How much communication should I expect from nursery?

[sleepslikeababy]

My 2 yo started nursery at the end of July. He does 4 mornings a week. He loves it, runs in every morning, and always comes out beaming.

My issue is the lack of communication from the nursery. They have an app (Tapestry) but it hasn’t had any photos added to it since August. There is Parent Mail but the last email was for the Queens funeral (last minute closure). At handover a different worker each day will bring him out and say ‘he’s eaten loads, had a great day,’ or some variation of that. I hardly ever see who I think is his key worker Is this normal?

He’s our first so not sure what to expect. I feel a bit like I have no idea what he’s doing or how he’s doing for half the week.

To clarify, we have no concerns about behaviour or development, I just feel like there should be more information shared.

Am I wrong? What’s the communication like at other nurseries? Should I not worry because he seems happy?! I don’t want to make and issue where there isn’t one…

I had to have functional skills almost ten years ago - I don’t think it’s a super new thing. Perhaps all the nurseries I’ve worked where staff can write in basic English have been the exception - I’ve worked in several doing agency work too and if I’m honest I’d be really shocked if the norm is for practitioners to routinely be incapable of writing in basic English. Some grammar mistakes maybe but to be incapable of writing an observation for a child isn’t the norm in my experience unless the person perhaps had dyslexia or some other issue.

One of the things our nursery does which really helps is a weekly newsletter which includes some of the activities the different groups have been doing and some group photos for those who have given permission. You always know you’ll have an idea what they’ve been doing even if the observations are not that frequent (generally once a week unless they’ve hit some milestones).

the newsletter and observations are always well written so I’m quite shocked by some of the posters suggesting nursery staff are illiterate.

Haha not a single person at our nursery (so far) can use apostrophes or punctuation in general but they are absolutely amazing with DS (who has no concept of punctuation anyway)

Lol - it won’t be the nursery staff writing the newsletter and observations. Well, it might be the nursery staff writing the first drafts, but trust me, it will be the nursery owner (or perhaps the manager) doing the extensive edits necessary to allow any paying customer to set eyes on them.

They aren’t. The majority of nurseries will hire staff who have childcare qualifications. You need to have at least functional skills in English & Maths (tested by exam papers) or you aren’t allowed to qualify at all. Unless you’re hiring only unqualified staff they will not be illiterate. Some childcare workers possibly won’t have perfect SPAG but the idea that the majority of childcare workers are incapable of writing in basic English or are illiterate is just not true.

My staff are all qualified. Half of them are Level 6.

With no grasp of basic written English? I doubt that.

I can assure you it’s true.

Are you sure you don’t own one of the apps? You seem very invested in the argument that (1) childcare workers have high standards of literacy (they don’t) and that (2) paperwork is a GOOD THING.

Look, don’t get me wrong, some paperwork (child protection records, individual plans for children with SEN, etc) is essential. Observations describing children kicking a ball are not. It’s far more beneficial for a child if a staff member kicks a ball with them. That’s my opinion, YMMV.

Definitely agree with you on this, I can see why Ofsted are moving in the direction of carers demonstrating their knowledge of children without paperwork. To me that’s more reassuring.

I suppose the English skills required for caring for very young children are less important than how much they’re genuinely cared for and kept safe while feeding their curiosity and play interests but I would like stories clearly read and for carers to be well spoken as they get older.

I don’t think excessive paperwork is a good thing. I do think well kept records are necessary, but that they should be as simple as possible.

I also don’t think all childcare workers have high levels of literacy. I do think however that it’s absurd to make comments suggesting that the majority of childcare workers (apparently even those qualified to level 6) are basically illiterate and incapable of writing something a simple as an observation or a nursery newsletter without extensive editing by nursery owners/managers. It’s just silly.

I can only describe my own experience of 20 years plus. But my nursery is in London, where most staff do not speak English as a first language and don’t write it well, despite having childcare qualifications (in my case, a mix of Level 3s and Level 6s). However, they are attentive to the children, which I consider to be the most important thing.

Rather than the issue being the amount of photos and things , it sounds to me like you're feeling like it isn't personal enough, having a different member of staff every day at handover doesn't sound great! What's the point of having a keyworker if you hardly ever see them? My little one is with a childminder and she fills out a book saying what he's eaten / poos / sleep and couple sentences about that day. When I drop off I often ask what they plan to get up to that day and at hand over she's usually got a couple of funny stories to tell. I would be expecting more from the nursery and at least seeing his key worker a bit more? It's nice to get a sense of what they are up to all day, rather a generic 'he's had a nice day...'.

I can see both sides: my son's first nursery had updates everyday of food, activities, sleep, etc, Ans we would have at least a picture a day of him just doing normal stuff. Every few weeks we'd get much longer observations with a few paragraphs.

His new nursery is much more lax with observations: they say every two weeks but it's often been six! However, hand over is super thorough: sleeping, eating, general mood, things he's enjoyed today, etc.

However, the written skills of both his nurseries were terrible!

We do daily photos for the parents app where I work. We also do learning stories once a month.
We're getting really busy now though so it can be a struggle to do daily photos but we normally do.
Manager is usually not in numbers so she does newsletters and updates on the App.
Tbh your son is, happy at nursery and I'd say thats more important. It really should be his key worker doing handover but sometimes it's not possible.
Ask a few questions if you want more information, we're always happy to do that where I work and should be the same everywhere.
They should update the app with food, sleep and toileting really but I'm assuming they just find it easier to give verbal feedback.

Speak to the nursery and let them know your concerns.
I made lots of complaints to mine and eventually they made sure I was regularly updated.