Early Years Practice- 3.02 Parental Involvement

Policy statement

We believe that children benefit most from early years education and care when parents and settings work together in partnership.

Our aim is to support parents as their children’s first and most important educators by involving them in their children’s learning and development and in the full life of our setting. We also aim to support parents in their own continuing learning and personal development.

Some parents are less well represented in Early Years settings, but they still play an important part in their lives, as well as working parents. In carrying out the following procedures, we will ensure that all parents and carers are included.

When we refer to ‘parents’, we mean both mothers and fathers; these include both natural or birth parents, as well as step-parents and parents who do not live with their children, but have contact with them and play a part in their lives. ‘Parents’ also includes same sex parents, foster parents as well as grandparents who may have parental responsibility.

The Children Act (1989) defines parental responsibility as ‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property’. (For a full explanation of who has parental responsibility, refer to the Pre-school Learning Alliance publication Safeguarding Children.)

Procedures

• Parents are made to feel welcome in our setting; they are greeted appropriately.
• We make every effort to accommodate parents who have a disability or impairment.
• We consult with parents to find out what works best for them during meet and greet sessions.
• We ensure on-going dialogue with parents to improve our knowledge of the needs of their
• children and to support their families.
• We inform all parents about how the setting is run, through access to written information and
• through regular informal communication. We check to ensure parents understand the
• information that is given to them.
• Information about a child and his or her family is kept confidential within our setting. The
• exception to this is where there is a reason to believe that a child may be suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm or where there are concerns regarding a child’s development that need to be shared with another agency. We will seek parental permission unless there are reasons not to in order to protect the safety of the child. Reference is made to our Information Sharing Policy on seeking consent for disclosure.
• We seek parental consent to administer medication, take a child for emergency treatment, take a child on an outing and take photographs for the purposes of record keeping.
• The expectations that we make on parents are made clear at the point of registration.
• We seek parents’ views regarding changes in the delivery of our service.
• Parents are actively encouraged to participate in decision making processes according to the
• structure in place within our setting.
• We encourage parents to become involved in the social and cultural life of the setting and actively contribute to it.
• As far as possible our service is provided in a flexible way to meet the needs of parents without compromising the needs of children.
• We provide sufficient opportunity for parents to share necessary information with staff and this is recorded and stored to protect confidentiality.
• Our key people meet with parents to discuss their child’s progress and to share concerns if they arise.
• Where applicable, our key people work with parents to carry out an agreed plan to support special educational needs.
• Where applicable, our key people work with parents to carry out any agreed tasks where a Protection Plan is in place for a child.
• We involve parents in the shared record keeping about their children – either formally or informally – and ensure parents have access to their children’s learning journal.
• We ask parents to contribute to the children’s focus weeks: discussing any areas of focus from home and any recent interests of the child which we can include.
• We provide opportunities for parents to contribute their own skills, knowledge and interests to the activities of the setting.
• We organise stay and play sessions for parents to be able to come into the setting and be involved in the normal day to day of the setting. In these current circumstances we are not allowing any parents into the setting. These events will be organised using video calls.
• We consult with parents about the times of meetings to avoid excluding anyone.
• We provide information about opportunities to be involved in the setting in ways that are
• accessible to parents with basic skills needs.
• We hold meetings using video calls so that they are accessible and appropriate for all.
• We welcome the contributions of parents in whatever form these may take.
• We inform all parents of the systems for registering queries, complaints or suggestions. All
• parents have access to our written complaints procedure.

We provide opportunities for parents to learn about the curriculum offered in the setting and about young children’s learning, in the setting and at home. There are opportunities for parents to take active roles in supporting their child’s learning in the setting: informally through helping out or taking part in activities with their child or through structured projects engaging parents and staff in learning about children’s learning. In compliance with the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements, the following documentation is also in place at our setting:

• Admissions Policy.
• Complaints procedure.
• Record of complaints.
• Developmental records of children.