With more than one billion people active daily on Facebook, not having a social media profile means a setting could be missing out.
But on what exactly? Is it a medium for communicating with parents, recruiting staff, public relations? It can be all of these things, says Claire Rawlings, nursery practitioner and SENCO at Tower Pre-school in Orpington, Kent. ‘Facebook is your kerb appeal, especially in shared buildings that are not purpose-built and difficult to emblazon with a logo. It helps present an image of the setting so prospective parents can get a feel for the place before walking through the door, hopefully saving time for everyone.
‘Communication and partnership with current parents can be strengthened, and I’ve even seen recruitment drives. Yes, a website can do all this, but Facebook is instant.’
At Merryfields Playschool in Diss, Norfolk, manager Sharon Everett says 90 per cent of new families are referred via the setting’s public Facebook group, which enables parents and staff to ‘tag’ the business in posts requesting information about local settings.
Kate Tyler, director of Shake Social, a social media agency for the early years, recommends the use of Facebook for advertising. ‘Generally we advise that a Facebook page is a really good platform for attracting new parents and staff, and best used in conjunction with paid promotion, such as sponsored posts.’
Owner and manager of Busy Bees Bourne Pre-School and Day Nursery in Lincolnshire, Laura Cuthbertson, believes a Facebook page can also allow nurseries to communicate more effectively with existing parents. ‘No matter how many letters you send, there will always be some who don’t write down the term dates or when Father’s Day breakfast is.’
Parents often appreciate this approach. When considering the use of social media, St Barnabas Pre-school in Danesmoor sent out a questionnaire to parents, 65 per cent of whom chose Facebook as their preferred way to receive updates and information.
Marie Smart, co-manager of the pre-school, reports positive results from setting up the page. ‘We have been able to signpost more parents to local community events, have seen a rise in parents buying books for their child through our book club, and more conversations have taken place during morning reception as the children have been looking at the Facebook page at home with their parents,’ she says.
Ms Tyler, however, suggests it can be worth considering carrying out some communication with parents by other means, especially as not every parent is on Facebook or uses it frequently.
‘If all that is needed is a platform for parents to chat, or the nursery to ask them to bring things in, a WhatsApp group can work just as well.’
CONTROLLING YOUR PAGE
Effective use of Facebook’s settings can give a sense of control. Ms Cuthbertson changed the settings on Busy Bees Bourne’s parents’ group to ensure comments were approved by an admin before being made public.
‘When the group allowed posts to be made without approval, it became ridiculous the number of unimportant posts that were put on which could have been sorted with a conversation, like finding a lost cup. Now we can email or speak to the parent privately.’
To manage different privacy requirements, Claire Burgess, manager at Busy Bees Early Years and Childcare Centre in Leasingham, has set up four groups; a closed group for parents and a public group each for the Early Years Centre, Forest School and toddler group. ‘They have been incredibly successful in different ways,’ she says. ‘Our public pages have been invaluable in reaching new families and building a modern, open reputation, while the closed group means there is a continuous conversation between us and parents.’
EYFS
Ms Tyler recommends using a public Facebook page for certain types of communication with parents. ‘It can be useful for promoting home learning, taking the EYFS into the home and sharing resources,’ she explains. ‘If it’s open it can be evidenced with Ofsted and help tick a few boxes with them.’
Ms Everett agrees. ‘Posting videos, photos and observations has helped parents get to know the personality of each staff member, see what learning their child has gained throughout the day and the level of teaching received. This has given parents the confidence to use early years terminology and discuss development and teaching. The Facebook group has made our small world a lot bigger.’
HAVE A POLICY
However, finding the best ways of exploiting Facebook can be difficult.
At Tower Pre-school, Ms Rawlings says they started to set up a page, but the setting leader became concerned about privacy and took it down.
‘My leader got worried after talking to someone who mentioned disgruntled parents leaving negative reviews, and the GDPR red tape,’ she explains. ‘We’ve all been there with parents’ concerns; complaints, even malicious calls to Ofsted, which are mostly kept private internally. But on Facebook you could be easily targeted if they don’t agree with a policy, a child got paint on their clothes, or an unnoticed bump or scratch. Not all parents are like this, but you feel you need to safeguard yourself and the setting as much as you can.’
To counter this, some nurseries have put a social media policy in place.
Ms Cuthbertson wrote a policy for Busy Bees Bourne based on examples provided by the council and local settings. ‘We thought about parents and staff, how they use social media and what we would like them to be able to do. This evolves as you start to understand how the pages and groups are used. We never show children’s faces on photos, just their backs or hands. Once we had a photo of a child’s hand and a parent commented, “I spy…” with the name of the child. We asked her to remove the comment. This is part of our policy and we ensure parents know this.’
Ms Tyler suggests a policy should include some important rules. ‘Our key bit of advice is not to allow staff to be Facebook friends with parents,’ she says. ‘This can be challenging with a young workforce who are sometimes living their lives on Facebook, or where a pre-existing relationship exists, but it can undermine professionalism.
‘We also advise nurseries to adhere to the NSPCC guidelines on sharing images of children online. Children should always be appropriately clothed; that is, with chest and bottom covered, and dressed according to the activity they are doing – for example, if they are outside in December they should be wearing a winter coat. Photos should be activity-focused rather than body-focused, so children should be engaging in an activity, not just smiling and posing, and should not be named.’
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Your social media policy should:
- explain what the purpose of each Facebook page is and what it will be used for – and what it won’t
- contain a privacy and safeguarding statement about how and why children’s images will be used. This may be that children will not be named unless explicit permission is sought – for example, to celebrate an award, that faces will not be visible, and that parents need to provide written consent to use photos on all social networks as a matter of course
- set out where to take complaints and issues that are not relevant to the page – for example, to discuss individual children, parents or staff
- explain that in the event of any violation of these rules, the setting reserves the right to delete posts or remove the page.
Further information
www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/safeguarding/photography-sharing-images-guidance