Working in Partnership - Eitquette
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  1. #1
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    Default Working in Partnership - Eitquette

    Good afternoon all,

    I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying the lovely weather!

    I have a query with regard to Working in Partnership with other settings – particularly Day Nurseries. I have a child who is now attending a Day Nursery for part of the week and part of the week still with me. I have sent a letter to their Key Person two weeks ago, and have had no response.

    I am just wondering if there is a Working in Partnership etiquette with regard to how long to wait before sending another letter? (It was sent by recorded delivery so I have proof they have received it).

    The reason I am asking is that I want to ensure I am meeting the needs of the child with regard to the EYFS and that if he Day Nursery do not want to engage I will try a maximum number of times and then have on record that I did try (I wish they would engage as it would be beneficial in this case I think). I have had responses before and work currently in partnership with another setting and other outside agencies so fine in this regard – just the etiquette and do not want to appear pushy. If the Day Nursery do not want to engage I will accept this. I just do not want to leave it too long between correspondence that it does not appear I am trying or too short between correspondences that I appear forceful and distance myself and get off on the wrong foot with them so to speak before we have even engaged.

    Many thanks in advance.

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    I keep asking - I don't take no for an answer.

    If the key person doesn't respond I go to the room leader - then the manager.

    Meanwhile I get evidence of complementing learning in other ways - from the website, children's comments, parents, newsletters etc.

    Hopefully they will get back to you soon x

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  4. #3
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    I'd give them a ring and ask to speak to the child's key person.


    Miffy xx
    Keep smiling!

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  6. #4
    Simona Guest

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    I raised this very question at London Ofsted Big Conversation on 24 June

    The most important thing is your assessment of the child's progress...whether this is shared or not

    If you feel not communicating with the other setting is a problem do raise it with your LA or DfE or Ofsted...they are the ones who inspect us
    Good luck

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  8. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simona View Post
    I raised this very question at London Ofsted Big Conversation on 24 June

    The most important thing is your assessment of the child's progress...whether this is shared or not

    If you feel not communicating with the other setting is a problem do raise it with your LA or DfE or Ofsted...they are the ones who inspect us
    Good luck
    How very interesting! I'm glad that point was raised Simona - thank you for feeding back to us.
    Out of curiosity - does anyone know of a childminder who has been approached by a nursery on this issue - because it always seems to be the other way round from what I can gather. I have never seen a nursery Ofsted report mention the fact that they don't communicate with a childminder - yet many of us don't have much luck with nurseries (although some are obviously very good).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maza View Post
    How very interesting! I'm glad that point was raised Simona - thank you for feeding back to us.
    Out of curiosity - does anyone know of a childminder who has been approached by a nursery on this issue - because it always seems to be the other way round from what I can gather. I have never seen a nursery Ofsted report mention the fact that they don't communicate with a childminder - yet many of us don't have much luck with nurseries (although some are obviously very good).

    I get approached by our school nursery whenever a parent of 'mine' even views or books a time to view the nursery! we then chat as to the child, and also what funded hours a child is doing, as between us, we can keep parent on the 'straight and narrow' !!! I've just arranged to pop in next week and share LJ with the teachers, along with my 'transition' form.

    any other I have to approach and don't get very far! I agree, I've never seen a nursery/preschool get a comment that they don't work with childminders! I mentioned this at some training ( with a company which is run by some part time Ofsted inspectors !!! ) and they said to make sure we tell the inspectors that when the preschool/nursery is inspected! ... I said the problem was that if we don't visit nursery, then we don't know inspection happening! but they said to make a comment on 'parent panel' or something, and/or to email Ofsted and ask to have it put as a note on that settings file!!!

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  12. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by loocyloo View Post
    I get approached by our school nursery whenever a parent of 'mine' even views or books a time to view the nursery! we then chat as to the child, and also what funded hours a child is doing, as between us, we can keep parent on the 'straight and narrow' !!! I've just arranged to pop in next week and share LJ with the teachers, along with my 'transition' form.

    any other I have to approach and don't get very far! I agree, I've never seen a nursery/preschool get a comment that they don't work with childminders! I mentioned this at some training ( with a company which is run by some part time Ofsted inspectors !!! ) and they said to make sure we tell the inspectors that when the preschool/nursery is inspected! ... I said the problem was that if we don't visit nursery, then we don't know inspection happening! but they said to make a comment on 'parent panel' or something, and/or to email Ofsted and ask to have it put as a note on that settings file!!!
    Interesting. I think nurseries can easily show how they 'work with other agencies' because with a larger number of children on their books they naturally come into more contact with physios, speech/language therapists etc. and so that box can get ticked, regardless of the fact that some poor childminder is using his/her spare time to get in contact with them.

