Parental Involvement

Here at St Mary’s, we feel strongly about the importance of two - way communication for the setting and parents / carers and other family members. We know this supports your child best when home and nursery work together using the knowledge of both parties as children can flourish in both different learning environments. It is important that our parents and carers feel supported, valued and listened too and we always make time for them, as Afterall they are children’s first educators and we truly believe you know your child best.

With this in mind, when our practitioners equipped with their wealth of kn

   Superstar board and Wow board of achievements – We have a superstar’s board in each room which is our behaviour initiative display, where we encourage them to reach goals personal to each individual child. These goals can be things relevant to home and nursery such as toilet training, positive behaviour, creating a masterpiece or sleeping in their own bed.  Whatever is important to you and your child will be recognised and celebrated through this imitative and our wow board of achievements in the entrance hall. We also celebrate many of the children’s other talents and achievements that they may do out of the setting through a club or activity such as sport, music or dance.

   Ongoing communication with all our parents through newsletters, email, Facebook, Instagram and our nursery website. As well as being available over the phone and face to face whenever you need us!

   Reward charts

   Family board – in our hallway we have a large display of our family tree at the nursery. We know how important family members our to our children, so we love to see our nursery family on display.

   Travelling ted – when children go on a day trip or on holiday, they are more than welcome to take one of our travelling teddies with them. We then display the teddys adventure on our display and share what fun they got up too when they went off from the setting.

   Feedback and questionnaire – we send back an annual questionnaire and are always happy to take on feedback to help improve our setting in any way.

   Management committee – we are run by a board of committee members which is also made up with a parents committee as we feel it’s really important you have a say in the setting.

   Lending library – we have a resource library in the entrance hall for our families to happily borrow any resource theywish. In our lending library you will find books for children as well as information books and guides for parents, story sacks, learning games all to be borrowed to take home.

   Stay and play sessions where family members are invited to come and join their child for part of the nursery day. We also host themed coffee mornings which are for our families through the year.

   Inviting parents and family members in to do talks and show and tell with the children. Recently we have had family members in to talk to us about being a midwife, celebrating Diwali and someone in to sing songs with us on his guitar.

   Tapestry our online learning journal allows parents and carers to look at observations from their child’s day at nursery, comment and interact with staff as well as upload home observations to share with nursery staff.

owledge and experience in early years, work alongside you, as parents and carers can result in supporting your child to reach their full potential. Both parties will witness and observe different skills that your child is learning at home and at the setting, and by effective communication and collective working we can provide next steps for the children’s milestones and share achievements as your child learns and develops all whilst support their needs and wellbeing to the best of our ability. We do this through a number of methods at the nursery such as;

  

Parent’s evenings and Key worker drop-in sessions – these are brilliant opportunities for you to come and meet with your child’s key person to discuss any questions you may have as well as look at your child’s progress and how they are doing at the setting.

   We have a nursery cookbook of all the children’s favourite dishes at nursery for you to purchase and try with your family. We also share recipes from cooking activities we do throughout the term.

   Birthday bears – for every child’s birthday they are given the opportunity to take one of the ‘birthday bears’ home for a sleepover so they can join in your child’s celebrations at home.

   Learning intentions boards on white boards – outside the classrooms you will find a white board with information written on daily for our parents. This will also include what your child has been exploring or learning about during their day and the current learning intentions they are working towards.

   Individual communication books based on individual circumstances.

   Dual language books for families who may have English as an additional language

   Supporting initiatives such as spit the dummy campaign, NSPCC’S PANTS programme, sleep well initiative, change for life and many more through handing out information and sharing resources available. We are always happy to sign post family to other agencies for advice and support as well as work alongside other professionals to support all of our families to the best of our abilities.

Key Person Approach

We use the key person approach to help your children feel individual, cherished and cared for while they are away from home. This approach means that there is one named member of staff to act as the main point of contact for you and your child.

Your child’s key person can help you and your child by:

✓ Helping your child settle in when he/she first arrives at our setting.

✓ Making sure that any questions you have are answered.

✓ Helping your child with their personal care, for instance changing nappies, going to the toilet, washing hands and supporting toilet training. Encouraging your child to develop independent skills, such as putting on their own shoes/coat.

✓ Observing your child’s play and providing suitable resources and activities and uploading these observations on our tapestry system.

✓ Keeping up-to-date records about your child’s learning and development and sharing these with you.

✓ Letting you know what your child has enjoyed doing each day!

If you have any questions about the key person approach, or about how it will help your child, please just ask. We hold regular parent’s evenings, key worker drop ins, stay and play sessions throughout the year also. Please look out for newsletters and notices around the setting for the dates and times of these events. However, if you have a more urgent query your child's key person is always available on collecting your child for a chat, in their absence the back up key person or a member of management will be more than happy to assist you.

The EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the curriculum which Early Years Practitioners follow in all education and child care settings.

The seven areas of learning are:

·  Physical development

·  Personal, social and emotional development

·  Communication and language

·  Literacy

·  Mathematics

·  Understanding of the world

·   Expressive arts and design

This curriculum, is based on learning and development for all children aged

0 - 60 months. When completing the nursery planning for each classroom we

use the early year’s foundation stage to link all our child led activities in the areas of learning. We base this around the stage that the children

are currently at and following the children's current interests to progress

them further. These then link into the observations and assessments which

are carried out by the child’s key person to monitor and track each

individual child’s development and progress. Activities to support t

his development and progress are then planned on our weekly planning sheet.

For more information on the EYFS and how it is used at St Mary’s please

see our lending library in the entrance hall or speak to a member of staff.