Consultation and involvement

Involving parents and carers from the very beginning is vital. From transition period inductions and daily chats, to sharing resources and holding information sessions. There are lots of ways for your setting to consult and involve parents and carers.

It's important that parents and carers know the child’s key person. It's your role as that person to keep them informed of their child’s progress. There's also ways to involve them in their child’s learning and development. Ideas such as by providing take home resource packs.

Once a positive relationship has been established with parents it's important to continue building on it. That way practitioners are in the best possible position to work with parents in the future.

It's important that all staff are aware of their own duties for working with parents. Especially those whose children may have additional or special educational needs or disabilities.

When working with parents it's important:

• to share information on how things work.
• to make sure they know who to go to when they need to discuss important issues regarding their child.
• they understand the role of the key person, the setting special educational needs co-coordinator (SENCO), and any advisory support staff.
• they have a copy of your relevant up-to-date policies.
• to involve them and carers in the process of reviewing policies and procedures.
• to not use jargon or acronyms they might not understand.
• they can be sign posted to the SEND local offer, early help for families.

What to expect, when?

The What to expect, when? guide can help parents find out more about how their child is learning.   Also how they're developing during their first five years, in relation to the EYFS. The guide has been written to help parents know what to expect during these vitally important years. It focuses on the seven areas of learning and development which are covered in the EYFS. This resource can be used to support parents get to grips with their child’s learning.

Early help for families

As a childcare provider you'll support families that at some point may experience challenging times. Early help is about working with these families so that small problems don’t become big problems. There are lots of reasons why people look for early help. Early years practitioners are in a prime position to provide that help, guidance and support.

Where families are having specific issues. Signposting them to a particular agency may be all that's needed to support a family in their time of struggle. However, if families are in need of support from more than one agency. It may be that you need to discuss the option of an Early Help Assessment (EHA).

Early Help Assessments

Starting an Early Help Assessment (EHA) is nothing to worry about. It’s just a chat to work out how to help a family stop small issues they're having. Before they become more of a concern. You can talk to the family about things that are going well and things that they are proud of.  As well as things they are finding a challenge.

An EHA is a multi agency approach to support families in need. Making sure all their issues can be addressed where possible. You can read more about undertaking an EHA, or speak to your Quality Improvement Officer for more support with this.

Family hubs

Family hubs offer a friendly one stop shop for families with children and young people. Aged 0 to 19 years old (25 if they've disability). They're welcoming places offering:

• fun activities
• somewhere to meet new people
• learning options
• access to health services and family support

It's important to acquaint yourself with your local family hub. In order to improve the support you offer families and sign posting options. Utilising your partnership with your local family hub will strengthen your support for parents.  Also give you a starting point to multi agency working.

You can read more about family hubs and find your local venue here.

Barnsley Virtual Family Hub

The Barnsley Virtual Family Hub provides information for all the family, including about childcare and education. In order to help people easily find and choose childcare within the borough. You should create an account for your setting and keep it updated with current details. If you're starting up a new setting you can set up an account online. You can also contact your Quality Improvement Officer.

Keeping your account up to date and providing as much detail to promote your service as possible.  This will help parents to make their choices. Part of this will include developing a SEND local offer. The support available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities. If you need support with this please contact us for referral.  We'll direct you to the Family Involvement Officer.