of new families and children with a well-established
formula. There were embedded rituals that the
team had not realised were no longer serving the
learning community. Fewer and fewer families
attended the prescribed parent information sessions
and educators began to feel compromised by the
time required to assist individual families with the
documentation and enrolment requirements, the
translated assistance necessary and the increasing
amount of dedicated support needed for individual
children to navigate the transition from home to the
centre.
An opportunity to engage in Action Research invited
the team to review the orientation processes for
families from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds and prompted the question:
“How does our centre orientation process support
families’ inclusion and facilitate children’s transition
from home to centre, reflecting the cultural context
of the community?”
What then was important to families?
Resident families were invited to contribute to a
review of current orientation practices. In dialogue
families reviewed:
What was the orientation experience into KU
Chatswood Community Preschool like (was it
welcoming, informative, how did they feel)?
Did families find the practical information helpful
(including the Standard Terms for Enrolment,
operational information)?
As established members of the centre
community, families were asked to consider what
would be good to include or change in the future.
Would long standing families be interested in
assisting new families’ orientation into the centre
and what could this look like?
What was important to the children?
Children were also consulted as part of the review
of current practices. They were invited to discuss the
following:
Did the children remember when they first
started at KU Chatswood? How did they feel?
What did they see?
What could the children tell new children about
our preschool?
These discussion forums provided great insight into
the ineffectual practices that supported orientation
and provided some clear and creative resolutions to
ensure the process of welcoming new families into
APRIL 2018
the service would be a warm, positive, supportive
experience. The centre utilised the wisdom and
perspectives of resident families, the courageous
critique of the educators and the reflective
suggestions of the children to reshape orientation.
Recognising resident family knowledge and their
willingness to actively welcome new families into the
centre community was a vital component of a new
look orientation package. A “Pay-it-Forward” strategy
was introduced, and resident volunteer families
were recruited to extend a welcome to new families
as part of the orientation process. “Pay-it-Forward”
facilitated opportunities for small groups of new
families to come to the centre with an existing family
member playing host and sharing key aspects of
the culture of the centre with prospective families. It
provided an opportunity to share useful information
like where to put children’s bags, tips for morning tea
and lunch and how these transitions are supported
by staff, the best place to park and many more
important functional tips. This was supported by a
“Stay and Play” time for new parents and children.
These small forums of new families were also
encouraged to reconvene for coffee outside of the
centre at another date.
Rethinking the tenants of orientation was most
effective in building relationships among new
families and having an informed resource for
questions and queries beyond the centre staff. These
existing families proved invaluable as advocates for
the work and pedagogy that defined KU Chatswood
Community Preschool. The concept of sharing the
many tasks associated with orientation with existing
families meant that the Centre Director and the
teaching team could allocate more time to individual
families, walking them through the learning
environment, discussing expectations of care and
education in a relaxed way. The team could calmly
engage with families and begin to build relationships
of trust and respect.
It became apparent that new rituals were readily
adopted. The once new families soon became
the established resident members of the centre
community who were eager to step up and “Pay-
it-Forward”. The willing participation of current
families to support new families became integral to
the changing face of orientation and foundational
relationships. With each new year, KU Chatswood
families step in to create space for belonging. They
are open and eager to welcome new families,
they share their experiences and advocate for the
expertise of the educators and the rich learning
opportunities afforded to children and families.
www.ku.com.au
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