Settling In & Transition Policy at Mulberry Garden

Mulberry Garden works in partnership with parents and/or carers to help them become familiar with the setting and offer a settled relationship for the child. We know children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure; we build positive relationships with parents to ensure we can meet children’s individual needs and help them settle quickly into nursery life.

Our staff understand the importance of building strong attachments with children. They are trained to recognise the different stages of attachment and use this knowledge to support children and families settling into Mulberry Garden.

Settling In

At Mulberry Garden we will:

●  Allocate a key person to each child and their family, before s/he starts attending. The key person welcomes and looks after the child, ensuring their care is tailored to meet their individual needs. S/he offers a settled relationship for the child and builds a relationship with parents during the settling in period and throughout their time at Mulberry Garden, to ensure the family has a familiar contact person during the settling in process.

●  Review the nominated key person if the child is bonding with another member of staff to ensure the child’s needs are supported.

●  Provide parents with relevant information about Mulberry Garden policies and procedures.

●  Work with parents to gather information before the child starts on the child’s interests, likes, dislikes, favourite things at settling sessions, e.g. their favourite story or resource.

●  Complete a baseline of the child’s current development to plan and meet the individual needs of the child from the first day.

●  Encourage parents and children to visit Mulberry Garden before an admission is planned and arrange home visits and/or online video meetings.

●  Plan tailored settling in sessions.

●  Welcome parents to stay with their child, as appropriate, during the first few weeks until the child feels settled and the parents feel comfortable about leaving their child. Settling in sessions are key to a smooth transition and to ensure good communication and information sharing between staff and parents.

●  Encourage parents/carers to send in family photos to display and help settle their child.

●  Create photo books of Mulberry Garden, including photos of staff for the child to take home and share with their parents/carers and become familiar with the staff and new environment.

●  Reassure parents whose children take a little longer to settle in and develop a plan with them, e.g. shorter sessions.

●  Provide regular updates and photos of the child settling.

●  Encourage parents, where appropriate, to separate themselves from their children for brief periods at first, gradually building up to longer absences.

●  Assign a back-up key person to each child in case the key person is not available.

●  Respect family circumstances, including those who are unable to stay for long periods of time in Mulberry Garden and reassure them of their child’s progress towards settling in.

●  Not take a child on an outing from Mulberry Garden until they are completely settled.

Transition

Young children will experience many transitions in their early years. Some of these planned and some unplanned and we are sensitive to the impact of such changes to children. If parents feel their child requires additional support because of any changes/transitions in their life, we ask that you speak to Mulberry Garden and the key person so that support can be put in place. Transitions that young children and babies may experience are:

●  Starting nursery

●  Moving between different rooms within the nursery

●  Moving nursery or preparing for transition to school

●  Family breakdown

●  New sibling

●  Moving home

●  Death of a family member or close friend

●  Death of a family pet

Staff are trained to observe their key children and be sensitive to any changes in behaviour and personality. We ask parents to inform us of any changes in the home environment that may impact on their child so staff can be aware of the reasons behind any potential changes in the child’s behaviour.

Moving rooms procedure

When a child is ready to move to a different room at Mulberry Garden, we work with the parents so that the child is fully supported. This will include a handover meeting between the existing key person, new key person and parents. We will:

●  Base decisions on the individual needs of the child and when they are ready to move based on age/stage of development.

●  Enable the child to spend short sessions, initially with their key person, in their new room prior to the permanent move so they feel comfortable in their new surroundings.

●  Keep parents informed of all visits and the outcomes of these sessions e.g. through photographs, discussions or diary entries.

●  Transition the child only when they feel settled and ready to move. If a child requires more support this will be discussed between the key person, parent and new room leader to agree how and when this will happen. This may include moving their key person with them on a temporary basis.

Starting school or moving childcare providers

Starting school is an important transition and some children may feel anxious about the move. Our aim is to facilitate a smooth transition. The following process relates to children going to school; however, we adapt this process to support children moving to another childcare provider.

●  We provide a variety of resources that relate to the school, e.g. uniform to dress up in, a role play area set up as a school classroom, photographs of all the schools the children may attend and of the teachers. This helps the children to become familiar with this new concept and will aid the transition.

●  We build relationships with local schools where possible throughout the year and invite them to key events or we will attend key events, e.g. nativity, sports day.

●  We invite school representatives into Mulberry Garden so they have the opportunity to introduce themselves to the children.

●  We support the transition to school, e.g. inviting previous children from Mulberry Garden to return and talk to the children about their school experiences.

●  We plan visits to the school with the child’s key person. Each key person will talk about the school and discuss what they think may be different and the same. They will talk through any concerns the child may have and initiate activities or group discussion.

●  We produce a comprehensive report on every child leaving Mulberry Garden and, with parental permission, will share this with the school to enable teachers to have a good understanding of each child. This will include their interests, strengths and level of understanding and development in key areas.

●  We may share details of the schools children are going to, with parental permission, so parent/carers can see which children may be going to the same school. This can offer some reassurance for the children to know they are moving with some familiar peers.

Other early years providers

Where children are attending other early years settings or are cared for by a childminder we will work with them to share relevant information about a child’s development.

Family breakdowns

We recognise that when parents separate it can be a difficult situation for all concerned.

Moving home and new siblings

Parents will have advance notice of these changes and we ask parents to let us know about these events so we can support the child to be prepared. The key person will spend time talking to the child and providing activities that may help the child to act out any worries they have, e.g. through role play, stories and discussions.

Bereavement

We recognise that this will be a difficult time for children and their families and offer support to all concerned should this be required.