Guest Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Hi, Does anyone do home visits? We are thinking about it but we are unsure it we should. Do you do it for all children or just the younger ones? I would be grateful if you could share your experiences!
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Hi, I've never really felt the need to do home visits, we tell people they are welcome to visit as often as they like leading up to child starting....but we are in a small'ish community so you kind of know pretty much everyone already.
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 i have looked in to it and the costs for us are overwhelming....just can't afford to do it but would if i could
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Hi yes we do them and have done for the past three years and we feel they are extremely beneficial.. We find them a great start in working in partnership with the parent/carers for their childrens learning. Two members of staff attend, one a senior member of staff who goes through all the paperwork, the 2nd member of staff is the child's keyperson, giving them an opportunity to engage, look at child's interests etc. this helps with our planning for them too. It also enables us to discuss any developmental concerns or health worries. As we are in a packaway hall, privacy was always a problem when sitting quietly with parent/carers so this gives them that time too. As part of the childrens induction we also have generally three or four session slots of 1 hour per week when they come into play, get to familiarise themselves with the building and meet the staff team. This also helps massively with the settling in process. As you can tell I am a big fan of them and the only drawback is finding the time to fit them in, but it is manageable. Us folk in early years are good at that. Hope this helps. Feel free to pm if you need any further details.
AnonyMouse_44476 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 We don't do home visits before children start but offer home visits termly at a time that suits parents/ carers (normally evenings) to chat about progress and any concerns they have. It's lovely to be able to see the child's home and have the chance to chat away from the children in that respect. However, at the moment we have over 50 children on roll and in the last year have only been taken up on the offer of a home visit 4 times!
AnonyMouse_5970 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 That's a really interesting way of doing it woodlands. So it's a bit like parent's meetings / parent's evening but in their own homes? I'm surprised you've had so little take up.
AnonyMouse_44476 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Yes just like parent evening but in their home! That way they don't have to worry about babysitters, particularly if they are on their own. We have had more take up in years gone by I think it's just because at the moment we have so many children who are second or third to come to us in the family that parents have less time and see it as less important as we have been to the home before! Hopefully we will have a few more this term with the school leavers and talking about them before they head off!
AnonyMouse_22106 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 We offer a home visit but in 4 years have never been asked for one. I was offered one when my 1st child started pre-school (I was just a mum in them days) but I didn't want one. A primary nursery class does them as standard - people I know have talked about the experience and said that although it wasn't as bad as they thought they felt it was intrusive and if given the choice again they'd say no!
AnonyMouse_48738 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 We've always done home visits for our nursery children. The children always talk about when my nursery nurse and myself came to their house to visit! It's such a special time for them and also I find having that 1:1 time with a parent works towards making such strong links. We take a special welcome pack for the children. My nursery nurse has a play with the child while I fill in a questionnaire with the parent. Our school is in quite a deprived area where parents can sometimes feel reluctant to approach members of staff in school, but I find that those that have a home visit are a lot more confident. I really recommend home visits!!
Guest Posted April 9, 2014 Posted April 9, 2014 We can't afford the cost for home visits. What we do is an open afternoon, new children along with parents come for the afternoon, all my staff are there, they get to meet their child's key person , we get to meet them and we complete 'all about me' forms. It is very useful. Everyone I know who does home visits find them useful and I would if I could.
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted April 9, 2014 Posted April 9, 2014 remember if you are doing them during term time then you not only have to pay for two practitioners to go out (time of visit+time to get there and back+petrol) but others to cover in the setting. In our area we would have to allow about an hour per visit (about 30 new children per year group) we chose instead to do a staggered start where the children and parents spend the first session with me and their keycarer spending time in the setting and gathering the information we need.
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