Guest Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 For Setember I am introducing home visits for each child due to start in our f1nursery. There will be an intake of 60 all starting in sept can you tell me the way you manage home visits, how long you spend etc if you do them yourself. We are attached to a school so ideally the head wants them to be complete asap to get the teacher back into school and the kids to start asap.
AnonyMouse_79 Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 Hi Green we did home visits (I say did because I am currently supply teaching and not attached to a school!). Our policy was to go in pairs. As most of our parents were non English speakers, we the teachers always took a comuunity language speaker with us. We did not accept refreshments. It is very tiring we found we could not cope with more than 5 or 6 a day. We had classes of 30 so we needed a week. It is worth doing and although I understand your head, dont underestimate how tired you will be. Good luck.
Guest Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 Hi Green, I'm in Reception, so probably not the same issues as you. The office staff organise the timetable for home visits (based on those who want them, obviously) so that we visit families who live close to each other in the same morning/afternoon and don't waste travelling time. The teacher and TA visit together. Visits last 10-15 mins. The TA takes a selection of activities to do with the child while the teacher talks to the parent(s), going through the "All about me" booklet that we use in Surrey and discussing any other relevant issues. We aim to get through all the home visits in the first week. Fox xx
Guest Posted April 24, 2006 Posted April 24, 2006 For Setember I am introducing home visits for each child due to start in our f1nursery. There will be an intake of 60 all starting in sept can you tell me the way you manage home visits, how long you spend etc if you do them yourself. We are attached to a school so ideally the head wants them to be complete asap to get the teacher back into school and the kids to start asap. 54610[/snapback] Hello , Iteach nursery and we've been home visiting for a while now. It really is a must as you get a great insight int the whole family. We only visit for 5-10 mins and chat about any worries the parent/s have We try to make it as informal as possible as you find parents find it quite intimidating sometimes , we usually end up having a laugh about it later in the year with them. All we do is a quick chat and find that listening is the most important thing to do. We do our visits as well as the child and parents visiting school and it's then that we do any formal form filling and rule giving stuff. Hope this is helpfull
AnonyMouse_73 Posted May 1, 2006 Posted May 1, 2006 To be honest I think 5 visits a day is more than enough, our location is quite wide spread and a number of us dont drive so Im sure we must walk miles. We also keep ours social, have no paperwork to complete at all, and take all the relevnat translators with us. last year we did a very funny visist where the mum didnt speak any English and she got her friend on the mobile phone to translate...so we kept passing the phone back and forth!! With 60 places you really do need to stagger the intake and you need as much time as you can have, we use the afternoons as well because the chidlren only attend in the morning to start with. Home visists for so many children can be very demanding althouhg brilliantly worthwhile, better to over rather then under estimate the time you will need.
Guest Posted May 1, 2006 Posted May 1, 2006 Easier said than done when the head wants the children all in by the second friday at school- we do stagger the intake but all children start within a week of school starting- this year I have weds thurs and fri of the first week with no kids in to conduct the home visits and I am also using a teacher training day and giving all my FS staff a chance at doing the home visit. Im also thinking of getting a few done at the end of this current year during PPA time. do you give parents an appointment and if they cant make it tough? or do you let them sign up?
AnonyMouse_73 Posted May 1, 2006 Posted May 1, 2006 oh dear Green, your Head has no idea then? How many staff do you have? Obvisoulsy if you have at leats 4 thats 2 pairs so you could manage 12 between you per day but to get through 60 in 3 dasy is a really tall order, do you have any negotiating power on this at all? Could you ask the Head how you are expected to do this in such a short space of time..(print off this topic and wave it under their nose??) We phone our parenst in septemeber (which is fun as by them some of them have changed numbers!!) and arange them. we often have cousins coming so can get away with one visit they will just congregate in one house. We aslo occasionally do one after school hours and give the staff time off in lieu. We tell te parenst that they will get a visist, although we know they could refuse we have never had a family refuse, quite the opposite in fact, e often get quite a spread laid on for us (another reason that we need at least half an hours at each house...for the tea and samosas......)
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