AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the help and advice I have been given and have found around the board since I found out I was taking over a few weeks ago. The first week is done and dusted and it was fantastic, I've introduced quite a few different little changes and new things and there has only been positive feedback from the parents and staff A big thing I am trying to change though which the staff are not very forthcoming about is the key worker system. I sent a detailed parents questionaire home throughout the week and have had lots back, almost all of them mentioned they would like more information about how their child is getting on - I totally agree, but this is the sticking point. All staff including me get paid fomr the time we arrive to the time the children leave, we don't get paid for tidying away or for any work we do outside of pre-school hours such as the key children learning journeys etc. Now I would like to maybe do a termly report on each child but everyone has said they have enough work to do with the scrap books etc already and are not happy to do any more work outside of the paid hours. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can let parents know how their children are doing please? I've implemented a rule that all learning journeys must be up to date and sent home at least once a month and that there must be an obvious place for parents comments in the books. We have a couple of sets of parents who due to work commitments never come to pre-school as they use childminders etc, I've now taken on these children and I will be writing regular updates to those parents. I can totally understand that staff members don't want all their time taken up with pre-school work at home, especially as 6 out of the 10 of us all have our own young children as well but to be quite honest if everyone actually took an hour out a couple of times a week it would get done as we only open mornings and 1 afternoon per week. Please has anyone any ideas how we can keep parents more informed of their own children's development? does anyone have a sample copy of a report or what they do in their setting please? I have also implemented the fruit donation system and we got our first bunch of banananas on friday which we were embarressingly excited about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the help and advice I have been given and have found around the board since I found out I was taking over a few weeks ago. The first week is done and dusted and it was fantastic, I've introduced quite a few different little changes and new things and there has only been positive feedback from the parents and staff A big thing I am trying to change though which the staff are not very forthcoming about is the key worker system. I sent a detailed parents questionaire home throughout the week and have had lots back, almost all of them mentioned they would like more information about how their child is getting on - I totally agree, but this is the sticking point. All staff including me get paid fomr the time we arrive to the time the children leave, we don't get paid for tidying away or for any work we do outside of pre-school hours such as the key children learning journeys etc. Now I would like to maybe do a termly report on each child but everyone has said they have enough work to do with the scrap books etc already and are not happy to do any more work outside of the paid hours. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can let parents know how their children are doing please? I've implemented a rule that all learning journeys must be up to date and sent home at least once a month and that there must be an obvious place for parents comments in the books. We have a couple of sets of parents who due to work commitments never come to pre-school as they use childminders etc, I've now taken on these children and I will be writing regular updates to those parents. I can totally understand that staff members don't want all their time taken up with pre-school work at home, especially as 6 out of the 10 of us all have our own young children as well but to be quite honest if everyone actually took an hour out a couple of times a week it would get done as we only open mornings and 1 afternoon per week. Please has anyone any ideas how we can keep parents more informed of their own children's development? does anyone have a sample copy of a report or what they do in their setting please? I have also implemented the fruit donation system and we got our first bunch of banananas on friday which we were embarressingly excited about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 hi we invited parents in once a term to go through childrens profiles on an appointment system it seems to work x they get feedback that way hope it helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I can totally understand that staff members don't want all their time taken up with pre-school work at home, especially as 6 out of the 10 of us all have our own young children as well but to be quite honest if everyone actually took an hour out a couple of times a week it would get done as we only open mornings and 1 afternoon per week. Congratulations on your first week - sounds as if you're already making an impact on practice. Well done you! What are your ratios like? Can you give them time in the setting to complete the reports/information for parents? The thing that sticks out for me is that staff aren't getting paid to stay and tidy up. This means your group is running on the goodwill of staff to operate every single day you open. I would try to tackle this first of all - it will put you in a much better position when trying to negotiate any other work you want them to do! Incidentally do they get paid to attend staff meetings or training? That can be a problem too for small groups. Do you have a key person system already in place? If not then it might be worth reminding staff that this is no longer negotiable - its a statutory requirement of the EYFS. Good luck! