tracyb46

We have on line journeys too and we have started to offer a rolling parent meetings which are more 'in the moment' and therefore more relevant to the everyone concerned. This is working extremely well for all..... basically the parents of the children that are the 'focus' for the week are told and invited to share information that may help us 'plan' in the moment ideas for their children. Then after the week has finished the parents can read what we have said during the week about their child and we at that point we ask if they would like a meeting with the key person to discuss what was observed.

We do ours once every half term, so 6 weekly and works really well. Ofsted liked it and the staff all say it is a chance to discuss things and to hear how they are performing, so they really like them. It helps me keep up to date with everything and we also go through a learning journey in detail together, which again supports the staff in their work.

We have just hired a lead practitioner EYT/EYP and they get a 5% enhancement if they are working with the children 75% of the time enabling the setting to claim a higher rate of funding per child per hour. The hourly rate is £4.25 per child per hour.... Hope this helps,I am in Suffolk.

We are changing to a full day care from January 2016 from a sessional day care. We got advice from the local authority and other settings and the offer we will do is as follows...... 8-6, 8-1, 1-6, 9-3 and 9-12 or 12-3. We have done a register of the current intake for September to see what they want for January and overwhelmingly it is 9-3 and 9-12 parents want. We have 38 parents wanting those hours and 8 that want the other options. It gives flexibility for parents though to offer a range of hours and as word gets out that we are no longer a sessional preschool, I do think there will be more take up of the 8-6's.

When you send your letter out make it really positive, that you are offering more flexibility and choice and in our circumstance we offer as an incentive of doing 5+ hours of having a lunch included. The parents loved that and we just increased our session a bit to cover it.

Good luck!

I went to safeguarding training yesterday and was told it is legislation to do monthly supervisions and Ofsted pick up on it if you don't. My question is who does the manager's, when the chairperson is always so busy? I asked my deputy to do it for me this month, not sure if this is ok or not, but better than not doing it at all!

Yes, I have and although it was very difficult situation, handled with sensitivity and honesty helped a lot! I, with the staff member's approval, sent out a letter to all parents explaining the situation and that she would be off work for chemo etc and how we wished her well. I always kept her in touch with what we were doing while she was off and she appreciated it very much. She would be invited to the Christmas dinner etc so she felt included, although she was too sick to attend. Also we decided to do a children obstacle race which is conducted annually to raise funds for our preschool. Instead we chose to, with her support and approval, give any monies raised to the local children's cancer hospice.

I hope this helps a bit, but do feel free to ask more questions. x

What we do at our preschool and reception classes is a rota, we have it in the mornings on a Monday and a Tuesday we have it in the afternoon etc. This works well and every now and then we join and share the playground.

you are welcome, our children use it a lot and staff use for small group work too. Ofsted really liked it too, so sell sell sell if they turn up that you use it!

Newbury park language of the month site is brilliant!! We use it in our setting all the time, just take a look and it is all self explanatory really.... It has helped our Eal children and staff! We also take photos of things like toilet, cup etc and ask parents to say the word it is in their language into our talking album (you can buy online cheap) and then all children and staff can press the button to listen to the word being said so is very inclusive. Let me know how you get on......

To encourage parents to attend, we say 'its a chance to look through your child's learning journey's, chat to your child's key worker and offer nibbles and drinks..... goes down really well, every year we have done it, we have had 20+ parents show up! It also acts as a parents evening, so we don't have to do another one til Feb then...

Thank you for the information re costings Steve, and yes you have guessed it can I have a look at your account to see how it all works please.... Just want to see if I can work it really! Thanks

You are not alone, I had a very similar situation today and feel the same way you do, so reading your post has helped me not feel so bad... we try our best but sometimes we just have to shrug our shoulders and hold our heads up because we know what we are talking about. I think your parent, like mine is just being defensive and they probably know we are right! I think you are doing the right thing and I wish you luck in helping him settle and hope that one day your parent says thank you!

No Melcatfish, you are right in planning possible next steps they just want you to call them possible lines of development, it came from the county I am in and were very specific to say scrap next steps! YOu are doing it the way I am going to so carry on x

Yes you are right Hoolahoney, that is exactly what they said.... so ladies its tear up those 'Next Steps' and think PLOD and they also said make planning much more flexible and lead those children on more on the day or next time they are in..... so basically your planning sheets should all but be blank and you fill in as you go depending on what the children want to do in continous provision and plan more for things that you know children wont usually go for.....

Went to a meeting last night where we were told NOT to do 'next steps' anymore. I would be really interested to know what you do in your settings now the new EYFS has come into force. I am so confused now!