Family policy

Hey. here is my family policy. what do you think? Katie x

Families Policy

“Family involvement has a significant positive impact on family relationships, children’s learning, progress and behaviour.”

We at Bumble Bees centre realise that families are children’s first and main educators. We know that a child’s family knows the most information about their child which makes them very important people. We know that to make the most from family support, we must establish good concrete links with them as early as possible. This policy aims to set out how we are going to make families of our children feel welcome and useful in their children’s education. This policy aims to explain why we have the policy statements we do but at the end is a brief synopsis of the text.

We will have a mixture of families at Bumble Bees nursery, some will have been attending sessions at the centre since their child was born, and others will only have visited before their child starts at the setting. See the transition policy for transition details but we will make an effort to make all families feel completely at ease with us at the centre. We understand that we will have a variety of languages in our settings. For the benefit of the families with limited English language, we will provide a translator for all pre-booked arrangements.

Home-school links are very important and we will have several strategies in place in order to make families feel welcome and happy in the centre. We will send home a diary. In this, families have a chance to let us know if anything has happened at home. We will also use it to share information to the families about their child in the centre. Each family in the setting will have a family worker within the unit’s staff. This practitioner will be the family’s first port of call if they need to speak to someone about their child. We will also have one practitioner who is available for the first 30-40 minutes of each session for families to talk to. We understand that sometimes, families need to reveal information about their child and so we need to provide someone to listen and pass on the information to the relevant people. We will also have a family notice board with information about the staff at the setting, topics we will be covering and ideas on how they could help their child develop in certain areas. Important messages will also be posted up. We will work hard to encourage families to use their skills in our setting. We know that some families want to help out with their child’s education and we also know that the range of experience will be very broad. (This will be more detailed in the community policy). We will run a toy and book library so families have a chance to explore different toys and books without having to pay for them. The library will run once a week and families are welcome to exchange what they have for other things.

We will offer courses at the centre, suited to the need of the adults. These may include: ICT classes, English classes, book clubs, reflexology and massage, confidence workshops, GCSE’s. This list is by no means exhaustive; the sessions will run if there is enough interest in one particular topic. Alongside these general classes, there will be classes about their child’s education and development. The staff at the centre will run these sessions, explaining what we are teaching their children and how we are doing it. Families will get the chance to see their child’s progression and have an input into what they think the next step is for their child. There will be classes into their child’s development and how families can aid their development in all areas. We will also endeavour to explain our play based philosophy to the families so that they can carry on the learning at home. By giving families the same information we have about child development, we are giving children the best chance of learning.

Once a term, families will be invited in to speak to their family worker about their child. We will run meetings throughout the day and in the evening, in the hope that all families will be able to make it to one of the time slots. As we are running them all day, we will have half hour time slots where the families can be shown around the setting before focusing on their child. A written report will also be sent home. Families are also invited to organise a ‘chat’ with their family worker at any time throughout the term.

Brief policy of what we will do to help families feel secure and confident at the setting.

•	Establish good links with families from the earliest opportunity. •	Provide a translator for families with little English language. •	Home-school diary for families to communicate with us and for us to communicate with families. •	Each family will have a family worker. •	Floating practitioner for first 30-40 minutes of session to talk to families. •	Useful family noticeboard. •	Encourage families to use their skills in the centre with the children. •	Weekly toy and book library. •	General courses suited to need. •	Child education and development classes. •	Endeavour to explain Play based philosophy. •	Termly family meetings. •	Written reports •	Opportunities to organise ‘chats’ with family workers throughout the term.