Working in partnership with preschool

[venus89]

When I started mining some children who also went to preschool I introduced myself and bleated a little about working together and got no further than that. Now, partly because I have 2 at preschool and due to start school in September and partly because I'm trying to get EYPS I plan to try again but more firmly and more successfully.

I have permission from both sets of parents to share info with the preschool and though I might write two letters to them, one for each child, outlining what my plans for the children are for the coming weeks and asking them to share theirs so we're working towards the same thing. And I wondered about telling them about my planning for the term and why, and suggesting that they might like to share theirs too then we can complement each other.

Do you have any suggestions for making a partnership with a preschool successful?

[sarah707]

I keep trying but apart from the old 'he's been fine' chestnut I'm not getting much further.

To be fair they have instigated a sharing book, but that is mostly them making notes about what he has done and mum writing in messages about who to ring if he's not well etc.

I think there is a long way to go with a lot of settings before true partnership working will be seen. :rolleyes:

[TammyN]

oooooh i am looking in to this within my uni research as it's a bug bear of mine at the moment! i have had permission from my parent to share information. i have made a point of sharing my termly review with the parent and then sent it in to pre school with the teacher and also a blank learning sheet with headings for her keyworker to fill in and send back(from sarah's learning journey cd!), she has been asked by mum to complete this for me and this week it has come back :clapping: so by persevering i think i am beginning to make a difference, at least i know what area's they are looking at with her at pre school. it's a hard slog tho on our part to be seen as a proffesional, don't you think!

i will follow this thread with interest :D

[Ali56]

The pre-school I drop off at is fab- I get an end of term review for each child and I give one to them! (with parents permission of course!):D

[tashaleee]

Hmmm Im not getting very far with mine..... I asked them about their planning and their words were 'its on the door!' - basic A4 sheet for the week with one thing written per day (no chance of a copy of it, not that there is much point). They complained the other day that mindees mum hadnt turned up to an open session regarding book reading - I said I would have come instead but you never invited me (joking way) and they said they would next time (wont hold my breath)! They know we are meant to work together but it seems they do their thing and I do mine :rolleyes:

They do happily let me look at their LJ but its so rubbish it makes no difference (could be about anyone really)......

[venus89]

I don't think that preschools - or at least the preschool I deal with - take Childminders that seriously. One of my mindees had a PEP review which I wasn't invited to - I only know about it because Mum told me - yet I have her more time than they do. At least you're all getting some degree of communication, I suppose that's something, but in my opinion the preschool should be contacting the Childminders and working with - it's easier for us to take their planning on board than vice versa, surely?

[blue bear]

I have one that is brill and one that just doesn't want to know.

the brilliant one shares planning with me and builds on what we have been doing at home when child is at nursery (counting number, self hand washing etc) and vice versa,we share regular updates on child's learning and send special pices of work to put in each places learning journey, I get copies of all their letters.

The other one only really pays lip service to the EYFS, very little of the learning journey is linked to areas of learning, photos have comments written next to them like, 'xxx is paying with the train'.

When I first introduce myself I send in a photo diary of my home with comments aboout the resources so they know what the child likes or not as the case may be. I give them copies of my planning and an uptodate summative assessment of the child's development (parental permission) I can't make them work with me I just try to show willing

[venus89]

When I first introduce myself I send in a photo diary of my home with comments aboout the resources so they know what the child likes or not as the case may be. I give them copies of my planning and an uptodate summative assessment of the child's development (parental permission) I can't make them work with me I just try to show willing

That's a good idea. I think half the battle is getting some of these people to stop thinking we're glorified babysitters and recognise that we follow just the same curriculum that they do - in essence, we're the same, it's just they do it in the centre/preschool/nursery and we do it from home.... The trouble is, some Childminders do lend the impression to other people that we don't actually do anything all day.....

