My DS's nursery has informed me that soon they will be sending out a questionnaire to gather parents' views on their service. I want to comment on their keyworker system, but first I'd like to know what other nursery keyworkers do and what is reasonable to expect.
First off I want to say that I am very very happy with DS's care at this nursery. He is very happy and settled there, it is a lovely place with excellent facilities, excellent food and all the carers are lovely. So I want to make my comments in the spirit of observation and suggestions for improvement, rather than criticism.
DS officially has a keyworker but as far as I can see, this makes no difference to his care. He spends time with any of the carers assigned to his room, so I can't see evidence of any individual / special treatment by his keyworker.
The first time I thought the system wasn't really making any difference was when he was in a different age group room in the nursery. His keyworker was moved to work in the room for the next age group up. We were not informed, and we were not told who his new keyworker was. A few months on and he has moved up to the room where his original keyworker is so I'm presuming she is his keyworker again.
What I would like to see from a keyworker is some kind of communication to the parents about my son and his development. Every day we get a diary sheet listing what he's eaten, how long he slept, how many nappy changes and what activities he did etc. I think it would be good if once a month or at some appropriate interval, I got something from the keyworker - whether it be a chat in person, a phone call or a letter - saying stuff like "DS is growing in confidence, has learned to do X Y and Z, likes big groups and noisy play / one or two other children and quieter play, etc etc". As DS is in nursery full time, sometimes I miss developmental milestones e.g. he started spoonfeeding himself at nursery before doing it at home. I had to ask one of the carers how he ate in order to find this out!
Sorry this is long - can you tell me what your DCs get from their keyworkers? Thanks.