Key Person System
‘Children learn to be strong and independent from the base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a Key Person.’
Positive Relationships, Early Years Foundation Scheme
Working in partnership with parents
Each child at Tir na n-Og is assigned a Key Person. The Key Person will help your child to become familiar with their surroundings and to feel confident and safe within it. We believe in working in partnership with parents, and your child’s key person will work closely with you, ensuring that what we provide is right for your child’s particular needs.
The Key Person will give you regular feedback, and update you on your child’s progress. The Key Person is also there for you to pass on any important information about your child or changes at home. You can talk to them whenever you want, about any issues or questions concerning your child’s wellbeing.
Observation
The Key Person is also responsible for making observations on your child. Observation is the formal term for one of the most important aspects of day-to-day Professional Practice when working with children of all ages. It is how we find out the specific needs of individual children by carefully looking, listening and noting the activities of a child or group of children.
It is only through closely observing babies and children and listening carefully to what they have to say, that we can really get to know fully about them and their changing and developing capabilities. Observation enables us to identify each child’s likes and dislikes and their responses to different situations; such as care routines or new people. We can find out which experiences, routines or activities a child seems to enjoy or to find difficult and any that seem to make them anxious.
Observations on your child will be kept confidential. We share these observations with you verbally on a daily basis and there are is also opportunities to sit with your child’s Key Person and discuss your child’s development in more detail. In your child’s observations pack there will be samples of work, drawings, paintings, photographs, comments from observations and comments from your child’s Key Person.