Louise Davies Task Sheet 7
Communication, Partnership Working and Information Sharing.
1.Write a detailed account that explains the range of groups and individuals that you communicate within your workplace. Say why good communication and positive working is better. Explain the methods of communication and suggest areas of conflict.
We must communicate with a lot of outside agencies that we wouldn’t necessarily have direct personal contact so various other methods must be used. The various people we would have contact with and the way of contact is :-
*Parents/families – We usually have direct personal contact talking to them after each session or throughout the week, If not we have contact via the telephone and a termly newsletter. We display a white board with daily information on and also have a parent notice board. We need to have good communication with parents as they need to know if their child has been ok, what they got up to and if we have any concerns they should know about, or if an accident has occurred. We have just recently started new children within the playgroup so it has been important to have contact with their parent. For example a little girl started on a Tuesday and was happy and settled, I spoke to mum at the end of playgroup and told her how happy her child was, but on the next occasion her child was not happy or settled at all. I called mum into playgroup and explained that her child had been upset but this was to be expected, as mum explained that she has never left her before. We had a good conversation putting mum’s mind at ease that she will settle as she attends playgroup three days a week and her child’s crying was not consistent, give a couple of weeks she will. Mum is happy with the situation and we will keep contact after each session.
In some situations conflict may be caused when a parent has misunderstood what you have told them or they don’t like something you may have informed them about. It is always important to make clear exactly what you are saying to a parent to avoid any un-necessary conflict.
*Conwy County Council – We have a liaison co-ordinator come down every week to help ensure we are delivering the Foundation Phase correctly, completing development books and the essential paperwork with planning. They provide us with all the necessary documents needed in terms of paperwork and help us out if we are unsure of how to go about something, give us advice. The council provide us with a training booklet so we can book to go on various courses through this. The Foundation Phase Co-ordinator has regular phone contact with us and visits weekly, post is the alternative route they usually use or it is given to our co-ordinator to bring to us if she has a visit booked. We need to have a good communication level, due to the fact that any breakdown in communication could effectively have an impact on the planning, how we deliver our education to the children. The courses we need as staff members could be effected if we do not receive the yearly booklet that we need. Some courses need to booked a few months in advance, so failure to receive this is unacceptable. There may conflict sometimes say for example if I have not completed the planning effectively or disagree with an idea we are expected to put to into place. We all have to work together so it is important that we talk ideas through that will work and not have it all one sided.
*WPPA Wales Playgroup Association – We have a limited amount of contact with the playgroup association office as they have a lot of other playgroups on their books. We do however have a set person whom we may contact when necessary which is usually by telephone to their mobile, office or via email to my personal contact address. We require some documents which entitles some parents to discounted place within playgroup if they are claiming benefits. These documents are sent via post to us and are filled in and signed by
