Famly Together aims to provide a single, secure platform for practitioners to share activities, photos, videos and updates for parents to access all in one place via a free app or online. Parents have a personalised feed where they can comment on posts or share observations of their child with nursery staff to continue important links during the closure period.
A new live video stream option enables children to see friends that they have not been able to play with since the lockdown. Secure video conferencing, which can host up to 50 participants, also allows practitioners to lead remote sessions with children or check-in on families.
Other features include an activity library with more than 100 creative activities shared by early years professionals. Practitioners can add to the suggestions and build their own library to share directly to parents’ newsfeeds.
‘Outside of a child’s parents, nursery staff are some of the most important figures in little ones’ lives — often sharing 30 to 40 hours together per week,’ says Famly chief executive Anders Laustsen. ‘Losing regular contact with these caregivers can be deeply upsetting for children. Maintaining contact through Famly Together’s video calls, multimedia posts and messaging reassures children that their friends and carers are still there, and all will be well.’
Mr Laustsen acknowledges that many early years providers were experiencing ‘significant financial stress’ even before the coronavirus crisis, which is why the decision was been made to offer the GDPR-approved Famly Together software for free.
‘Just like all businesses, early years providers deserve to stay connected with their customers – their families – and have the option of providing them with a remote service they’re comfortable charging for in order to make up their lost earnings,’ he adds. ‘That’s what Famly Together is all about.’
- More information: www.famly.co/famly-together/
Connect Childcare
Connect Childcare has added a new feature within its existing ParentZone app to support parents to track their children’s home learning experiences while nurseries are closed. The new ParentHub features content around home activities, recipes and enables parents to upload observations of their children for practitioners to see and comment on. Planned new content includes mental health and well-being advice plus safeguarding and internet safety.
‘While the app is beneficial for parents during this strange time, it’s also advantageous for nursery staff and childminders,’ says Connect Childcare chief executive Chris Reid. ‘ When receiving observations from home it will give them more information to use in planning activities when things are back to normal.’
- More information: https://www.connectchildcare.com/software/parentzone/
