Parent Involvement / 20 FREE
Parent Involvement and Consultation
We have an open door policy and invite parents to spend time at the kindergarten whenever they wish to.
We run a parent help roster for those parents that are able to participate - this works out to be once or twice a term. This helps to keep the child / adult ratio a little lower and it encourages parents to become involved.
We have a wonderful committee that helps to keep the kindergarten running smoothly. Any one can join this committee or just come along to meetings which are held once a month.
We have a variety of ways to keep parents informed of what is happening in the kindergarten. These include:
- A whiteboard that has messages on it daily.
- Newsletters that go home to parents.
- Parent noticeboards that have a raft of information from programme planning to fire drill procedures.
- A community report that goes home at the end of each term.
- An information sheet that explains where parents can find anything from policy information, management plans, to what is available in the parents library.
- Parents are notified in writing if their child has required first aid or a change of clothes.
- Child profiles / art books are available for parents to view at any time and they go home periodically.
- Whenever policies, management plans, strategic plans etc. are reviewed they are placed on the whiteboard for consultation.
- Parents are invited to come and talk to a teacher whenever they may have a concern or query.
- Pre-entries are held as an induction for new families to help make the transition into the kindergarten easier.
20 FREE
The 20 Free Hours funding is a big help for families and means kindergartens have enough income to provide great educational resources and meet most day-to-day operational costs. However we still need to meet the cost of providing a service for children aged 2 years and all the hours over the 20 Free for 3 and 4 year olds.
Unlike schools, the funding received from government does not meet all the costs of running a kindergarten. It only covers teacher salaries, compliance costs, some professional development for staff and limited building maintenance.