Parent Partnership

Parent Partnership – The KATC Way

By Elizabeth Cummings

As we have established from our recent blogs, working with parents is one of the most important things to do to improve outcomes for children. It allows a smooth transition from home to nursery and allows parents to feel appreciated and fully engaged in their child’s learning.

KATC include parents in many different ways, looking at the different strategies we use to involve parents with their child’s learning and day to day care will give you tips on what is expected and what adds that extra something that makes KATC the place to be

When parents choose www.kidsaroundtheclock.co.uk to be their preferred setting, the child’s key person will ask the parent to help them complete a baseline assessment, this is simple questions that help the practitioner to plan for the individual child. The practitioner will ask for the child’s interests and how they learn at home, the practitioner puts a care plan together with the parent/carer and this will be followed to enable a smooth transition from home to nursery.

Once the baseline assessment is completed and the practitioner plans for the individual child the practitioner will plan activities based on the information provided by the parent/carer, they will also put together Home Learning which is usually a 5-minute activity that the parent/carer can engage their child with at home.

The practitioner will speak to the parent/carer regarding the activity and gain feedback, this allows the parent a strong connection to what their children are learning and what they get out of each activity. Daily sheets are used to enable parents/carers to see what activities their children have enjoyed throughout the day to enable them the opportunity to follow on this learning at home.

KATC use a online learning journal to document observations of activities, parents/carers have access to this information and can upload their own pictures and observations at home, making sure that parents/carers have this access is important so that they know what they do with their children at home is important and their self confidence is boosted to know that they are helping their child to succeed in education by doing small activities.

Practitioners act as a contact for information and advice for parents/carers, as the key person bonds with the child and their family, they are able to offer advice on things such as health, toilet training, tooth brushing, well-being, behaviour, learning, development and play. Practitioners use their training to promote activities to parents/carers that are both fun and fulfilling for all involved.

At KATC we have parent representatives who meet with management to discuss current plans and reflect on practice and the setting as a whole, we often send out questionnaires for parent/carer feedback, we have our social media which parents/carers can comment on and ask any questions, but most of all we have an open-door policy where we are never to busy to talk to a parent/carer and make sure they are happy with the service that we provide.

If you would like to discuss any points that are addressed in this blog further, please leave a comment with your email address and I would be happy to get in touch.