Sending a parent questionnaire

Get reminded when a settling-in review is due, send it to the family, then read their answers with a KinderAssist summary and record what you changed.

Written byDaniel Broadhurst (Founder)|Published: 18 June 2026|
Ofsted Aligned

ℹ️Who this is for

Childminders who want feedback from families: a settling-in review about a month after a child starts, a yearly survey about your setting, or a written reference. Parents answer in the KinderStart parent app. Sending takes a couple of minutes, and the answers come back to you.

Video Walkthrough

Questionnaires ask parents a short set of open questions and keep their answers against each child. KinderStart reminds you when a settling-in review is due, puts the questionnaire in front of parents, and helps you act on what they say.

1. Send the review when it's due

About a month after a child starts, your Home screen shows Settling-in review due with the child's name. Tap Send. The start date comes from the child's contract, or from the start date on their profile.

You don't have to set anything up first: the built-in questionnaires come with their own reminders, so the settling-in one appears for every child who starts. Not ready yet? Tap Dismiss and it goes away on that device.

ℹ️Choosing when you're reminded

Each questionnaire carries its own reminder, set under

Remind me to send it

when you write it. Choose

After a child starts

,

After a child leaves

or

Every so often

, then a number and days, weeks or months. The built-in ones start at four weeks after a child starts, a week after a child leaves, and every twelve months for the yearly survey. Choose

Never

for a one-off.

2. Check the questions

The Settling-in review opens with that child's family already chosen. The questions are open-ended, so parents write about their experience instead of ticking boxes. Tap Add question to ask something of your own, then tap Save.

3. Send it to the family

Open Tools, then Questionnaires, and tap the draft. Tap Send. The child you started from is already chosen, so tap Send again. The list shows how many families have answered.

⚠️Check it before you send

A sent questionnaire can't be edited. To fix a draft, open it and change it, or tap the menu and choose

Delete draft

. To reuse a questionnaire you've already sent, tap

Duplicate

on it.

4. Parents find it at the top of their feed

When the parent opens the app, the questionnaire is waiting at the top of their feed. One tap opens it. It's also in Documents & Contracts, under Feedback.

5. Parents answer in their own words

They write their answers, and can give an overall rating. Questions marked with a star must be answered. Their answers are saved on their phone as they type, so nothing is lost if they're interrupted.

6. The answers come straight back

When they tap Submit, the answers reach you straight away, kept against the child with the date.

ℹ️Still waiting on a family?

Open the questionnaire and tap

Remind families

under

Not answered yet

. Each family can be reminded once a day.

7. Read the answers

In Questionnaires, tap the questionnaire. By family shows each child's answers together, with who answered and when. By question puts every family's answer to one question side by side, with the average rating.

8. Summarise with KinderAssist

Tap Summarise with KinderAssist for what families value, what to look at, and ideas to consider. Tap Summarise on one family's answers for just theirs.

ℹ️KinderAssist

Summaries use KinderAssist, so it needs to be switched on in

Business Settings

,

AI Settings

. Each summary uses a few of your KinderAssist credits.

9. Record what you changed

Under What you changed, tap Add what you changed and write what you did as a result, like sending a photo on each child's first morning. It's kept with the questionnaire, whatever its status.

10. Export it

Tap Export PDF for the answers and what you changed, in one document. When you've heard from everyone, tap Close, and parents can no longer answer.

ℹ️Starting a questionnaire yourself

In

Questionnaires

, tap

New questionnaire

and choose the

Settling-in review

, a yearly

Parent survey

,

Leaving feedback

for a child who is moving on, a

Parent reference

, or a blank questionnaire. Turn on

One answer per family

for general surveys, so parents with more than one child answer once, and

Anonymous answers

if you don't need names.

ℹ️Asking a family who have left

Leaving feedback goes to a child's family after they've moved on: a reminder appears a week after you mark them as left, and sending works even though the child is no longer with you.

Why KinderStart does it this way

Open questions get real feedback, and inspectors want to see what parents say in their own words. The reminder means settling-in reviews happen when they're useful, not when you remember. Recording what you changed closes the loop: you can show what families told you and what you did about it, and in Scotland the feedback also goes into your Care Inspectorate self-evaluation export.

What to do next

🚀
Track Your Progress
Don't get lost in the paperwork. Use our free interactive checklist to tick off each step as you complete it.

Next guide

Creating an inspector evidence pack

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KinderStart strives for accuracy. Competitor features and pricing comparisons are based on publicly available information as of May 2026. Details are subject to change by respective providers.

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