else can be got from the noticeboard)

 

I'd much rather chat to her keyworker at homtime about her day generally rather than 20 questions about dirty nappies and mealtimes - most of the time they have to consult with 1 or sometimes 2 other members of staff to gather all this info anyway which I am sure is wasting more time than the simple recording sheets!

[Guest]

We do the same as Sue for the pre school children our inserts also have menus in them and we jot down in the childs insert how much they have eaten