At Bertie’s we are genuinely committed to working in partnership with parents/carers, and we have an ‘open door policy’ which means that you are welcome at any time, not only on those occasions when you are specifically invited. The EYFS states that,
“Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up”
We aim to provide a welcoming and friendly place for parents and an atmosphere that promotes trust, respect and genuine partnership. This begins from our very first contact with you; from visiting and settling in until your child leaves Bertie’s. In this way, we hope that you will feel valued as the ‘expert’ on your child and that we can complement what you tell us about your child in order to promote their learning and development.
We promote daily and regular opportunities to discuss your child and if we have concerns about the progress that a child is making we will approach you in the first instance – it may be necessary to discuss whether there are other professionals that could be involved to support the child and/or family.
To further involve parents in their children’s learning and development in informal and fun, yet informative ways we have run a number of very successful free workshop-style afternoons that have been really popular amongst children and parents. For example, for our ‘Chatter Matters’ afternoon (as part of a national Every Child a Talker project) we enjoyed sharing storysacks, and exploring jelly play to gain an awareness of rhyming words and alliteration. For our ‘Outdoors Matters’ workshop we explored our wooded area, mark-making and Communication-Friendly Spaces outside.
When asked to comment on a recent ‘Literacy Matters’ workshop a parent said their favourite part was “the wide variety of activities available to us and the freedom to move from one to another…brilliant session and great to see all children, staff and parents in their element!”
Also introducing…Davina and Davey are the very special bears who promote further links between Bertie’s and our families – they go home with a different child every week with their own special diaries in which to track their adventures! They have been to the beach, Faversham gym club, the swimming pool, for sleepovers, to Legoland, shopping to Tesco (yes, even bears have to go shopping!)…the list is endless; they always need the summer holidays to have a rest. They could be coming to your house soon!