There are many ways in which children benefit when parents/carers and practitioners work together:

• Children will definitely settle more easily and feel more secure if they know that their parents/carers and practitioners (childminder, nursery or school teacher) ‘get on’ really well.
• Children will gain from having a similar routine or approach – for example, parents/carers are able to tell practitioners what time a child normally needs a rest, eats or feels tired, dealing with difficult tantrums and what to expect, or any difficult toileting issues.
• Practitioners and parents/carers can work together to help with speech and language or advise on specific communication strategies to help a child who has language delay.
• Parents/carers are usually the first to notice that something is bothering a child, they can pass their concerns on to practitioners who can recognise and help to resolve them. Small unresolved problems or situations may become big ones if not treated promptly.

There are many ways in which staff in school can try to build up a good relationship between a child’s home and the setting:

• In order to work effectively with parents and carers, senior staff are on the gate before and after school every day. The idea of this is to assure parents/carers that we are available to talk whenever they have any concerns. This strategy builds trust as parents/carers know they are always welcome to have an informal chat. Children also benefit from this casual approach as they can sense that parents/carers and practitioners work closely together.

There may be times when parents/carers will need to be contacted quickly for example, their child is not feeling well, had an accident etc. Exchanging emergency information is extremely important. It is vital that we have the correct and up to date information to hand i.e. emergency numbers and addresses are usually exchanged during the pre-admission meeting.

We encourage parental involvement as parents/carers often have a lot to offer in terms of their knowledge, interests, experience, and in volunteering for activities. Working together can also help bring the community closer together.

We encourage our parents/carers to get involved in school life and some parents/carers offer help permanently i.e. ‘reading mums’ in school once a week; others may help occasionally on school visits. Some parents/carers find that working as a volunteer boosts their confidence and gives them chance to meet other parents/carers with children with disabilities.

A good working partnership means that parents/carers enjoy coming in to school. The school also benefits as we gain extra help and benefit from having extra adult support. We also realise that being friendly with parents/carers is not the same as being ‘friends’ as this may cause unnecessary problems i.e. parents/carers asking for confidential information, or asking to let unwell children remain in school. Professional boundaries must be maintained at all times to avoid misunderstandings.