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Making Connections at BestStart Milson Line!
Here at Best Start Milson Line, we recently had the pleasure of hosting our first-ever parent-teacher interviews! We prepared for this firstly by setting our questions. Asking the teachers, we got some ideas as to what information we wanted to have the opportunity to gather from whānau and what conversations would be beneficial. We covered topics such as each child’s individual learning plans, going in-depth with whānau to explore what this looks like in our space and what development and learning they will see us working on.
We set learning goals together, gathering aspirations from whānau and then identifying how we can work together to meet these. For our four-year-olds, we were able to gather what schools whānau are interested in and how we can support them during such a big transition. Following this, we decided to explore the topic of culture. We aimed to] break down the concept of what our families thought culture was and broaden their ideas in this area.
We talked about culture being what makes each family who they are, their ethnicity, interests, and sports. We realised there are so many aspects of our lives that influence our culture. Being able to have these discussions was so special and we really got the chance to get to know our families and what is special to them. We received feedback after our parent-teacher interviews showed our families enjoyed them just as much as we did, and we are very excited to see these happen more often in our setting in the future.
Hayley, our Head Teacher in Mautuia (toddlers room) said, “I thought it was very relaxed and a great way to get to know parents/whānau in a more meaningful way to get to better know our tamariki” and Ann, our Teacher in Puanga (Pre-school room) mentioned, “I thought it was a great way to build relationships with whānau, gaining information from them”.
One of our centre whānau said, “It was really good to see where he is sitting and how he is going, and to set goals together. It would be great to do them every 6 months” and another whānau said “It was great, really good, great to be able to go more in-depth with her learning and sharing information”.
We had an amazing evening filled with joy and inspiration, bringing together whānau/parents and teachers. We’re excited to host our parent-teacher events in Term 1 and Term 3. If you’re interested in learning more, we warmly invite you to call us and schedule a visit to our wonderful centre and meet our dedicated teaching team!