Working With Parents

We aim to work in partnership with parents and carers to meet the needs of the children we care for.

We respect that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators. When parents and practitioners work together in early year’s settings, the results have a positive impact on children’s development and learning. 

We treat all children and adults equally and create a welcoming, inclusive environment in my home.  

We will keep up to date about working in partnership with parents and carers and with relevant legislation by taking regular training and by reading relevant publications such as NCMA Who Minds.

All parents receive and have access to a copy of my policies and procedures, information about the types of activities provided, the daily routines and how parents can share learning at home .

Contracts and records

We draw up and sign a written contract with parents before the placement starts. The contract is signed by the parent/s and myself and dated. We give copies to the parent/s and any other party involved in the contractual arrangements. 

We review the contract with parents 12 months or when circumstances change.

We issue a receipt for all payments received from parents.

We will endeavour to meet parents’ requests for the care of their children according to their values and practices, preferences and attitudes. This may not always be possible when considering all the children's needs with my care. But with some discussion we would find a solution that suits all parties.

We keep records of these requests with the child record forms which also contain emergency contact numbers, dietary requirements/preferences, food allergies, health requirements, and information about who has legal contact with the child and who has parental responsibility for the child. These records are revisited and updated during regular reviews with parents.

Communication with parents

We work together with parents to make sure that the care of their child is consistent. 

We make time for discussion about a child’s needs by sharing information with parents about daily routines and activities in my setting and in the child’s home.

Ways of sharing this information can include inviting parents to add to children’s profile books, email, telephone, face-to-face meetings, and informal day to day feed back.
 
We will discuss any changes in my or the child’s home circumstances which may impact on the child’s development or my ability to care for a child.  

We offer regular 4 month review meetings with parents to discuss their child’s learning and development share observations and discuss next steps.

We welcome parents’ feed back on my service. 

We display our Ofsted registration certificate and the Ofsted poster for parents which introduces Ofsted's childcare responsibilities and gives Ofsted contact details.

Ofsted inspections

We will notify all parents in advance when we are to be inspected by Ofsted so that parents can contribute their views to the inspector.

We will supply parents with a copy of the Ofsted report within five working days of receiving the report. 

All significant incidents are recorded in an incident book and will be shared and discussed with parents so that we can work together to resolve any issues.

Updated Jan16