Making links with home and the wider community

A child’s learning and development are shaped by social and cultural factors. It is important to make links between each child’s home experiences and your setting, and between your setting and the wider community.


Links with home

Close links between a child’s home and your setting are essential for a smooth transition from the home environment, with familiar people, surroundings and routines, to the initially unfamiliar environment of your setting. Research shows that strong connections between the home and the early years setting are also beneficial to:

  • school attendance
  • present and future performance, including the likelihood of completing high school education and pursuing higher studies
  • everyday learning outside of your early years setting
  • your understanding of the home influences that shape children’s points of view and behaviour
  • communication between you and your children, enhancing trust and mutual respect
  • bonds between children and their parents and carers
  • children’s participation in activities in your setting
  • development of social skills
  • participation of parents and carers in children’s learning, including activities and events in your setting
  • effective whole-school processes and policies that take parent and carer perspectives into consideration.

The importance of parent's and carer's involvement in their child’s early years education is not a new idea. Here are two examples of educators who have had a significant impact on early years education:


Here are some ideas for how you can involve parents and carers in your children's learning:


Links to the wider community

Each child comes from a unique social and cultural background and it is important that children understand and respect this diversity. Your children need to be able to connect their culture with activities in your setting and to develop a sense of belonging and identity. Through learning about the different cultures of their peers, children become comfortable with cultural similarities and differences and learn to respect all cultures in the wider community with empathy and without prejudices. Gandhi advocated a close integration between the early years setting and the community to make children more socially minded and co-operative.

Here are some ideas for how you can link learning in your setting to the wider community: