Family Partnerships

Close relationships with the special people in their lives form one of the most important foundations for your baby or child’s development. These bonds are vital for their sense of security and are a firm foundation for emotional development.

Key Person & Key Buddy

We place a huge amount of importance on family partnerships. Young Friends Kindergarten is here to provide superb care and education for your child, and to do that we need to work alongside you.

When your child joins us, you’ll be introduced to your ‘key person’ and ‘key buddy’ who will be in your child’s pod and will be your main point of contact while your child is with us. They’ll get to know your child and your family, and you’ll get to know them.

Our key person system enables your child to develop strong bonds. You’ll have the reassurance that we really know your child, and that you have someone you trust, and feel comfortable talking to about anything and everything to do with your child.

It’s called the care triangle – your child, their key person, and you – and the stronger it is, the more your child will thrive.

When the time comes for your child to move to the older pod, they will go gradually, starting with play visits with their current key person and their future one. They will also move with a group of similar-aged children from their current pod.

The family/keyperson relationship has benefits for everyone. For you, it gives reassurance that we really know your child and are keeping a close eye on their development. You also get to know and trust your child’s key person, so you can feel comfortable enough to discuss anything about your child with them.

 

At Young Friends Kindergarten, we:

  • recognise and acknowledge parents or guardians as their child’s first and most important educators.
  • involve families in our nursery community and encourage friendships and connections with others.
  • provide families with support and guidance around ‘at home learning’.
  • are always there for you with a warm and welcoming open-door policy.

 

 

Young Friends Kindergarten Key person

Communication

When your child is spending a lot of time with us, it’s natural that you’ll want to keep up with how they are getting on, and what they’re doing.

Your child’s key person will give short verbal feedback about their wellbeing at the end of every session. Famly, our online journal system (accessed through the parent portal), is also designed to keep you informed every step of the way.

It’s easy to use, and keeps you up to date you with observations and assessments of your child’s learning and development.

We post an overview on Famly at the beginning of each month to let you know what we’re planning to focus on, and our parent information board will let you know what your child has done each day.

You can expect weekly group activity photos of the fun children are having within their pods and quarterly individual photos from their key person. The EYFS states: Assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. So our photos and reports are kept to a minimum.

We also post regularly on our Young Friends Kindergarten Instagram page.

 

Parent Consultations

You’ll be able to contact your child’s key person whenever you need, both in person and via Famly. They are there to get to know you and your child’s needs in detail. As well as your ongoing conversations, we’ll invite you to regular parent consultations. This is a warm and friendly opportunity to spend additional time with your child’s key person, talking in detail about your child’s progress, concerns you might have, ideas for home and identifying next steps to focus on.

You can also give us your feedback through Famly, and we deal immediately with any concerns. We welcome constructive feedback and are always happy to listen to suggestions for changes we could make.

Young Friends Kindergarten Key person

Family Events

We also love a get-together and have two social events per year; one to celebrate winter and one in the summer. Our families, children and our team really enjoy these events, an opportunity to meet and chat in a relaxed atmosphere.

Our Stories

We are passionate about the benefits of reusable nappies. Not only are they better for bottoms but they make
At Young Friends we encourage the children to be curious about, respect and acknowledge important days and events happening
Our nursery ethos and curriculum has the Three Pillars of Sustainability at the core. True sustainability happens when social,
During your child’s time at Young Friends, you will hear us talking about your child’s schemas, when discussing their