It is essential that every child should settle into the environment of the nursery at a pace suitable to his or her own stage of development. The children should feel comfortable, cared for and confident while enjoying the whole experience.
The aim of Riverwood Nursery class is to ensure that staff recognise the importance of a paced entry procedure for all new entrants and implement daily welcoming strategies throughout the year for all parents and children, including a key person.
Before a child starts attending the nursery, it is essential for us to provide his/her parents/carers with our many approaches to settling in and to choose the best approach through individual meetings with parents.
Tours are given to both the parents and the child to familiarize himself with his classrooms as well as meet his teacher and peers.
During the first tour and discussion, the facility is shown to the parents and children, questions are answered, and discussions regarding the child’s routine, we also allow the child the opportunity t spend half or a whole session while we monitor from the CCTV Cameras.
When a child starts to attend, we work with the child’s parents/carers to decide on the best way to help the child to settle into the nursery.
We suggest that you stay with your child for no more than ten to fifteen minutes together in the nursery setting. This will normally be enough for your child's first day and then you say your goodbye. Your child will then spend another half an hour to without you.
We will encourage you to steadily increase the time your child spends in the class without you so that he/she may be able to steadily bond with the staff and peers.
For the first week or so we recommend that they be picked up after a few hours until they feel fully settled in the nursery.
Each child takes their own time to settle in. The teachers and teaching assistants are fully qualified to take care of them and help them settle in effectively to ease the transition. If the settlement period is going well, we gradually extend the time within the week. However, if the child is distressed, we do prolong the time until the child arrives and leaves happily.