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hi, Do you operte a parent rota, if so maybe the keyworkers could spend 5 mins or so with the parent,explaining how the child is developing etc. You alsready have the scrapbooks so if theyare up to date, lots of the information is already there. I know from experience the relauctance of staff especially when it creeps into unpaid time. approach your committee, management and explain how much time is required to set up and clear a way , time it takes to follow the EYFS properly . No one should be expected to work for nothing and it is their responsiblity to ensure that the setting runs effectively . Good luck with your new post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1027 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 well done and congratulations on finishing your first week! we send our learning journals out once per term! - maybe you could make it longer than a month but get ome small books that staff jot a small paragraph in each week to go home to parents - who can in turn write in as well. Also think that it needs discussing about even some non contact time if staff are not being paid anything to do at home! good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8623 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hi, Do you operte a parent rota, if so maybe the keyworkers could spend 5 mins or so with the parent,explaining how the child is developing etc. You alsready have the scrapbooks so if theyare up to date, lots of the information is already there. I know from experience the relauctance of staff especially when it creeps into unpaid time. approach your committee, management and explain how much time is required to set up and clear a way , time it takes to follow the EYFS properly . No one should be expected to work for nothing and it is their responsiblity to ensure that the setting runs effectively . Good luck with your new post. Ha! Thought you'd sneak in without being noticed eh! Just wanted to say hello and to warmly welcome you to the forum. Congratulations on making your first post already and I hope you enjoy browsing around. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Welcome to the forum, chocoholic1507! Congratulations on your first post! Love your username - could be mine... Make yourself at home! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I pay my staff extra to stay behind for a bit at the end of the day. By paying additional holiday pay too I can ask them to do things in their own time, such as proof read policy documents or perhaps look something up or something. Keeping a happy workforce is essential - happy staff are more likely to go above and beyond the call of duty when asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1027 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 snuck in past me - hello and welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_73 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hi there Mrsbat, well done on your first week which sounds really positive. Good suggestiosn already reagrding possibilities of paying staff for extra, certainly one to exlplore. Its a good idea to take time in a new job to get to know your staff and build relationships with them. Its really early days yet for you and as you get to know them and the setting and the parents better, solutions often present themselves, or they may come forward with suggestions. So although you would like to do a termly report, it may be more prudent to wait a while before suggesting it and see the 'lie of the land' a bit more first. A couple of things you can try though which you may do already of course. Are the learning diaries/scrap books available for parents to see whenever they want to and do they know this? If they dont then it may be worth letting them know. Likewise do they know that they can ask to see the keyperson any time (and do you have the staff ratios to allow staff to spend 10 mins with a parent if they ask for it?). Second, have you considered how much can be done in the learning diaries by and with the children during session time? Enabling chidlren to put in their own photos and make their own comments alongside yours gives them ownership as well as saving time. Although you have parenst who never come to setting, you can still invite them to a consultation/parent meeting which it isnt unreasonable to expect them to attend (these could be during session times if you have the staffing and space for this). Parents cant really complain if you have made every endeavour possible to inform and involve them and they choose not to. Finally, could you think about (with the staff) about how you might revamp your parents noticeboard so that its more informative, (if it needs it that is, it may be great as it is?) Finally (again!) it may be worth thinking about priorities of action and writing a development plan (this woud link well with your SEF). Its all to easy when you start a new setting to want to change the world overnight. What you need to do is see where the real priorities are and place them in some sort of order, which will make it easier to get (and keep) your staff on board. Asking your staff would be a good way to do this maybe? Good luck with it all, Im sure you'll be keeping us informed about how it's going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I committee agreed to pay us 3 hours extra each, once a term to cover what are now called learning journeys. It in no way covers how much has to be done at home or in our own time but its an acknowledgement which helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 hi we invited parents in once a term to go through childrens profiles on an appointment system it seems to work x they get feedback that wayhope it helps Thank you, I had wondered about doing this, do you see the parents during the session and in the same room as the children? or do you see them on their own? I only ask as it would be practically impossible to take a member of staff out of the room really due to our numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 Congratulations on your first week - sounds as if you're already making an impact on practice. Well done you! What are your ratios like? Can you give them time in the setting to complete the reports/information for parents? The thing that sticks out for me is that staff aren't getting paid to stay and tidy up. This means your group is running on the goodwill of staff to operate every single day you open. I would try to tackle this first of all - it will put you in a much better position when trying to negotiate any other work you want them to do! Incidentally do they get paid to attend staff meetings or training? That can be a problem too for small groups. Do you have a key person system already in place? If not then it might be worth reminding staff that this is no longer negotiable - its a statutory requirement of the EYFS. Good luck! Maz we have 2 rooms and in one room we have a max of 12 under 3's with 4 staff and in the larger room we have a max of 26 children and normally 5 staff, so I guess we could rotate and one member of staff could have an hour to do stuff like key work, the only thing is that even with that extra member of staff we have very little time for admin type things as we are all taken up with the children. We can't afford to pay for the clearing up time really and no we don't pay for staff meetings or training - for the same reason. To be honest the clearing up time isn't really a problem to any of us as the smaller room closes at 11.45 so the staff in there get cleared away then come in to the bigger room to help while story time is going on until midday, we are normally done by 12.15 so it is only 15 mins we don't get paid for. We all agreed that we would do it this way then if there is any "extra" money at the end of july or at christmas then we would all get bonuses lol. We do have a key person system in place and everyone is almost happy with that, it's just the extra things like these reports etc that they don't want on top. If we had the funds then I would definately make sure everyone was paid for time used doing pre-school things but unfortunately at the moment we haven't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hi, Do you operte a parent rota, if so maybe the keyworkers could spend 5 mins or so with the parent,explaining how the child is developing etc. You alsready have the scrapbooks so if theyare up to date, lots of the information is already there. I know from experience the relauctance of staff especially when it creeps into unpaid time. approach your committee, management and explain how much time is required to set up and clear a way , time it takes to follow the EYFS properly . No one should be expected to work for nothing and it is their responsiblity to ensure that the setting runs effectively . Good luck with your new post. HI, welcome to the forum another thing that came from the parent questionnaire was that lots of parents would like to come in and help which is fantastic so yes that would be an idea to go through the keywork bits with them then, Thank you! I still have the problem though of parents who aren't available to come in. we are staff led, we have no committee and I am the "management/supervisor" lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hi there Mrsbat, well done on your first week which sounds really positive. Good suggestiosn already reagrding possibilities of paying staff for extra, certainly one to exlplore. Its a good idea to take time in a new job to get to know your staff and build relationships with them. Its really early days yet for you and as you get to know them and the setting and the parents better, solutions often present themselves, or they may come forward with suggestions. So although you would like to do a termly report, it may be more prudent to wait a while before suggesting it and see the 'lie of the land' a bit more first. A couple of things you can try though which you may do already of course. Are the learning diaries/scrap books available for parents to see whenever they want to and do they know this? If they dont then it may be worth letting them know. Likewise do they know that they can ask to see the keyperson any time (and do you have the staff ratios to allow staff to spend 10 mins with a parent if they ask for it?). Second, have you considered how much can be done in the learning diaries by and with the children during session time? Enabling chidlren to put in their own photos and make their own comments alongside yours gives them ownership as well as saving time. Although you have parenst who never come to setting, you can still invite them to a consultation/parent meeting which it isnt unreasonable to expect them to attend (these could be during session times if you have the staffing and space for this). Parents cant really complain if you have made every endeavour possible to inform and involve them and they choose not to. Finally, could you think about (with the staff) about how you might revamp your parents noticeboard so that its more informative, (if it needs it that is, it may be great as it is?) Finally (again!) it may be worth thinking about priorities of action and writing a development plan (this woud link well with your SEF). Its all to easy when you start a new setting to want to change the world overnight. What you need