SETTLING IN POLICY

Home visits

Watcombe Children’s Centre Nursery staff will work in partnership with parents/carers to settle the child into our nursery environment. Once a child is accepted by the nursery, arrangements will be made for a home visit by the key worker. This provides an opportunity to fill-in necessary documents and discuss your child’s general routine, likes and dislikes, sleep pattern, diet and so on.

Visits

We recommend that a minimum of two visits to the nursery are completed before starting. The first visit should be a short period of time for parents to get used to leaving their child with their key worker. On the second visit your child should stay for 2 hours. (There are no charges for the visits) More visits can be arranged to the nursery before leaving your child in our care. (At an additional cost)

During the first few visits, parents/carers will have the opportunity to stay with their child if necessary to help the child feel comfortable with their new environment. No child will be taken on an outing/visit from the nursery until he or she is completely settled in. Parents are free to phone as often as they wish and children can bring in comforters, toys etc so that they feel at home in the nursery.

Role of a key worker

All children will be allocated a key worker once accepted by the nursery. The key worker is the main person who works with the child and is the main contact for the family. The key worker also provides emotional support for the family helps co-ordinate services and is a communicator between agencies. In addition the key worker is responsible for ensuring that a family is provided with necessary information. The key worker is there to support children when they are away from their homes, to give them consistent, continuous care that will foster confidence and positive self-esteem and help the children feel secure both emotionally and physically. The other roles of a key worker are discussing the children’s needs with other colleagues, talking with parents on a daily basis, planning provision based on observations of children and their interests and contributing to children’s records.

Home books

Each child will have their own home book, the key worker will try and write in here as often as possible. The purpose of the home book is to share your child’s experiences at Nursery and at home. We will include information about your child’s sleep patterns, food intake, nappy changes and quantities of milk they have had and the times. (Babies only)

For older children we will record what food they have had and how much they have eaten, we will also record what activities your child had done during the day and may include photos occasionally.

We really value parent’s feedback and would find it invaluable if you as parents could write in it regularly.

Children aged over 3 do not have home books, due to the amount of children we have in each day; however we still really want parents to be involved in their child’s learning and will ensure staff are available to talk with you at the end of the day.

Matilda and Boris

Matilda is a grey soft toy that has a small pouch on its tummy; we take Matilda to each home visit and the key worker places an individual note into the pouch.

Matilda then stays with the child and is brought back into the nursery with the child on their first day, with a response to the key workers note.

Boris is a blue soft toy that children in the nursery to take on holiday or at the weekend with them, Boris has his own home book and families record what he ahs been doing on holiday and include photos! The children love bringing him back and sharing their holiday/ weekend experiences.

© 2010