Childcare management software specialist Connect Childcare has launched a new feature within its existing ParentZone app – ParentHub – to help parents home-school their children and track their learning experiences during COVID-19.

Following the Coronavirus outbreak, the country’s nurseries and childminders have closed their doors, meaning more relatives are playing the role of the ‘teacher’. ParentHub is the only parent app on the market which offers a home resources section.

Capable of tracking a youngsters’ educational development, ParentHub features content surrounding meals, recipes and home activities, plus useful links and apps. Connect has collaborated with early years nutrition expert, Louise Mercieca, and BBC Bitesize to generate and share the information.

ParentHub is part of Connect’s existing – and popular – app ParentZone, which focuses on recording the development of infants between 0-5 years old and has been downloaded by 180,000 registered users.

Commenting on the rationale behind the new content launch, Connect Childcare’s CEO Chris Reid, said: “It’s always been important for children to continue their development outside of the nursery or childminder setting, but it’s never been more pivotal than it is now.

“The main objective of ParentHub is to improve outcomes for children – enabling parents to keep practitioners in the loop with their child’s learning, by sending observations made at home. For example, parents can upload photos of them completing activities, and nursery staff can then interact and respond.

“It’s also about making sure parents, nursery staff and childminders feel supported and not alone in these difficult times.

“For parents who have children starting primary school in September, they’ll be applying for places soon, and there are lots of helpful tips and advice integrated into the app content – we want to make it feel as undaunting as possible.”

Further advancements to ParentHub will continue over the coming weeks, covering a wide range of topics including speech and language, mental health and wellbeing, plus safeguarding and internet safety.

Chris concluded: “While the app is beneficial for parents during this strange time, it’s also advantageous for nursery staff and childminders. When receiving observations from home it will give them more information to use in planning activities when things are back to normal.”

The wider ParentZone app also allows members to pay childcare bills through the interface, monitor their child’s progress when at nursery or with their childminder, and keep in touch with staff.

Childcare experts can find out more about ParentZone on their website.