[venus89]

Well, I'm still waiting for a reply! So I've emailed today and suggested that as I gave the letters to a third party (another CM, whose own child attends the preschool) then perhaps they got lost in transit? So I've outlined my idea of information sharing again, without going into any details at all, obviously, as it's an email, I just wrote about' the children in our shared care' and shall wait... Not with bated breath, though, as I have a feeling I'd expire before I heard a peep from them :rolleyes:

[singingcactus]

I think we all need to be realistic about how much the preschools and nurseries can manage. They have a large number of children to care for, and yes I know there are more adults in a room but the ratios are similar to ours. It is often said on this forum that childminders struggle to keep up with all the paperwork, so the same will be true for daycare workers. They have their own paperwork to maintain, so expecting them to keep up with their own, read ours for each child, and then add to it all with additional work for each child is unrealistic.
Sharing information means that we have access to the children LJ the same as the parents, and that at termly review time maybe we also get to make an appointment with the child's key worker and discuss what is happening in both settings. It means if there are any significant issues the key worker and yourselves share the info.
I honestly don't think that it is fair to expect preschool workers to have to do additional paperwork and planning so that we can all fit in and do the same thing. It is just about two way passage of information, just like we do with parents. Ask the nursery to add you to their email list, or print you off a copy of the termly newsletter. Send in a slip of paper with any wow moments you have observed and ask them to let you know of any achievements that occur at preschool. Beyond that, relax and enjoy a nice chatty relationship with the nurseries, don't put too much pressure on them or yourselves.

[venus89]

I think we all need to be realistic about how much the preschools and nurseries can manage. They have a large number of children to care for, and yes I know there are more adults in a room but the ratios are similar to ours. It is often said on this forum that childminders struggle to keep up with all the paperwork, so the same will be true for daycare workers. They have their own paperwork to maintain, so expecting them to keep up with their own, read ours for each child, and then add to it all with additional work for each child is unrealistic.
Sharing information means that we have access to the children LJ the same as the parents, and that at termly review time maybe we also get to make an appointment with the child's key worker and discuss what is happening in both settings. It means if there are any significant issues the key worker and yourselves share the info.
I honestly don't think that it is fair to expect preschool workers to have to do additional paperwork and planning so that we can all fit in and do the same thing. It is just about two way passage of information, just like we do with parents. Ask the nursery to add you to their email list, or print you off a copy of the termly newsletter. Send in a slip of paper with any wow moments you have observed and ask them to let you know of any achievements that occur at preschool. Beyond that, relax and enjoy a nice chatty relationship with the nurseries, don't put too much pressure on them or yourselves.

A fair point, and well made. And I have an apology to make, the preschool manager did get back to me yesterday to say yes, she was aware of the need to information share but is up to her eyeballs at the moment and will get back to it as soon as she can.Which I'm perfectly satisfied with.

I think the issue for me is that I don't feel like I am valued by the preschool as a professional. I think they don't 'get' what it is we do. I'd like them to recognise that I can support their work, especially as my setting is calmer and has more opportunity for one on one interaction with the children, and help them to help the children to move on. So it's not a case of asking them to do more, simply to share what they do so we can head in the same direction.....

[appleblossom]

Our pre-school have a good relationship with the Childminders who drop off and pick up there. Each term we are given a booklet (which also goes to parents) detailing the topics for the term in order that we can plan complementary activities for the children in our care. I have seen the Learning Journey books they do and am pleased to note that mine are way ahead of theirs:)

On Mondays I write about what my mindee, S, has been doing over the weekend as the weekend news is their first activity of the week, and I have to supply the information as I drop off every day.

Yesterday I was greeted by a panic stricken pre-school teacher because S had a split lip as a result of crawling face first into the corner of a bench. The staff had tried to contact both parents without success. They were worried that S needed to go to A & E and that I would be unable to take him with me because the parents were uncontactable to make a decision. They were very relieved that I was happy to take responsibility for dealing with it from there. I believe that it is because of the Childminders' good working relationship with the pre-school that we were able to deal with this issue between us.

I was a little concerned that the parents were not contactable. It turned out that the father was in a meeting so his phone was switched off. Mother was not in work and was out of signal range.

In this case S did not actually need hospital treatment. However I was thankful that I have recently made sure I have the parents' workplace landline numbers, so I may be able to contact them if they are not answering mobile phones. It seems that the pre school do not have those numbers. It was on this forum, I think, that I recently read that Ofsted now recommend that we have workplace landline numbers for parents in case of emergencies.

What an excellent place this is. So much shared information from you all, which helps every one of us.