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Communication with families in childcare can be tricky, but there’s no avoiding it. Open and regular communication between early childhood education (ECE) staff and parents or primary carers is absolutely essential to support a child’s successful growth and development.
You may already have a newsletter that you print out and post each week in your childcare center, or maybe you send out group emails on a “when-needed” basis.
But, what if one parent does the drop-off, and the other parent is never informed on the happenings and upcoming events at the preschool? Or what if your email is accidentally deleted when they are quickly cleaning out their inbox because they don’t expect it?
As an early childhood educator, newsletters are your key to accessible and consistent communication. An email newsletter might not be anything revolutionary, but there’s a lot that separates a good newsletter from a bad one. We’ll go into that below.
Plus, we did the hard part to help you save time. So, whether you prefer digital newsletters or paper copies, we’ve made you a free creative preschool newsletter template that’s all ready for you to use. Just edit it and send it as an email, or print it out and hang it in your center, or send a copy home with the children.
Ok now let's get into the practical to dos for a newsletter.
There are several factors that can help your newsletters be more engaging.
How often are you going to send your newsletters? Will they be community-wide or sent out by each classroom? This is important because it allows families to expect the newsletter and know when to look for it in their inbox.
Maybe the classroom newsletter will be one time a week, but a community-wide newsletter will be once a month. Choose what is best for you, your teachers, and your center.
This also means you don’t have to spend too much time thinking about a subject line that will grab their attention. You can feel confident that the families will look out for, and open the newsletter with the simple subject line: “Your Preschool or Classroom’s Weekly or Monthly Newsletter.”
We know you probably have a community or classroom calendar with all upcoming events and holidays. But, with their busy schedules, it’s not guaranteed that families will see or spend time reading all the communication materials you provide. Make it clear to families at the beginning of the year that if they only have time to read one communication from the center, that it should be the newsletter.
Using newsletters gives you the ability to easily keep all your important information in one place and ensure everyone is always on the same page. That way, you can save face-to-face time for what really matters - talking about their child’s day, rather than logistics and reminders.
Plus, if your newsletter is digital, you really can have all information in one place, by including clickable links to make it easier for families to access additional information, like event websites, resources, photos, calendars, or sign-up webpages.
Yes, it is a way to keep parents informed, but instead of just listing important information and updates, try phrasing things like you’re having an in-person conversation, where it is positive, active, casual and friendly. And, try to avoid too much educator jargon, unless it's directly relevant!
Include a personal note or a story from the classroom. Sharing practical info is important, but part of these newsletters is to build that personal connection with families. And families want to feel a part of their child’s learning, even when separated. Sharing these small moments helps do just that.
Ensure parents can access your newsletter in their home or preferred language. With Famly, you can communicate in over 130 languages!
Parents have a lot going on in their lives already. Make your newsletter short, to the point and even easy to skim. Make the most important reminders the easiest to find, break up large bodies of text, and add color and images! (All of this is done for you in our free classroom newsletter template below!)
If there is any especially important information, feel free to bold them, underline them, or change the font color!
Word of mouth is powerful when it comes to choosing a preschool or childcare center. A parent might share your newsletter with a friend or neighbor who has children and inquired about your preschool.
A newsletter is a great way to market and promote your center. By giving current families a snapshot into their child’s day-to-day, and showing how interactive and engaged teachers are with your child’s learning, growth and development, you are also giving prospective families a snapshot of the quality of care their child could have if they enroll at your center.
Below you will see the 5 sections we included in the free template available at the bottom of this article. Here are some ideas of topics to include in each!
Preschool parents love seeing what their children have been learning and doing throughout the day. Briefly explain some key topics or lessons covered in this past month.
This is where you can point out specific instances where a lesson specifically resonated with the children, or a funny moment. Maybe you want to share that one of your children learned to write their name, or held a crayon for the first time - anything that sticks out to you over the past month.
Any upcoming events, holiday celebrations, birthdays, days you’ll be closed, or any other important dates? Let them know all about it here. Remember, it only has to be for the upcoming month, because you’ll be sending another newsletter next month!
This is where you can let families know about any updates at the center. Did a staff member get a promotion? Will a new substitute teacher join? Will the swingset get an upgrade? Will the fire department come by for their annual check? This may seem like it is only noteworthy for staff, but families like to be in the know. It helps them feel a part of the community, and a part of the team that is supporting their child’s growth and development.
Families like to know about the other kiddos their child is spending each day with. This is a great way to ask children 3 fun facts about themselves and share it in the newsletter. Each month, you can feature a different child!
*The free childcare template below is completely editable, which means you can change it to say weekly, or monthly - whatever timing is best for your teachers and your center.
Childcare management software (like Famly) makes it even easier for you to communicate with families. It’s likely that you, your team, and your families are already juggling lots of documents and materials. It can become overwhelming when trying to keep everything organized.
Utilizing childcare software allows you to see important information all in one place. With specific features - like daily updates, instant messaging, and automatic reminders - you can be sure to keep families engaged by sending updates straight to their pockets! This will help you and your staff stay organized and build better parent partnerships.
Not to toot our own horn, but Famly prioritizes family engagement and parent-staff communication, so we offer various in-app features to help you do just that - easily, efficiently and effectively.
Whether you’re new to childcare software, or you’re already using one, here are a few handy in-app features to enhance your communication, increase engagement and strengthen partnerships with family members and parents:
Child care management software gives you loads of tools too — which, in combination with a good newsletter, will bring your parent partnerships to a new level.
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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