Do I have a right to receive information?

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage Clarification Note sets out the child care providers´ duty to work in partnership with parents. The Early Years Statutory Framework was updated in September 2014.

Paragraph 1.10 states:

" Providers must inform parents and/or carers of the name of the key person, and explain their role, when a child starts attending a setting. The key person must help ensure that every child´s learning and care is tailored to meet their individual needs. The key person must seek to engage and support parents and/or carers in guiding their child´s development at home."

The EYFS guide for Parents states:

You should be able to get information about your child´s development at any time and there are two stages (at age 2, and again at age 5) when the professionals caring for your child must give you written information about how he or she is doing.

When contacting the Early Years Education Provider for the first time, you are welcome to use one of our template letters if you are not sure what to write. Our templates are in an MSWord format.

Download Template

What do I do if the standards are not followed?

The childcare provider has a duty to investigate your complaint. You have several routes of complaint that you can pursue if the playgroup won´t address your concerns.

You could raise a complaint with Ofsted Early Years that the childcare provider is in breach of the National Standards.

If Ofsted won´t pursue your complaint, or suggest it´s a contractual matter between parents and the playgroup, contact your Member of Parliament and have them challenge Ofsted´s interpretation of the National Standards (which make no distinction between either parent other than a need to have Parental Responsibility for the children).

Contact the education department of the Local Authority under which your child is living to find out if the childcare provider is local authority maintained or private. If they are local authority maintained, you can ask the local authority to provide you with a copy of your child´s educational record.

Do I have a right to be involved in my children´s schooling?

Yes. Under education legislation any adult with parental responsibility has the following rights to involvement in their children´s schooling:

• To participate in decisions about their child´s education (e.g. deciding which subjects the child should study).
• To be treated equally to any other parent by the school and education department at the local council.
• To receive information from the school (e.g. copies of the governors´ annual report, pupil reports and attendance records).
• To participate in certain school activities (e.g. vote in elections for parent governors, attend sports days and school performances).
• To be asked for their consent for their children to take part in extra-curricular activities.
• To be advised about meetings involving the child (e.g. where a governors´ meeting is being held to discuss the possibility of a child´s exclusion from school for bad behaviour).
• To be included on an equal basis with the other parent in their children´s school records.

We have a template letter to assist you in gaining involvement in your child´s education and schooling:

Download Template

What are the school´s responsibilities to parents?

The school has a responsibility:

• To note the details of Court Orders on the pupil´s record.
• Not to allow the name of the child to be changed without the consent of every other person with parental responsibility for the child.
• To ask the parent with whom the child lives for the address details of the parent who the child otherwise spends time with.
• To make the parent with whom the child lives that the other parent is entitled to be involved in the child´s education.
• To keep address records for all parents / guardians in the admission register and any written or computerised pupil records, and passing this information on to any new school that a child may attend.
• To provide information to a parent directly if that parent requests such information.
• To seek parental consent in relation to extra-curricular activities.
• To uphold the principle that parental consent has not been given in relation to the child undertaking activities if one parent gives consent and the other withholds it.
• To inform the parent(s) with whom the child lives as soon as possible when a child has had an accident and the parent with whom the child otherwise has contact, if they have asked to be kept informed, of events involving the child.
• To consider the welfare of the child to be paramount and try to resolve problems without becoming involved in conflict.
• To involve parents in issues relating to their child´s education.
• To keep parents informed about school matters.