Parents are 'children's first and most enduring educators' (Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, QCA 2000), making partnership with parents and carers essential if early years practitioners are to plan effectively for a child's learning.
A genuine commitment to work co-operatively with parents/professionals should be a feature of any high-quality setting and should impact on every aspect of practice.
The Parent/Carer learning consultation is an information gathering tool that is completed with the parent/carer prior to the child starting the setting.
This tool is used to find out about the child's learning at home, interests, attitudes to learning and their play choices.
The process provides the Key Person/ Practitioner with an opportunity to reflect with the parent/Carer on what the child has already achieved with their support and independently.
It is essential that parents/carers are advised that the information gathered will be used to build on the child's interest and learning, and to support a smooth transition for the child into the setting.
Template consultation document - This form is to be completed by the key person/ practitioner with the parent/carer.
The Government set out their plans to create an effective support system for parents with children in their earliest years and the practitioners who work with them.
The ‘Supporting families in the foundation years’ document is for all those who commission, lead and deliver services for:
It describes the system the Government needs to create in order to support families in the foundation years effectively. It was developed jointly by the Department for Education and the Department of Health.
The ‘Families in the foundation years: evidence pack’ sets out the the evidence the Government used to formulate their foundation years policy.
It is reported that in the last five years there has been a 20% rise in the number of school children who speak a foreign language at home.
According to latest statistics from the National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum, it is recorded that there are currently more than a million children between the ages of five and 16 in UK schools who speak more than 360 languages between them.
Building effective respectful relationships with families whose English is minimal demands thoughtful staff. Below are some useful links to develop and support practice: