A colleague has asked me to blog about engaging parents – so here goes!
Our colleague wrote to tell me that she was having trouble getting feedback from parents and was concerned about what would happen when Ofsted come to inspect her if parents don’t write on their children’s observation forms or in their diaries.
I reminded her that communication does not need to be in writing – the most valuable communication times for us, in our provision, are when parents drop off and collect their children. We chat to them about their child’s time at home (and use what they tell us in our planning) and we give information at the end of the day about what their child has enjoyed doing (which promotes home learning because they might go home and try it there).
Our parents will tell an Ofsted inspector that we are constantly updating them with information about how their child is getting on and giving them ideas for activities to try at home … because we prioritise parent communication and we ask them, ‘How can we best communicate with you?’ regularly.
We are always keen to engage our parents in every aspect of their child’s time with us. When Ofsted inspect, they are looking for these main areas of involvement as stated in the Early Years Inspection handbook…
- Parents being consulted on how we manage our business
- Parents being given information about their child’s time in the provision
- Parents being involved in their children’s time in the provision
- Us providing parents with ideas to develop their child’s learning at home.
Link - Early Years inspection handbook here.
- Parents being consulted on how we manage our business
- Newsletters – we send out monthly newsletters to keep parents updated. We often ask them questions which we then repeat verbally through the month when they have had time to think about their replies.
- Questionnaires – we ask parents questions, collate their replies and include their comments in our self-evaluation and as part of our action planning for the future, to ensure we are constantly reflecting on provision. We feed back to parents via newsletters and verbally so they know their views are listened to and used to help us continuously improve.
- Verbal questioning - we often ask parents whether we are, for example, communicating with them effectively - how can we improve the ways we communicate with you? Do you receive information about your child and the service we provide in your preferred format (face to face, electronically, on paper)? Do we talk to you regularly enough – do you feel well informed about what your child is doing here?
**Link - Knutsford Childminding website here.
- Parents being given information about their child’s time in the provision
- Texts – we send parents text messages to keep them updated and we welcome their texts to tell us about their child/ren at home.
- Phone calls – we telephone parents if we need to speak to them through the day and we welcome their phone calls to keep us updated.
- WhatsApp – we send photos to parents of their child’s time here via WhatsApp and we welcome photos of their child at home.
- Email – we send information to parents via email and we encourage parents to respond.
- Notice board – we have a regularly updated notice board including a daily display which tells parents where we are going and what we are doing so they can talk about it with their child at home.
- Website – we have a parents page on our Knutsford Childminding website and keep it updated with newsletters and other information for parents.
- WordPress blog – we have a parent blog and we share information about our activities and updates to statutory requirements. We email parents to let them know when we have added a new blog.
**Link – Knutsford Childminding website parents page here.
**Link - Knutsford Childminding parents blog here.
- Parents being involved in their children’s time in the provision
- Children’s files – each child has an individual plan (we call it our Play Plan) which includes information about what they have enjoyed doing and what we have been teaching them. We share information with parents through their Play Plan about observations, assessments and individual planning regularly.
- Photo albums – each child has a personalised photo album with photos from home which parents have provided. We encourage parents to send us more photos so we can keep the album updated – children then sit and chat to us about people in the album and things they have been doing at home.
- Progress reviews – we complete regular reviews for each child and share them with parents. We ask for their comments about their child’s learning at home so we can incorporate home learning in their observations and Play Plan.
- Daily diary – we complete a diary for parents every day, letting them know what their child has been doing and sharing information about their care routines. We have just changed our diary to emails as all parents were happy to receive information about their child’s day in this way and it enables us to reach parents we don’t regularly see – this has been a great success and we are regularly receiving quality feedback.
- Face to face meetings – we offer parents regular opportunities to come into the provision and talk about their child’s ongoing learning journey, listening to any concerns they might have and acting on them in partnership.
**Link – play planning blog here.
- Us providing parents with ideas to develop their child’s learning at home
Here are some of the ways we promote children’s home learning –
- Emails – we share regular ‘preparing for school’ emails with parents of children in the year before they go into reception class at school. We encourage feedback and ask parents to let us know how their child is preparing for the transition at home. You will find these letters and much more information on the Childcare.co.uk website.
- Newsletter – we include regular a ‘things to try at home’ section in our newsletter.
- Email diary – we sometimes add notes about what parents might like to do at home with their child/ren to develop their learning based on what they have been doing here. For example, we might say ‘John loved using the peg jigsaws today – he was really trying to get the pieces in the holes. Do you have any at home or would you like to borrow some to use with him over the weekend?’
**Link – Childcare.co.uk ‘preparing for school’ series here.
**Link – parents newsletters on Knutsford Childminding (see above)
**Link - free daily diary from Childcare.co.uk here.
We are thinking about introducing…
- A colleague sometimes sends a postcard to parents to mark a special event … a postcard might also be displayed on the notice board (with parents permission) to celebrate a ‘wow’ moment or similar developmental milestone in a child’s life.
- One of our local nurseries posts regularly changed signs on their external notice board which remind parents about the importance of, for example, listening to or communicating with their child. We wonder if this might be helpful for our parents if they are mixed in with information bulletins…
- Quite a few childminder colleagues have Facebook pages for their parents and permission to share photos on the pages. We don't do this yet but it is something we are considering for the future.
It is important to measure success – are communications with parents being read – are you getting feedback from them? Do parents come back with information – are they engaged in their child’s time with you?
It is important that you make best use of your time – you don’t want to spend your weekend slaving over a beautifully crafted newsletter if nobody reads it… so ask parents, ‘Am I communicating with you in your preferred way?’ and follow up with changes if necessary.
We are always keen to improve our communication and welcome comments and thoughts from other professionals.
Thank you. Sarah Neville