Nursery settling in policy

At The University of Dundee Day Nursery Ltd we aim to support parents and other carers to help their children settle quickly and easily by considering the individual needs and circumstances of every child and their family. Our aim is for children to feel safe, stimulated, and happy in the nursery and to feel secure and comfortable with all staff. We also want parents to have confidence in both their children's continued well-being and their role as active partners, with the child being able to benefit from what the nursery has to offer.

All our staff know 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 the nursery.

Our nursery will work in partnership with parents to settle their child into the nursery environment by:

• Allocating a key person to each child and his/her family before he/she starts to attend. The key person welcomes and looks after the child ensuring that their care is tailored to meet their individual needs. He/she offers a settled relationship for the child and builds a relationship with his/her parents during the settling in period and throughout his/her time at the nursery, to ensure the family has a familiar contact person to assist with the settling in process
• Providing parents with relevant information about the policies and procedures of the nursery
• Planning settling in visits and introductory sessions (lasting approximately 1-2 hours). These will be provided free of charge over a one- or two-week period, dependent on individual needs, age and stage of development. These sessions can be adjusted to meet the needs of the individual child and their family. Some families will have the offer of stay and play sessions prior to formal visits, this will be decided during initial discussions with parent.
• Welcoming parents to stay with their child during the first few weeks until the child feels settled and the parents feel comfortable about leaving their child. Settling in visits and introductory sessions are key to a smooth transition and to ensure good communication and information sharing between staff and parents
• Reassuring parents whose children seem to be taking a long time settling into the nursery and developing a plan with them
• Encouraging parents, where appropriate, to separate themselves from their children for brief periods at first, gradually building up to longer absences
• Reviewing the nominated key worker if the child is bonding with another member of staff to ensure the child’s needs are supported
• Respecting the circumstances of all families, including those who are unable to stay for long periods of time in the nursery and reassure them of their child’s progress towards settling in
• Parents will be provided with several paperwork to be completed and taken home.
• Care Plan to be updated with parents every 6 weeks for any child under 2 and every 3 months for children at age 2+. It is a Room Senior responsibilities to make sure that Care Plans are updated.