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    Default Thank you for feedback

    Good evening all,

    Sarah 707 – great advice as always – I will contact the Room Leader next and if no response then the Manager. I like the idea as well of using the parents to share information, and can only ask to complement learning in other ways. Is there a time frame that I should use between each contact, for example a few days, a week, two weeks?

    Miffy - thank you for your response. However, I would telephone only that I am fearful then that I would lack evidence for Ofsted and am due inspection.

    Simona – interesting and thank you for the information. The Day Nursery is in another borough therefore, I am unsure who to contact – however, if it continues with a no response then I will contact my own in the first instance and see how that goes and take it from there if I need to contact any others.

    Maza – Yes, indeed we seem to be the one to continuously have to share and make contact first – nurseries and schools do not need to answer or engage and there are no ramifications for them if they do not work in partnership it appears – yet, us Childminder’s do seem to have the short straw on this, and I agree as less likely to be a big setting and have the opportunity to work in partnership with outside agencies, is a concern that we could be downgraded on this and have the unfair advantage I think. I find I do the visits to the nursery – they do not have interest in coming to me or very much interest in sharing information. As I have a small setting, work Monday to Friday, and cannot close to make a meeting, it means bringing little children with me, which is not great, and logistically a challenge at the best of times. This therefore, defeats the working in partnership ideal when larger settings do not engage so that we can all work together to share information in the interests of the child.

    It is also a cost (both in terms of money and time) – I send a registered letter as a means of contact initially (to prove that I am trying to work in partnership with another setting. Yes, it is not much at £1.73 it can be argued. However, this is coming off my profit margin and therefore, can add up. Not to mention my time, ink, paper etc. again a small cost although only have a small pot as a Childminder.
    Sorry Maza – I have rambled on – just wanted to say I agree with you on this.

    Loocyloo – thank you for your comment – yes, it would be great to flag it up, although would anything be done about it? I wish I had your school near me, this sounds great.

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  16. #9
    Simona Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maza View Post
    How very interesting! I'm glad that point was raised Simona - thank you for feeding back to us.
    Out of curiosity - does anyone know of a childminder who has been approached by a nursery on this issue - because it always seems to be the other way round from what I can gather. I have never seen a nursery Ofsted report mention the fact that they don't communicate with a childminder - yet many of us don't have much luck with nurseries (although some are obviously very good).
    Yes I can confirm that...I was approached via the parents to go and share the child's records with the other setting because they were very keen on it
    This is just one particular case but I could mention more...or write an essay !!!
    Unfortunately it all fell apart and I ended up doing an additional separate report and the door was shut in my face...that is what I raised to Ofsted at OBC
    Was my LA interested in highlighting the lack of info sharing?...yes as long as I provided the setting's name...which I refused.

    When I run my preschool my doors were open to any other setting, including Cms and schools.
    As a Cm I find the door ajar too often but there are those willing to really share information as it is supposed to be in the EYFS

    If you read the EYFS page 29 it is very clear what it says...well in DfE speak that is!
    Providers must enable a regular two-way flow of information with parents and/or carers, and between providers, if a child is attending more than one setting

    So far very clear but then the EYFS does its usually trick and goes very vague: If requested, providers [U]should [U] incorporate parents' and/or carers' comments into children records

    In the end each setting focusses on providing its own LJ for Ofsted so the child has possibly 2....our systems are different as well and we will see this even more with the 30 hours saga.
    We must clarify though that there are settings very open to info sharing and consider that nurseries have a totally different way of operating.

    I did write to the Ofsted woman who has now retired...her name escapes me....her reply was : 'Ofsted cannot force schools to communicate if they don't want to'...voila'!

    I have also worked in nurseries and preschools and seen how the info sharing works...or NOT!
    The example of the Integrated 2 year old Review is the one to take our lesson from....all good in theory but in practice? we will see!

    I often attend meetings with all sorts of providers ...all keen to share!!
    What we lack is a 'robust' policy on what Info sharing is all about...until then children will collect LJs and teachers 'forced' to carry out a Baseline Assessment to establish where the children are at!

  17. #10
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    I would go into the Nursery with a Partnership working form or letter and ask them to sign "yes" they will work in partnership with you or "No" they won't - in my letter I have the paragraph from Stat guidance saying that providers MUST work together.

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  19. #11
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    I remembered seeing this on the fb page. a preschool was pulled up for not working in partnership with other settings. a very small step but a good one in the right direction.

    ...."Staff have some links with other settings that children attend. However, if they do not receive feedback from them, they are not proactive in following this up to promote continuity in children's learning. The provider should develop links with other settings to create a two-way flow of information regarding children's ongoing achievements and next steps, to enable complementary learning"
    When someone tells you nothing is impossible, tell them to go slam a revolving door

 

 

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