Parent involvement
The role of parents/carers
The Pre-school Learning Alliance recognises parents/carers as the first and most important educators of their young children. Our pre-school aims to give support.
- Parents/carers are welcomes
- To work in the group with the children
- To assist with fundraising
- To take part in the running of the pre-school
- To attend training courses, workshops and conferences organised by the Pre-school Learning Alliance
The pre-school rota
Children learn better when their parents are involved. Our rota system involves all parents/carers in helping in the group on a regular basis. This helps to maintain the high ratio of adults to children in our pre-school, ensuring individual care and attention for each child. All parents/carers are encouraged to take part in duty rotas.
It is a necessary requirement for the ongoing running of the playgroup and in the compliance with Ofsted's adult to child ratios that the parents participate in a rota system of duties. The frequency of duties per adult is dependent on the number of children attending playgroup. All children under 3 (except rising 3's who are the responsibility of the staff) must be accompanied at all times by their parents/carer. A duty involves arriving at 9:10am, and assisting the staff in most aspects needed to help keep playgroup running safely and smoothly, such as:
- Playing with individual or groups of children
- Tiding up and clearing away toys, etc.
- Snack preparation, etc.
Record keeping
Records are kept with the permission of parents/carers. We keep photographs and examples of the children's pictures. We need a consent form to enable us to keep photographs of the children and also for use in the press.
Midmorning snacks
We ask parents to bring a piece of fruit per week to playschool as a contribution to enable us to provide a healthy and nutritious snack for your children. They are also given milk and a biscuit and sometimes we share foods from other cultures. Please let staff know if your child has any allergies. Children are encouraged to bring a water bottle with them.
Special needs
The number of adults present in the pre-school enables us to provide individual attention for each child. Each child is able to progress at his/her own rate in all areas of development, and this is true for children with and without disabilities or learning difficulties. We are experienced in working in close liaison with professionals across the range of special needs. One-to-one care can be arranged if this is appropriate. If you would like to discuss the group's ability to meet your child's special needs, please talk to the pre-school supervisor. Our full special needs policy is on the notice board.
