Working with parents and carers

This learning workout will explore some of the ways we can create a more inclusive environment for children who are care-experienced and how we can best support them from a young age.

The home learning environment, often abbreviated to HLE,  is a broad term used to describe the environment in which children spend most of their time, whilst not at their usual educational or cares setting. The home learning environment refers not only to the physical space that it occupies but also what goes on there to support purposeful, playful learning that  contributes to a child’s development..   In this article we are going to think about some of the ways we can promote the importance of the home learning environment to the parents and carers who have the potential to make it a thriving environment for their children to grow and learn. 

Communicating well with parents and carers allows us to establish a meaningful relationship with those at home and to work together with them, with the child’s best interests at the heart of what we do.

We are going to explore physical activity at home and what it means for young children, whilst offering some ways to overcome barriers for those who might not be able to access outdoor spaces as easily as others.

Road safety is a huge part of our daily lives, whether we travel by car or not. Being aware of our surroundings and having an appreciation for safe practice is not only an integral skill for life beyond the early years but also promotes other essential skills that we are constantly looking to consolidate, such as looking, listening and general awareness too.  

Here are some ways you could approach fire safety with little ones, in a fun and engaging way.

Let’s take a look at what we mean by an unconscious bias and some of the ways this might be exhibited.

The child’s best interests are at the forefront of this relationship, but what does this mean in practice?  

Exploring the importance of a parent/carer partnership and opportunities to engage.

Parent and carer events are used commonly as a way to meet with families on a regular, collective basis. Because they are more formal than a conversation at handover, parent and carer meetings provide a regular way to create focused time for a summative discussion about a child’s care, learning and development

Explore the importance of supporting positive parenting in the early years

Some children and their families, can be put at a ‘dis’advantage when faced with barriers to accessing high-quality early education and care provision.  These barriers can contribute to a widening attainment gap, which is the difference in educational outcomes between children from more and less affluent backgrounds. 

The experiences of service children are very individual due to the specific nature of their involvement in the service. Service children are more likely to face barriers to accessing education throughout their first 25 years of life.

Having an insight into the parents’ and carers’ experiences is enormously helpful for thinking about how best to support parent and carer partnerships initially to create foundations for a long-lasting relationship with families as their children grow through setting. This learning workout reflects instead on the experiences of the parents and carers who are also adjusting to the start of their child’s journey in early education and care.

Explore how communicating with parents and carers is vital for building positive foundations with families and giving children a lifelong love of learning.

Explore the importance of parent and carer partnerships in early education and care and recognise the superpowers of parents and carers.

This learning workout will explore how we develop these meaningful conversations with parents and carers and what this means for wider practice.

Early education and care provisions provide a unique space to develop language proficiency and all professionals should be equipped to support children for whom English is not their native language.