Parent Partnership

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Parent Partnership

• ContinYou Conference
• Wednesday 19 March 2008

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Parent Partnership

• What is it?
• Why do we need it?
• Who does it help?

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Supporting childrens learning

• Parents working individually
• Teachers working individually
• Parents and practitioners working together

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Benefits of working together

• Continuity between home and school
• Shared knowledge and insight into children
• Improved learning opportunities for all
• Discovering new aspects of childrens
  personality

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Early Years Foundation Stage

• Key Principle
• Parent Partnership
• Parents are childrens first and most enduring
  educators. When parents and practitioners work
  together in early years settings, the results
  have a positive impact on childrens learning and
  development

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Transitions

• Parent INVOLVEMENT
• to
• Parent ENGAGEMENT
• Parent PARTICIPATION
• to
• Parent PARTNERSHIP

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Key Person Approach

• Not a system
• Not a project
• A way of developing respectful and inclusive
  relationships with parents

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The Key Person

• Someone the child
• Knows
• Trusts
• Confides in
• Shares important moments with
• Someone the parent
• Talks to who knows their child

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Benefits of Key Person Approach

• Staff more satisfied and engaged
• Better care and learning opportunities provided
• Reduced absence and sickness levels
• Parents develop confidence in staff
• Involvement and positive attitudes to
  professional development enhanced

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Criticisms of Key Person Approach

• Attachments with parents undermined
• Children with the same person for long periods
• Children denied opportunity to get to know other
  adults

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Eastwood Nursery School in Partnership

• A policy for Parent Partnership
• Meeting parents at their point of interest,
  commitment and need
• Parents and practitioners accompanying one
  another on childrens learning journeys

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Partnership Points

• Getting to know you sessions
• Home visits
• Reporting and recording childrens progress
  together
• Coffee mornings
• Parents Forum
• Being in nursery to share learning opportunities
• Parents Days
• Celebrations
• Family learning sessions
• Eastwood Friends Group
• Using Maths and Book packs at home with children

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Coffee Mornings

• Fortnightly meetings of one hour
• Informal
• Membership not required
• Possibility of inviting friends or relatives along

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Eastwood Friends Group

• Membership of a charity committee which meets
  once every half term
• Commitment to raising funds and planning
• social events for children and families
• Opportunity to develop new skills working as part
  of a team

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Forest School

• Supporting children attending Forest School each
  week
• Taking part in outward-bound type activity-
  particularly appealing to Dads
• Learning how to support childrens learning
  indoors and outdoors in all areas of learning

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School Outings

• Accompanying children on regular trips off site
  in key groups
• Staff and practitioners getting to know each
  other better as they work together over the
  course of a whole day
• Everyone enjoying time together in a different
  context in support of childrens learning

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Family Learning

• An opportunity for parents to spend six weekly
  sessions exploring practical, fun, learning
  activities with a trained practitioner
• Planning to use the activities at home with the
  children
• Recording what is learned from particular
  activities and their impact on childrens
  learning
• Developing a shared dialogue with other parents
  about childrens learning away from school

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And Finally

• What parents do is more important than who
  parents are
• Quality of the home learning environment is
  more important than social class, income living
  conditions and parents own education levels
• Children with strong home learning environments
  are ahead in both social and intellectual
  development by 3 with this effect continuing
  through to age 10