A settling in period is the time before a child joins the Early Years when they can visit with their parents and stay for a while in order to get to know the staff, children and their new environment.

It is important that a child has spent some time in the Early Years centre before the actual starting day, this will help them to feel a little more settled and confident about their new environment.  It also gives the parents the opportunity to ask any questions and find out a bit more about how their child will be spending their day and the daily routine as well as getting to know the staff.  These visits are an important part of the child’s settling in process, it is a time when relationships with staff and parents can be built and the child can feel that they can start to build trusting relationships, within a safe and secure environment.

As a matter of policy we encourage parents and children to visit on at least three occasions before the first day (free of charge) The length of these visits can vary but should be agreed with the Nursery Manager. (Ruksana Patel)

Children will be shown around the area where they will be based and also where they will sleep, play, eat and hang their coat.  Parents will be able to discuss any particular sleeping or eating habit their child has or any other individual needs they would like us to consider.

This is also a good time to discuss how long the first few days will be, ideally the first few days should be shorter and planned so that the child is not the last one to be collected, as this can be upsetting for them.

On their first day parents may want to stay a while to see that their child is settled and happy, however they need not feel obliged to do this and may leave soon after saying goodbye to their child.

Parents are invited to telephone the room at any point during the day to check that all is well.

Progress reports will be offered by the key-worker when parents arrive to collect their child.

Rena Begum       31/08/2020