Workshops and Feedback

At Tidbury we recognise that parents play the fundamental role in their child's development. This is acknowledged as the basis for our strong partnership between all of our team at Tidbury and our Tidbury families. We hold workshops and organise stay and play visits so that parents are aware of the learning that takes place at Tidbury and how they can mirror some of this practice at home.

For lots of useful information about Early Years Education in the Solihull area -  please click on the link below:

www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc

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The Provision is outstanding: "Parents greatly appreciate the many opportunities for them to undertake workshops and visits to the nursery. They believe that this helps them to understand more fully how to support their children's learning at home and helps prepare for the child starting school." OFSTED Report 2024

PURPOSE: This feedback page is to share parents comments from Tidbury events. Messages will be displayed for a maximum of one year.

What Next? Meeting - for parents in the Bear Group

NOVEMBER 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • To inform parents of the 30 FUNDED HOURS and the criteria for eligibility 
  • Offer of places for our Swan Group 2026 - how this works for our Tidbury families
  • To learn more about the "Swan" curriculum - inform parents of what happens at Tidbury during the pre - school year

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING FROM THE PARENTS:

  • The meeting will help us to decide the next steps for our son. It was also good to hear what to expect in the swan group and how the funding works.

  • I now have a better understanding of what is next for us and what to expect. I found it useful to understand what the expectations of the swan children at the end of their year in the Swan Group. 

  • This was a very informative meeting. Very useful to have a face to face meeting to know the next steps. Thank you.

  • I found the meeting informative and easy to understand thank you! I was pleased to have a reminder about the funding.  

  • I now understand what being a swan means in the learning journey. I now have all the information I need to make the right decision of the next learning year. 

  • Great to know that our daughter will feel secure and how the funding works, and what the swans learn to prepare for life at school.

Thank you for your comments

Thank you for all those parents who attended - unfortunately it was a low attendance for this meeting

If you were unable to attend, please contact Miss Jo and she will be able to answer any questions that you may have. 

 Final attendance was 50% of our bear families = 8 x parents : 6 x Mums and 2 x Dads.

Maths workshop for Swans and the Swan parents

 November 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • To understand what your child is taught and what targets the Swan group children are working towards
  • To understand how your child learns through both adult led & child led activities
  • To understand how to  help my child at home to improve and develop good mathematical skills and a "love of maths".

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING FROM THE PARENTS:

  • What interested to learn about subitising; had never heard of this before. Thank you for everything you do. 
  • Helpful attachments sent ahead of time. Really enjoyed seeing the photos of the children "doing maths", the presentation and then the practical application with my child. 
  • Really interesting to see the children finding shapes around them in the environment, and great to have new ideas to support counting. 
  • It was excellent to see the children learning and getting involved. I will look out for activities at home to incorporate some of these ideas. 
  • I feel I can now really help with the development of maths skills at home, easy and achievable. 
  • A very good workshop, thank you. 
  • Very well informed prior to the workshop. It was brilliant! I found all of it useful. 
  • Loved the interactive activities, it's given me the skills to support at home with my son. 
  • The presentation was engaging and interactive. Good to be able to learn what nursery does to teach so we can be consistent at home. Really good, thank you. 
  • Great information to take away and pre-course information. I loved the practical activities, I have noticed my son using lots of mathematical language at home and now I know why!
  • Clear breakdown of the course at the opening of the session. Feel more able to use number and maths now at home. 

Thank you for your comments 

100% attendance of swan parents - with their swan children! = 7 x Mums, 4 x Dads, 1 x cousin

Grandparent Stay and Play Sessions

OCTOBER 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • Grandparents play such an important role in children's lives 
  • Our Tidbury Children invited their Grandparents to nursery to make them feel a part of the Tidbury family and our community

We had a total of 18 visitors - these are a few of their comments :)

