It’s from the heart this week……
My wonderful Mum, Barbara has always identified me as being particularly observant – ‘eyes of a hawk’, she would say. My husband would concur and add that I may be a little ‘particular’. My children would articulate that I like things, ‘just so’. Yuki and the team here at bilingual would possibly add that I demonstrate some signs of being a bit of a neat freak. Yuki would elaborate further and liken me to a meercat; always on the lookout, eyes everywhere. When you work in early years and have 280 active children, plus nigh on 80 staff in one building, you can’t help but be observant. Plus, what’s wrong with wanting pictures to be straight and chairs to be equally spaced around the coffee table?
There’s a point to this, I promise.
We held an informative coffee morning yesterday, to an audience of prospective families who were keen to understand more about Hiba Academy Shanghai and our educational offering to young learners. As Yuki and I prepared to start our presentation, the parents and families settled down in their seats; some looking a little apprehensive and nervous, many looking cool and calm, others keen and eager to hear what was about to be said. In the 45 minutes of the session, parents will form a judgement on whether what they hear aligns with what they believe to be right for them and their child. They will observe, assess and evaluate everything around them so that they are confident in the next steps they take. They will judge the two people in front of them as representing the very core and heart of the nursery’s vision.
There’s a lot going on for the parents during that time – the cognitive, critical and emotional cogs are in full throttle – so much to take in, so little time.
Yuki and I always deliver information sessions bilingually; we feel it is important to demonstrate and model exactly how life works at the nursery, demonstrating not only our partnership but also verbalising the importance of the expectations we hold for the families. We also enjoy them, I must stress, we have done enough of them to be at ease with the event. The sessions provide an opportunity to tell people about what we do and why we do it. It is not a hard sell, it never has been – we simply talk about what we do; no exaggeration, elaboration or embellishment needed. This is us. The information is provided by Yuki and I and then brought to life as the parents and families subsequently tour around the nursery observing the pupils doing what they do. Each coffee morning parent will see something different and take something different away each time; such is the fluidity of the learning in the nursery.
It isn’t just about us making a good impression on parents and families and them making a judgement about us; it is also conversely true. My point? Bear with me. The second slide in the presentation after we introduce ourselves is a very simple pictorial representation of the expectations for the session.
We kindly ask:
- That phones are switched to silent and placed either in a pocket or handbag
- That voices are kept to a minimal volume during the tour
- That no photographs are taken
Firstly, why would anyone wish to be on their phone if they are attending a session from which a very important decision (either way, I should add) would be made? Secondly, why would anyone wish to be chatting rather than absorbing the surroundings? Thirdly, why would you wish to take photos when there is a website with professional images to refer to?
Now here’s the thing. As the session started, I was struck by several things. I noted posture, footwear (my previous life as a podiatrist is to blame here), general appearance, demeanour (who looks happy to be here, who is smiling) and body language (55% of communication comes from body language
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beyond-words/201109/is-nonverbal-communication-numbers-game). Onwards with the presentation and I was continually distracted by an adult three rows back on their phone. Messaging. Clearly not making notes about the presentation as she was smiling and what I was saying wasn’t funny. Onwards further, continual messaging. I talked about values……messaging. Academic framework and curriculum……more messaging. Communication……messaging. Social media (!)…...perpetual messaging. Here’s the interesting bit – I talked about the commitment of the parents in establishing a positive partnership with the nursery team so that we could collectively model behaviours and conduct for our children and pupils……messaging, messaging, messaging. If the body language and actions here could have been translated into words, the words would most likely have been blah, blah, blah.
At one stage, the parent opened a video message. For the first time in our coffee morning history, I asked a member of the audience to put their phone away. The parent left the room and didn’t join the tour of the nursery. I was dumbfounded that a prospective Hiba Nursery parent would wish this to be the first impression made. My hawk eyes, on this occasion were most certainly not required. The lady behind looked relieved. She too, disagreed with what she saw.
I’m happy to report that the rest of the event was a great success, many happy parents toured the nursery and enjoyed getting information from the Admissions team whilst watching our pupils do what they do best: discover, explore, investigate and learn by doing and thinking critically. I’m certain that the parents and families who stayed for the tour did so because they are genuinely interested in becoming Hiba nursery families. At least, that is certainly the impression they gave.
