Parents as Partners Policy

We believe that in order for children to receive quality care and early learning that suits their individual needs, parents and staff need to work together in a close partnership. A two way sharing of information is key to this. The nursery team welcomes parents as partners and this relationship needs to be built on trust and understanding.  It is important that we, as carers, are able to support parents in an open and sensitive manner.

The nursery wishes to ensure parents are an integral part of the care and early learning team within the nursery.

Our policy is to:

  • Recognise and support parents as their child’s first and most important educators, and to welcome them into the life of the nursery
  • Generate confidence and encourage parents to trust their own instincts and judgement regarding their own child
  • Welcome all parents into the nursery at any time
  • Welcome nursing mothers. The nursery will make available a private area whenever needed to offer space and privacy to nursing mothers
  • Ensure that all parents are aware of the nursery’s policies and procedures. A detailed parent prospectus will be provided and our full policy documents will be available to parents at all times on a memory stick and some are available via our website
  • Maintain regular contact with parents to help us to build a secure and beneficial working relationship for their children
  • Support parents in their own continuing education and personal development and inform them of relevant conferences, workshops and training
  • Create opportunities for parents to talk to other adults in a secure and supportive environment through such activities as ‘Open Days’, ‘Parents Evenings’ and handovers
  • Inform parents about nursery activities and events through regularly distributed newsletters, Famly app, Facebook and handovers
  • We believe that all staff are responsible for all children. However we operate a keyworker system where they are responsible for their key children’s observations and ensuring their Learning Journey and Records are kept up to date.
  • Inform parents on a regular basis about their children’s progress and involve them in the shared record keeping. Parents’ evenings will be held at least twice a year. Parents will be consulted with about the times of meetings to avoid excluding anyone
  • Consider and discuss all suggestions from parents concerning the care and early learning of their child and nursery operation
  • Provide opportunities and support for all parents to contribute their own skills, knowledge and interests to the activities of the nursery
  • Inform all parents of the systems for registering queries, compliments, complaints or suggestions, and to check that these systems are understood by parents.  All parents have access to our written complaints procedure
  • Provide opportunities for parents to learn about the *Early Years Foundation Stage” and about young children’s learning in the nursery and at home
  • Respect the family’s religious and cultural backgrounds and to accommodate any special requirements wherever possible and practical to do so
  • To find out the needs and expectations of parents. These will be obtained through regular feedback via questionnaires, suggestion system and encouraging parents to review working practices. These are then evaluated by the nursery to promote nursery practice, policy and staff development.
  • By using Famly app including Learning Journals we aim to keep parents informed about their child’s progress and any events that take place at the Nursery and encourage parents to add to the Learning Journal adding their own observations.