Communicating with nursery families: app, channels and rules

Good communication with families takes more than an app. You need to decide what goes through each channel, who replies, when and in what tone, and explain all of this to families from day one. Once those rules are clear, the tool just has to make it easy.

Why it pays to organise communication

In many nurseries, communication grows without a plan. First, a practitioner gives out her mobile number for one particular case. Then a class WhatsApp group appears, someone rings in the middle of nap time and newsletters get lost at the bottom of a bag. The result is nearly always the same:

Messages from families at ten at night on a practitioner's personal phone.
Information scattered across paper, phone calls, notes and chats, with nobody seeing the full picture.
Group photos reaching the families of other children.
A family hearing about something important from another parent rather than from the nursery.

Getting it organised protects your staff, reassures families and prevents misunderstandings that are hard to undo later.

Which channel to use for what

The key is that each type of information has its place and everyone knows where it is. Here is a split that works well in most nurseries:

Daily report: what they ate, how long they slept, nappies and a short comment about the day. It is what families of the youngest children look forward to most.
Individual message: questions about a particular child, collection arrangements, a question about how they are settling in.
Message to a class: "please bring a change of clothes tomorrow", "we're doing finger painting on Thursday".
Newsletters and documents: nursery policies, the year's calendar, the settling-in period, things families need to bring.
Calendar: parties, outings, closure days and meetings.
Phone: urgent matters only, such as a temperature, a bump to the head or an unexpected collection.
Face to face: at drop-off and pick-up, and in parent meetings for sensitive subjects.

A common mistake is using the chat for everything. If the nursery policies are sent as a one-off message, nobody will be able to find them by March. Anything that needs to last all year goes in documents. Anything with a date goes in the calendar.

How to set rules your staff and families will stick to

Rules work when there are only a few, they are written down and they are explained at the start-of-year meeting. Some that tend to work well:

Response hours: for example, Monday to Friday during nursery opening hours. Messages sent outside those hours are read the next day, and anything urgent goes by phone.
Who replies: it is better for the nursery to reply than one particular person. That way, if a child's key person is off sick, the family is not left without an answer.
A reasonable timeframe: commit to replying the same day or the next working day, even if it is just "we'll look into it and get back to you".
No personal phones: staff should never have to give out their number or reply from their own mobile.
Sensitive issues, in person: a behaviour concern, a suspected developmental delay or a disagreement between families can't be sorted out in writing. A message is for suggesting a meeting.

Put all of this in a simple document that families receive when they enrol and can always refer back to.

What to include in the daily report and how to write it

The daily report is the communication you send most often all year, and the one where shortcomings show the most. A few pointers that help:

Be specific: "ate all the purée and half the fish" says far more than "ate well".
Add one detail from the day that is theirs alone: who they played with or what made them laugh. Avoid copying the same comment across the whole class.
Write positively without hiding anything: "found it hard to settle for a nap today, so we stayed with him for a while" informs without alarming.
Incidents such as a bite or a bump should also be explained in person or by phone, not just in writing.
Share the workload: filling in what is common to the whole class in one go and then adjusting each child saves a lot of time at the end of the day.

What to look for in a family communication app

If you are going to use a platform, check that it fits the rules you have decided on, not the other way round:

Separate channels for the daily report, messages, newsletters and the calendar, so it doesn't all end up mixed together in one chat.
The option to write to one family or a whole class without creating groups where everyone can see everyone else.
Messages that the whole staff team can handle, so you don't depend on a single person.
Each family sees only what relates to their own children, and photos are shared only with families who have given consent.
A simple, free app for families, because if it's a hassle to use, they'll go back to WhatsApp.

If that's where you are now, the guide Digital diary for nurseries: how to choose the right one covers the criteria in more detail.

How My Nursery Manager handles it

In My Nursery Manager, each type of information has its own section. The daily report covers meals, nap, nappies and a comment. Whatever you type in the "All students" row is copied to the whole class, a preview shows exactly what the family will see and, when you click "Save and send", the family is notified straight away.

In Messages there is a chat with each family, with text, photos, files and voice notes, plus "Mass message" for writing to a whole class or to the families you choose. All staff with access can see the families' messages, with an unread message counter. Newsletters go in Documents, and every family is notified when one is published. Events in the calendar are published for the classes you choose.

Families receive everything in the free Nursery Parents app for iPhone and Android, showing your nursery's logo, or from a web browser. Each family only sees information about their own children.

Frequently asked questions

Is a class WhatsApp group a bad idea?

It usually causes more problems than it solves. Every family can see everyone else's number, photos of children circulate unchecked and the nursery ends up moderating conversations that are none of its business. If families want their own group, that's up to them, but official information should always come through the nursery's own channel.

How quickly should the nursery reply to a family?

A reasonable target is the same day or the next working day, within opening hours. What matters is that the timeframe is agreed and kept to. A quick acknowledgement such as "we'll look into it and let you know" goes a long way.

What about families who don't use a smartphone?

Ask at enrolment how they would prefer to receive information and find an alternative, such as a computer or email. In individual cases, follow up on anything important in person. What you should avoid is running two complete systems side by side for the whole nursery.

How should I tell a family about a bite or a bump?

First in person or by phone, calmly explaining what happened and what you did. Then put it in writing in the daily report or a message so there is a record. Never leave it for the end-of-day report alone.

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