Development records and communication: a few questions

[chique]

We have received copies of DC's development assessment and forward plan (DC is four next year and attends an independent school nursery).

The records, with a generic cover sheet, were left in the classsroom for parents to collect. I must admit that I was a little suprised they were not distributed in envelopes. I was also disappointed that they were not discussed with parents on a one-to-one basis? Am I being unrealistic?

I do not want to be a pushy parent but I do want to ensure that we are involved in DC's development (e.g by reinforcing learning points) where appropriate. I would, therefore, be interested to hear how other schools communicate (and perhaps work) with parents of pre-school children.

We get DD's dev record at parents' evening, so in theory we get to discuss it then I guess. Never see it any other time (though I imagine it would be produced if we asked).

But ... her dev record is so poorly updated (and so was DS's in the past- he's now at school), that I'm not sure I take much heed of it. I know the nursery staff struggle to find time to fill them in and I guess that I'd rather they spend time with my DC ... and as long as they do know what my DC are capable of I consider that is more important than writing it down.

I've always suspected as well that the nursery just write any old thing down as a development need (because they have to). A suspicion that was fulfilled one month when DS's goal for the next month was "to count up to 20". A perfectly good goal, just a shame it was something he'd been able to do for a year already.

I'm also not convinced about the value of "goal setting" for pre-school children. DS had the goal "to write his name" for his last year at nursery and he now has it as a goal at school. Has he achieved it yet? No. As long as the pre-school is providing a range of activities and support I think the DC tend to pick up the things at their own speed.

I'd talk to the nursery about anything you are particularly concerned about, but personally wouldn't worry about pushing at this stage.