  • I'm very happy and proud to be a part of the great Tidbury family. The children were all so friendly and confident, chatting away and always making sure I had a chair to sit on. A wonderful welcome from children and staff especially Miss Hannah. 
  • Information was very clear prior to my visit as to arrival times and expectations for my visit. I very much enjoyed the Tidbury experience and spending time with my granddaughter and her peers. 
  • I loved all of it! From the time I arrived until the time I left. I particularly liked carpet time and playing outside. It was a very special occasion and is clear the children have the best time. Well done Tidbury!
  • What a lovely welcoming nursery! All the children were so happy and able to make their own choices. The team are super friendly and kind to the children. I now know my grandson can put on his own coat who knew ...
  • I liked watching the children play and my granddaughter sharing toys. I loved listening to have the courteous staff teach good interpersonal values to the children.
  • I would have loved to have such stay and play sessions extended to the grandparents every other month to cheer up the grandchildren and grandparents, also interact and make friends.  
  • Lovely to meet the team and seeing the routines of the nursery. So fabulous to spend time together with my granddaughter and see how she interacts with her friends. 
  • It was good to see my grandson at "home" in the nursery and seeing him playing with all the other children. The staff were very kind and professional. 
  • Good to feel part of the community; thank you for including me. I feel privileged to be included.
  • It was good to put faces to names that my grandson has mentioned. I loved watching him interact with other children and in particular seeing how excited he was to show me his nursery. 
  • Lovely to spend time with my granddaughter in her nursery and loved being in the front garden. Would love to come again, the Tidbury team were all lovely. 

Thank you for your comments, we are pleased that you enjoyed your visit. 

xxx

 Welcome Meeting for New Families starting in the Autumn Term 25

September 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • This meeting is to help establish a close partnership with our Tidbury families:

 to help you support us, and us support you.

 

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING FROM THE PARENTS:

  • The presentation and email was very detailed; very well presented, thank you.
  • So reassuring to have this meeting. Very warm, welcoming and informative as always.
  • So nice to meet other children's families. Thank you Jo and Hannah; excellent!
  • Lots of information at home visit and in emails. Especially highlighted signing to help communication with my child. 
  • Very well organised with email and text reminders.
  • The key words the nursery uses make such a difference to our daily routine. We have already starting using them as a family.
  • Great introduction to the team and better understanding of the year ahead.
  • It was lovely and energetic. The passion shines through that the nursery team have toward the children's learning and development. Thank you.
  • Email correspondence is very detailed and clearly written. We look forward to being a part of the Tidbury Green Nursery. 
  • The meeting will enable us to understand the routine of the nursery.

Thank you for your comments and feedback. And welcome to Tidbury everyone :)

Total attendance = 50% of new families 

2 x Dads and 4 x Mums and our 2 x lunch time supervisors attended

Starting School Meeting 

June 2025 

OBJECTIVES:

  • To support parents of the children in our pre-school group with their transition to school.
    • The meeting will include  a section when the children will be demonstrating what they have been learning and also we will discuss what else the children will need support with in their last few months at Tidbury. 

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING FROM THE PARENTS:

  • We will be more prepared for school and calmer ourselves. Good to hear what child needs to practice before starting school. 
  • Will help us to ask the correct questions at induction days and home visits. A great insight of how to to support our daughter and prepare ourselves. 
  • This meeting will have a big impact on our family; lots of tips for us to remember especially not putting to much pressure on. 
  • Really found the "Task Checklist" useful. Will be using this at home straight away. Great session, thank you
  • Will remember not to overtalk about starting school. 
  • It was amazing seeing all the swans interacting with one another and their teachers during the first part of the meeting. 
  • Has made me focus on how much to talk about school and the importance of independence. Very sad that we've come to this time of the year already!
  • Hand outs were of a high standard as always. Will help us prepare for school; something he is excited about. 

Thank you for your comments... and for  the 93% attendance 

5 x dads and 7 x mums attended

1 x family unable to attend

Daddy Stay and Play Sessions

June 2025

OBJECTIVES: 

  • To enable children to share the Tidbury experience with their child's peers
  • To welcome our visitors and make them all feel a part of the Tidbury family and community

COMMENTS:

  • It was very memorable and enjoyable and would 100% like to visit again
  • I loved watching the children's routine and being able to experience what my son does at nursery.
  • Lots of notice and information prior to event so was able to arrange visit around work. 
  • I loved seeing how my son played and interacted with his friends and the staff. Keep up the good work everyone.
  • I love these stay and plays and will miss when my daughter leaves. The outdoor play time was my highlight.
  • It really impacted on my time at home with my son, he really wants to play with me now. Had a lovely time. 
  • Extremely clear information, thank you. Staff were fantastic and create a calm but playful atmosphere. It was very enjoyable and gives me confidence in my sons early learning journey. 
  • It helped me understand my sons world which I don't normally see, and was fantastic to see how popular he is!
  • Communication is always brilliant about the events. I loved spending time with  my daughter and her showing me around. 
  • I loved making playdough butterflies with my daughter and her friend. 
  • I loved spending the time and seeing the nursery environment properly. And loved having feedback about my sons progress. 
  • This experience will support my chats after a nursery day. There were a good variety of activities inside and outside so we were on the move a lot. Thanks for inviting me, and making me feel welcome. x 

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, we will take them all on board :)

85% of dads or uncles or grandad attended

Mummy Stay and Play Sessions

MARCH 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • To enable children to share the Tidbury experience with their child's peers
  • To welcome our visitors and make them all feel a part of the Tidbury family and community

 COMMENTS:

  • I loved my visit, putting names to faces and seeing what the children do, it helps us to talk about nursery at home. Thank you. 
  • The expectations were fully explained and the safeguarding was paramount both in the pre visit information and upon arrival. 
  • I was made to feel very welcome, I know how difficult it is to accommodate visits when nursery has such a lot of other jobs to do
  • Pre course communication is always great, I had a great time with my daughter. She loved showing me her friends and the nursery. Thank you to you all, a marvellous team, couldn't ask for better. 
  • So lovely to see different parts of the day again, I love the birthday circle time. My son enjoyed sharing photos with the family.
  • So happy to see my son with his mates. I loved carpet time, and would love to come again. 
  • My son was very excited for me to be at nursery, feel the length of visit was perfect and not too disruptive to their routine. 
  • It was nice to see all the different activity stations and how we can replicate them at home. It was lovely to meet my daughters friends and seeing her play with them. I enjoyed playing doctors too. Very well informed of the stay and play.
  • My son loved taking me round outside, showing me what he likes best. I loved the story and singing time. 

Thank you for your comments

Phonics Workshop for Swans & Swan parents 

JANUARY 2025

OBJECTIVES:

  • To understand how my pre-school child learns phonics through both adult led and child initiated activities
  • To understand how to help my child at home to develop their pre reading and pre writing skills
  • How important it is to make learning fun, interesting and ensure your child is empowered and supported.

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING FROM THE PARENTS:

  • This workshop will bring more focus and attention around my conversations, bringing surroundings to life. It will bring focus to reading and pronunciation. 
  • I really enjoyed this session; great to spend time with my son in a different environment. 
  • The workshop has helped me to understand where my child is and how to encourage further to build on their learning. 
  • Loved the little activities; will replicate at home. Was a joy to see photos of all the swans learning and having fun on the PowerPoint. 
  • Please can we have earlier notice for times of workshops. I appreciate it's difficult to accommodate everyone, but more notice time gives chance to arrange things in advance for other siblings. 
  • Great delivery; all very clear. Lovely to see them learning in the group sessions. I will now be able to implement teaching into home life to support my daughter. 
  • Loved the photos. Really helped to understand how we can support reading and writing skills. I'm going to visit the library and start reading actual books at home, not just my kindle and write a shopping list!
  • Please can you share the rhymes for letter formation. EG: slither down the snake. 
  • Good to know the method that Tidbury follows to be consistent at home.
  • Interesting to learn how we can help our son develop, particularly around not forcing his reading prior to starting school. 
  • The workshop was fantastic. I love learning all the different techniques to help my daughter learn and how to make them enjoyable. 
  • Excellent delivery. I enjoyed the workshop; as nice to see a peak into what the children are learning at nursery. Will help my son to sit with his brothers doing their homework before going to school.  

RESPONSE: Thank you for all your feedback and comments:

We have decided to alternate between an early bird 8:15am start for workshops and an afternoon 2:30pm workshop. This way will hopefully accommodate everyone. In future times will be confirmed at least 6 weeks in advance.

Each rhyme will be shared with parents when introduced at nursery. 

We had a 95% attendance of swan parents :)

6 x Dads + 7 x Mums