to do is see where the real priorities are and place them in some sort of order, which will make it easier to get (and keep) your staff on board. Asking your staff would be a good way to do this maybe? Good luck with it all, Im sure you'll be keeping us informed about how it's going. HI, I've been working at the setting for 3 years now, it's only that I have just taken over as supervisor because ours decided the week before christmas she was leaving, so i do know everyone really well, probably better than a supervisor normally would I guess because I am "one of them" if you see what I mean lol I am drafting a letter to tell parents what a key person is and why we have them, also to let them know they are welcome in anytime to see the books or ask questions. To be brutally honest, the last supervisor had no people skills and wanted us to have no connection with the parents whatsoever, which is why i'm trying to change things as quick as possible to involve the parents more. I did say to the staff this week that is ever they have photos or work etc to stick in the books that it would be good to do it with their key children so hopefully that will start happening so there will be a bit less for them to do at home. I did sooooo much over xmas, including re-doing the parents board (and we now also have a parents table lol) and i've done the operational plan as well with a business plan for this year, staff training expectations etc. I've also set up a "session evaluation" book which i'm hoping we'll write in each day saying the goods and the bads of the session The actual sef online is a bit of a problem as the previous supervisor has the token and password etc although we have completed it I just won't be able to update it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Is she not willing to give you the information? Have you contacted Ofsted for advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I am drafting a letter to tell parents what a key person is and why we have them, also to let them know they are welcome in anytime to see the books or ask questions. To be brutally honest, the last supervisor had no people skills and wanted us to have no connection with the parents whatsoever, which is why i'm trying to change things as quick as possible to involve the parents more. Good idea - parents were probably not very happy at being excluded and will welcome the opportunity to become more involved. The best way to encourage them is to explain why it is so important! I did say to the staff this week that is ever they have photos or work etc to stick in the books that it would be good to do it with their key children so hopefully that will start happening so there will be a bit less for them to do at home. This is another good idea - we find that when we do this with the children they are able to tell us a lot more information about what was happening and their feelings about the photos! It is also an opportunity for them to make their own marks in their books so that they gain some sense of ownership. mrsbat it sounds to me that you've had a productive week! Have you drawn up a 'hit list' of things you want to target? Just don't try to change everything at once or you might wear out the goodwill you've built up with your team! Enjoy your weekend - you deserve a well-earned rest, I'd say! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 Is she not willing to give you the information? Have you contacted Ofsted for advice?I emailed and asked her, I got the read receipt to say she had read the email last week but no reply...... I hadn't thought of contacting ofsted about it will do that monday Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19135 Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 mrsbat it sounds to me that you've had a productive week! Have you drawn up a 'hit list' of things you want to target? Just don't try to change everything at once or you might wear out the goodwill you've built up with your team! Enjoy your weekend - you deserve a well-earned rest, I'd say! Maz oohh a hit list lol. My main objective and the first thing I want to do is get the key work up to "standard" and establish parent relationships, if I get that done this term then i'm happy lol. The staff are very happy with the changes and new things so far, i think the previous supervisor was bringing us all down to be honest so we're all actually looking forward to and enjoying our work again already after the first week so I'm happy with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Lots of useful advice so far, I'd just like to say well done on lots of achievements in your first week (and prep work during the hols). Your main skill is that you are listening, the staff and parents will really value this, so well done. I'd just like to say when you are thinking about the things that you want to do don't use the term "I must" because this will put pressure on you, use the term " We would like to achieve", This makes it a team "we" goal and "would like" is less stressful than "must". Praise, aknowledge and reward what you have achieved so far. You are very much on the way to building a supportive, engaging and productive team spirit, well done. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi im also a new manager so i know what your going through!!!! I don't know if this will help but i've done a rota for the staff for down time..... Time away from the children to do profile work but still being on the setting, each member of staff have an hour to do their work within the week. I went throught ratios and found that moving things around a bit it was possible for each to have an hour through the week. Just an idea. It works for us Kind regards Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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