Involving parents more

[helendee]

I recently had an inspection and got my very first 'Good' grading in thirteen years of minding!! I received my copy of the inspection report today and it said that the only thing that had stopped me from being 'Outstanding' was the fact that my parents weren't involved enough in their children's progress. I send home daily diaries, regularly show them their child's learning journals and send home a newsletter each month with lots of pics and info about what we have done over the past month; as well as all this I have daily chat with them about their little one as I am sure we all do.

I am not bothered in the slightest about getting an Outstanding but I a curious as to how others encourage the parents to take more interest.

Thanks.

[gegele]

weekly / monthly e-mail with an activity idea following what you did or going to do with children during the week / month.

I don't know, if you've been talking about spiders for example, made spider webs, sang incy wincy you can say : activity you could do during week end is to spot spider web in the garden or on walk out. count them. talk about them. can you see rain drop on them? dead bugs LOL...


if you're planning to go to the zoo you can suggest reading dear zoo, maybe share your copy for the week end...

you get the idea.


or do a newsletter and put activity idea on that.

this I think are great ideas, I don't do it because I lazy but I say it to parents can't prove it but i don't care.

[BlondeMoment]

I would appeal. It doesn't sound like you can do much more!

[sarah707]

Inspectors usually pick one area of provision to suggest improvement. Troubles what 1 inspector comes up with another will say something different

Supporting home learning is a big inspection outcome at the moment ... encouraging parents to follow up activities at home ... you could focus on that.

Hth

[jadavi]

Also maybe a parent satisfaction/ how could I improve questionnaire. ?

[Ambersmum]

I send journals home every few months and stick a slip inside for parents to put what their child's interests are at home currently & something they may have done that's an achievement .

[miffy]

When you chat to parents at the start/end of the day make a note of anything they tell you about what their child has enjoyed doing so you can build on that when they are with you - eg. parents took child to the zoo at the weekend, you can get the zoo animals out, discuss which ones they liked and why; build cages for them; talk about the countries they live in; group them; count them etc etc etc.

If you do a daily diary put notes in about what the children have enjoyed and ideas for the parents to try at home.

Miffy xx

[Toothfairy]

*Chat with parents at drop off and collection and make a note of any interests/comments made etc
*Have a parents comment section in your daily diary
*When parents look at learning journal, ask them to write a response.
*News letters
*Satisfaction questionaires
*Open evenings
*What I did at the weekend section in the daily diary for parents to fill in
*Share your planning and ask parents for their input

I'll be back if I think of anything else

[FussyElmo]

Do you know what I think - I dont think it mattered what you did on communication with parents the inspector decided you were good and then found something else to say you had to improve.

Mine recommendations to get good was to inprove the learning outside and to provide a visual timetable for the 14 month old. I do not believe that for one minute if I had them she would have given me outstanding just found something else to recommend.

To improve it my inspector said it didnt matter who wrote what the parents said you or them just as long as they was a note of it

[Bluebell]

I agree theres not much more to demonstrate you are communicating with parents!! However as Miffy and Sarah have suggested if you could get them to feedback on the child at home, experiences, learning and so on this would be a great opportunity.
I often write what the parents have said if they have passed on something they have observed. Particulalry likes and interests of a child. Like a family told me their son was fascinated with animals this led to quite a lot of activities, stories and an outing to the zoo.
Sounds like you are doing such a fab job! if this was the only thing the inspector asked you to improve then congratulations!!!
The other thing I do is post photos and comments about our day on a private parents page. I don't write comments about the individual children but the parents will post things like 'He loved this today and hasn't stopped talking about it' so 1 you know you've done a great job, 2 you know the child and parent are dicussing it at home, 3 if they make additional comments you can follow this up in your next session.