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We visited Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre in Shepherd’s Bush, in November 2021. Headteacher Michele Barrett showed us around the setting, including their famous forest school, and explained to us why a setting like theirs matters so much in a community as diverse, and with such complex needs, as that of her cohort at the heart of the White City Estate.
It was during the pandemic, when parents couldn't enter the setting, that Michele and her team realised that having to wait weeks and weeks to share children’s achievements with parents was too long. Like most settings, they shared children’s physical learning journals at parents' evenings once a term, but now Famly allows them to do this every day. Hear it first-hand from Michele below.
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Randolph Beresford Nursery School at Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre is a maintained nursery school in White City, London. The 139 children on roll speak 22 different languages and over a third have a special educational need or disability. Children enjoy free-flow classrooms, a huge playground, and a forest school on site.
And, as Headteacher Michele Barrett, explains in the video, Randolph Beresford provides families with much more than early education and childcare. Randolph Beresford offers art therapy, a psychotherapist, and immediate support for families in crisis.
Before Famly, Michele’s team were spending hours on long observations or wrestling with software to get photos uploaded. But now, Famly’s made the whole process quick and simple for the staff.
“They’ve got much more snappy about their observations,” explains Michele, “ We don’t get those big essays anymore.”
And Famly’s not just made the staff happy, the parents at Randolph Beresford love it too.
“To wait a term or a half term to see observations in a profile book really felt distant for [parents]. So the fact that they pop up on their phone as soon as they’re done- parents really like that. We’ve had some really nice feedback,” says Michele, “They like the fact that they can comment back straight away.”
“The feedback [about Famly] has actually been quite stunning. Some staff have come and said to me, ‘We just want to say thank you, this is so much easier!’”
“Some of my staff were spending time outside their work hours here, typing up observations and getting them done. [Famly] has taken that stress away - it’s much quicker.”
Michele Barrett, Headteacher, Vanessa Nursery and Randolf Beresford Early Years Centre.
Famly makes better nursery management software. We help hundreds of providers across the UK to streamline the tedious admin and paperwork that comes with running a nursery.
Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.
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The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.
Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
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