September complete mag

Building on
relationships and
communication
with parents
Our world has changed a lot in the last few months. It’s hard
enough being a parent or carer but now that life has changed
somewhat, parents may have lots of additional concerns
about leaving their child in childcare. There is no doubt that
you already work hard to build relationships with parents -
life is always going to be much easier if everyone gets along.
But how can we build on the partnership even further?
What are the benefits of
strong relationships with
parents?
Some of a child’s most important cognitive
development happens during their
pre-school years. If parents and carers
take an active role in their child’s early
education, they are helping to give the
child the support they need to reach their
full potential.
Parents that are the most in tune with what
is happening in their child’s setting are
able to establish a connection between the
learning that takes place in your setting
and learning that takes place at home.
They can then extend the learning that
has taken place into real-life experiences,
further boosting the child’s learning.
Looking beyond the child’s days at your
setting, research shows that family
engagement in a child’s education can
lead to them achieving better at school,
having better social skills, and improved
behaviour.
On a more day to day note, a child is
likely to settle a lot better where there is
a strong relationship between home and
your setting. Furthermore, getting parents
involved boosts their confidence in you, as
they see you do what you do best.
This will help build a positive reputation for
your setting.
As you can see, parents, families and
educators need to work together in
partnership to give a child the best
possible experience.
How can you build your
relationships with
parents to make them ever
stronger?
In order for a child to really thrive the
responsibility for the parent/setting
relationship belongs to both sides.
However, the parent may not recognise
this so it may be down to you to
encourage it.
Firstly, take time to find out about the
child’s past. Talking to parents about a
child’s early experiences can help you
plan for effective learning, plus it helps you
offer support to parents in continuing their
children’s learning at home.
Continue with daily communication.
You are probably already using a daily
diary or communication book, but you may
be tempted to stop this as the child gets
older. Consider keeping it going for those
hard-to-reach parents that perhaps have a
grandparent or friend collect.
Collect ‘wow’ observations from
home (either on paper or on an online
system such as Tapestry). The children
at your setting are going to have other
experiences outside of your setting that
you can’t offer, such as swimming. Allow
parents to share any achievements
with you. Not only does this keep
communication open and help you get to
know each child, but it will also help add to
your assessment of them.
Encourage contributions from parents
by really valuing anything they have to
offer. They may be able to help out, talk to
the children about their job or a skill they
have, or share information about their
culture. By welcoming them in, the children
in your setting will benefit from what they
have to share, the child of the parent will
get a massive boost, you show the parent
that you have nothing to hide, and they get
to see what a brilliant job you do. Win win!
Set goals with parents and work
together to help their child achieve them.
This is particularly important if a child is
struggling with something particular such
as separation anxiety.
Make resources available to parents.
Many parents may want to continue the
fantastic learning that you do at home but
simply don’t have the tools to do so, or just
don’t know what to do. Consider a lending
library so that parents can see the sort of
thing you do and so that the link between
your setting and home can be as strong as
possible. If you don’t think lending things
out is feasible, then how about suggesting
a list of activities for parents to do at home.
You could put these out on your social
media which gives you lots of content ideas.
Consider home visits. Where you may
have a particularly tricky situation such
as a child that is extremely anxious or
a child with additional needs, it may be
worth offering a home visit. Home visits are
widely used to help settle children into their
reception class at school and have brilliant
positive effects. If you are going, don’t go
alone and make sure your colleagues know
exactly when you’re going.
Cater for ‘hard-to-reach’ parents. In
any setting you are going to find that some
parents are easier to reach than others.
You might find that fathers, parents who
live apart from their children, and working
Gina Smith
Gina Smith is an experienced
teacher with experience of
teaching in both mainstream
and special education. She is the
creator of ‘Create Visual Aids’
- a business that provides both
homes and education settings
with bespoke visual resources.
Gina recognises the fact that no
two children are the same and
therefore individuals are likely to
need different resources. Create
Visual Aids is dedicated to making
visual symbols exactly how the
individual needs them.
Website:
https://www.createvisualaids.co.uk
Email:
gina@createvisualsaids.com
parents are included in this group. You will
need to use different strategies for involving
them – talk to them to find out what works
best for them. Don’t forget to provide
information in a way that is accessible to
all. Some of your parents may not be able
to read, or struggle to read English because
it is an additional language. You may need
to go that extra mile to make any contact
accessible for all.
Make a strong effort to involve parents and
carers and you will go a long way to having
children that reach their full potential. If both
parent and setting recognise and respect
what the other does, then a child can really
thrive in the best possible way.
38 September 2020 | parenta.com
parenta.com | September 2020 39