Monday in mid-September, eight forty. Leo enters the nursery for the first time in his father's arms. The reference educator knows his name, when he was born, and who will pick him up. She doesn't know that to fall asleep he wants a cloth handkerchief next to his cheek, that at home they call him Lollo, and that he won't touch bananas. All of this is written somewhere: on a paper form filled out in June at the time of enrollment, which is now in a binder in the office.
The entry questionnaire serves exactly this purpose: to bring to the section, before the child, what the family knows and what the educators need in the first days. In this article, we will see how to build it in Easy.School, how to have it filled out by the Easy Family app, and how to transform it into a tool that remains alive throughout the year, instead of a sheet that gets filled out once and forgotten.
Why the paper form gets lost along the way
The paper form has three limitations, none of which depend on the goodwill of those who use it. The first is the location: it stays in the office, while the information is needed in the section, at the time of changing or resting. The second is time: it captures the child in June, and by September a one-year-old child is already a different child. The third is everything that happens between the parent's pen and the educator's eyes: photocopies, copied notes, hurried phrases said at the door.
We have already discussed why gathering the child's history is important in The Anamnesis and Its Importance. Here we focus on how: where that information is gathered, who fills it out, and where educators find it when needed.
How the questionnaire works in Easy.School
In Easy.School, entry questionnaires are created directly in the management system. Parents respond from the Easy Family app and can update their answers over time; educators can consult them at any time within the child's profile. The coordinator's work is divided into three steps, all from the Questionnaire section of the side menu.
- The categories. They are used to organize questions by theme. They are created with "Manage Category" and then "New Category".
- The questions. With "New Question" you choose the category and write the text. Questions and categories can be modified or deleted at any time.
- The sending. With "Send Questionnaire" you choose the category, the questions to include, and the recipients.
The complete step-by-step, screen by screen, is in the Questionnaire User Guide.
What questions to ask and how to group them
The categories are the part to think about more calmly, as they shape everything else. A framework that works for many 0-6 structures:
- Sleep and routine. How they fall asleep, if they use a pacifier or a cherished object, what time they rest at home.
- Nutrition. What they like to eat, what they refuse, if they eat alone or need help. Allergies and diets remain linked to the medical documentation that the structure already requires: the questionnaire tells about habits, it does not replace it.
- Language. The languages spoken at home, the words and nicknames they use, how they ask for help.
- Autonomy. Diapers, potty, dressing, drinking from a cup: everything changes between an infant and a five-year-old child.
- Relationships. Siblings, present grandparents, previous experiences with other nurseries or babysitters, what comforts them when they are sad.
Open-ended, brief, and concrete questions yield more than generic ones. "What is your child's character like?" produces circumstantial answers. "What do you do when they wake up crying from their nap?" produces information that the educator will use on the first day. The opposite rule also applies: only ask what you will really use. Every extra question is a personal data to safeguard and an extra minute asked from the family.
A category for every moment of the year
Since each sending allows you to choose the questions to include, a single long questionnaire is not necessary. You can prepare a category for the entry, to be sent before arrival, and others for different moments: the transition to a new section, returning after a long absence, preparing for mid-year meetings.
The same applies to the recipients. An entry questionnaire makes sense only for new enrollees, not for the entire structure. In the sending screen, each child appears in a box with a photo, name, section, and the family member to whom the questionnaire will be sent: you select the interested children with the "+" button, or all together with "Select All". The recipient family member can be changed from the dropdown menu, convenient when the father is the one following the entry.
You can attach a document, photo, or video to the text accompanying the questionnaire: for example, the presentation of the first weeks or the acclimatization calendar. Families find everything in the same message.
From the family's side: filling out from the app
For the parent, the process is short. In the Easy Family app, they choose the structure and the child, then from the home screen, they tap "Requests" and then "Questionnaire". They find the list of available questionnaires, respond directly in the app, and confirm with "Save". The guide to responding from the Easy Family app is useful to share with families along with the first message.
The advantage is not just practical. Filling it out at home, in the evening, without anyone waiting on the other side of the table, changes the quality of the answers: there is time to think, to ask the other parent, to remember the cloth handkerchief.
Answers that grow with the child
A fourteen-month-old child in October and the same child in March sleep, eat, and talk differently. This is why it matters that families can update their answers over time, without filling out a new form. If in January naps have become just one, or the pacifier has disappeared, the parent corrects it and the information in the section returns to being accurate.
It is worth stating this explicitly to families, as it is not obvious: the questionnaire is not a task to submit, it is a form to keep updated. A short message upon returning from vacation, inviting them to double-check the answers, is enough to make it a habit.
In the section: the answers within the child's profile
From the educational side, the crucial point is where the answers are located. Educators consult the answers within the child's profile, in the same place where they find other data needed during the day. There is no form to request in the office, nor a binder to browse through.
This changes how the first days are prepared. The reference educator can read the answers before the initial meeting and arrive with specific questions. Whoever covers a shift or substitutes a colleague takes a look and knows that Leo falls asleep with the handkerchief. And the acclimatization, which remains a matter of relationship and observation, as we describe in the guide to nursery entry, starts with a little less uncertainty.
Questionnaires are not just for the coordinator. An educator can also create and send one from the browser, from the Communications icon, with "+ New" and the message type Questionnaire: useful when a section wants to ask specific questions to its families. The steps are in the guide how to create and send a questionnaire from the browser.
In summary
The entry questionnaire works when it arrives in the section before the child and remains updated afterward. In Easy.School, it is built by categories, sent only to interested families by choosing the questions, filled out from the Easy Family app, and found in the child's profile, where educators read it when needed. Families can correct the answers over time, and the portrait of the child grows with them.
Want to gather entry information without paper forms? Try Easy.School for free.
