Effective communication with families can be difficult during the day to day operation of any service.  It is difficult to reach every parent personally so a number of communication methods should ensure that important messages are received and access to relevant information is available to everyone.

Implementing the ideas below, within your service, will contribute to meeting some obligations in NQS Quality Area 6.

Website.

Many OSHC services have a web page which is part of the school website.  Other smaller services, or family day care may not have one at all and rely on a child care directory for their web presence. These are not very useful in communication strategies as they are difficult to maintain and are often limited in the information that can be conveyed.

An up-to-date website, for your service, can provide a wealth of information and enhance communication practices in a time efficient manner. A website can enable parents to access information about your service at any time.  It can be used to provide contact information, links to important documentation such as a service handbook or QIP and also promote activities and events being held within your service.

6.1.3 Current information about the service is available to families.

A ‘links’ page can inform parents of local community groups and organisations your service has association with.  This can be used to enable parents access support services where needed which are connected with your service.

6.3.1 Links with relevant community and support agencies are established and maintained.

Short articles or blurbs about local sporting clubs and association can be used as endorsements for these selected organisations. These articles can be used to show evidence of a services active involvement in their community and to show further evidence of their commitment to providing support to their families.

 6.2.2 Current information is available to families about community services and resources to support parenting and family wellbeing.

Social Media

Like it or loath it social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are engaged with by the majority of parenting households.  Having a Facebook or Twitter account does not need to be onerous or time consuming.  In fact you will probably be able to find  a volunteer in your parent community to set up and manage a page on either of these services.  Issues around privacy would need to be addressed with the parent body but different security levels may be employed to allow this medium to be an effective communication tool for your service.  The added benefit of a Facebook page is that interaction with your community can be measured in the metrics that are available for administrators of a page.  This provides more evidence as to a services commitment to sharing and updating information within their community.

Notice boards

The good old notice board or messages book, located in a conspicuous area (sign in or sign out area) within your service can convey a huge amount of information.  The trick is to keep the relevant information as a point of focus and to keep it fresh.  If the information displayed on the board is cluttered the message may get lost and that is not effective communication.

e-Newsletter

Once upon a time a paper newsletter was able to convey a lot of information to everyone who received one, however, it was never easy to tell who received them and if any of that information was acted on.  Now there is an alternative which is better able to disseminate information in a timely, cost effective and environmentally friendly manner.

3.3.1 Sustainable practices are embedded in service operations.

By signing up to a bulk email provider such as MailChimp it is really easy to send out hundreds of emails with all your service information included.  Statistics from each mail campaign can then be reviewed to see how many of your emails were read, trashed or not delivered. Best of all it is free if you stay within the delivery or mailing list limits.

online Documentation

An online documentation system such as oneChild has a strong emphasis on communication with families.  Utilising the feature of sharing an observation about a child with the parents, creates an opportunity for dialogue between parents and educators via the comments section. The information received from parents may offer opportunity to further guide the education and learning opportunities for a child.  This system of communication is very effective as it is relevant and engaging to parents because of the personal nature of the interaction.  After all, it is about their child.

Providing a program which encourages sustainability and caring for the environment is more than just recycling your waste paper.  We have compiled a number of ideas for centres to implement to meet NQS 3.3.

National Quality Standard 3.3: The service takes an active role in caring for its environment and contributes to a sustainable future.

Gardening

Start a gardening program where children can participate in planting, caring for and even harvesting of fruit, vegetables, herbs or flowers.

Designate the role to an ‘Environmental & Sustainabilty Educator’ to incorporate planning and observation documentation to show ongoing progress, growth and participation in the program from season to season.

Involve your parent community with a newsletter or display board about your gardening and sustainability efforts.

You do not need a huge area to have a garden.  If you don’t have space for a small garden plot, maintain an existing garden or start a window sill box, a bottle garden or terrarium.

Compost

Recycling of food scraps is easy to get the children involved in.  Have different coloured bins for different foods types, either compostable or not.

There is no need for a large compost area if you are short on space.  A simple compost bin or even a Bokashi system can be used in the smallest of spaces.  This waste can then become something useful and be used to fertilise your garden, and educate children on the cycle of recycling.

Worm farms are also a great way to educate children on reusing organic waste to produce something of use.  They are also relatively inexpensive and rather easy to maintain taking up a small amount of space.  There may even be the opportunity to engage your local community by selling your worm castings to keen gardeners.  Imagine enterprise from waste…

Chemicals

Be conscious of the use of chemicals for cleaning dishes, bench tops and floors.  Find eco alternatives such as vinegar as a cleaning agent or use bio degradable detergents. See where you can reduce your chemical usage and document it.

Paper

Most people are aware of recycling paper and cardboard.  Whether it is using both sides of the paper, or reusing for activities such a paper mache or having a local council recycling bin.  Encourage students to become involved in recycling of paper based products.

Consider going paperless for your child documentation by using an online system such as oneChild.  Over the course of a year you could save reams of paper by not having to photocopy and print written documentation.

Energy – Carbon Footprint

Be aware of energy consumption for your centre.  Change lighting over to environmentally friendly LED or fluorescent blulbs. Check power ratings on appliances and purchase the most efficient your budget will allow.  Monitor the use of heating and cooling appliances.  Turn off the lights in areas that are not in use.  These few small changes can save your centre money while satisfying the NQS.

Consider participating in a carbon neutral program such as making donations to a charitable fund like Carbon Neutral Charitable Fund which will plant trees for a donation.  You may even have your own tree planting event. Local councils may be able to provide trees and shrubs for free and even a place to plant them. This could be a great vacation care activity and one that could involve other community organisations (think NQS 6.3).

Select some or all of these ideas and embed them in your service operations. If you consistently promote these initiatives in your everyday programming you will be well on your way to meeting relevant NQS.

If you have any other ideas or have things that you do as part of your centres sustainable practice,  it would be great if you could leave a comment and share them with us and others.

In life as in work there are a million things to do and each one appears to be as important as the other.  Documentation for the NQF can be one of those must do things that just keeps getting pushed down the list, particularly when there are so many other things that need your immediate attention.  Here are a couple of ideas that are used in other child care centres to ensure that there is time for documentation.

1.  Commit to documentation

There needs to be a commitment by all staff to document.  If there are members of staff who have every excuse under the sun why they ‘can not / have not’ produced documentation this needs to be addressed.  Some centres provide a paid period of 15 to 30 minutes at the start or end of a shift to allow for documentation time.

2. Encourage support

At times there could be an opportunity for one educator to take the lead in an activity to provide another educator a few minutes to write a few notes or start an observation.  This is usually achieved on an adhoc basis but can provide some time to get started.

3. Be inclusive

There are often times where children will ask ‘what you are doing?’, particularly if you are documenting on an electronic device such as a tablet.  This may be an opportunity to be inclusive and discuss what you are doing and work some documentation into this event with the interested children.  Perhaps document a planned goal for the child (NQS 1.1.2 child’s interests are the foundation of the program) or complete an observation about the inquiring nature of the child, NQF outcome 4.1 Shows curiosity or 5.1 Interacting verbally for a range of reasons.

4. Be realistic

If you are in the position to complete an observation every day that is great.  If on the other hand you struggle to make the time, only commit to a manageable amount of documentation.  An observation a day will accumulate to 200 + over a year, but one every other day may be all you are able to achieve.  Do not be discouraged, continue to be consistent and your documentation base will continue to grow and show your ongoing commitment to the NQF and NQS QA1.  Becoming stressed about your documentation or lack of it, will kill your productivity.  Start small and grow your capacity.

Once you are committed and become confident in your documentation practice the process will become easier and easier.