Understand_the_Importance_of_Partnerships_with_Carers

Identify the reasons for partnerships with carers. When a parent leaves their child in your care it is with trust that you will do all that is in your power to keep them safe, happy and to help develop their progress and learning. This is why it is of paramount importance to work in partnership with the parents. Nobody knows a child better than their parents/guardians and therefore working together can help widen your understanding and knowledge of individual children. Parents are their children’s first and most enduring educators, and so when practitioners work with them the results are hugely beneficial to children’s development and learning. When you work alongside each other it allows there to be a consistent approach which brings stability into the child's life. With the continuity of care it'll help keep children clear on their boundaries and standards of behaviour. Describe how partnerships with carers are developed and sustained in own work setting. Within my work setting partnership with parents is developed and sustained through effective communication. We follow the key worker system and therefore the key worker builds a professional relationship with the parents of thier key child. When the children first start at the nursery they have a settling in period where the parents will tell us more about the children's routines and requirements. We have settling in sheets to be filled in which are updated with the children as they progress through the nursery via room transfer sheets which the parents must sign to show their agreement that all the information is still relevant and correct. We have contact books to read from at handover when the child is collected at the end of the day, and they inform the parents of many things from how the child's eat and slept throughout the day, to what the child has enjoyed playing with and even which friends they've played with. There is also an area within the book for any additional messages that the parents may need to pass on or if there's anything the practitioner needs to add. There are notice boards all around the nursery, a weekly parent email, and also the nursery has their own Facebook page to keep parents involved. We hold an open evening twice a year which allows the opportunity for parents to come into the nursery setting and have a look through their children's personal learning journals which include of their next steps, observations and tracking.