At Tara House we are aware that every child is different and when it comes to settling your child at nursery that each child may react and respond in different ways.We aim to provide both you and your child the support you need to make this process as easy as it can be.
So as to avoid lots of new children starting on the same day at the beginning of the school year we highly recommend that you try to attend some of the summer school sessions. This will allow for us to provide the one to one attention needed. Alternatively, if you can start your child on a few afternoon sessions for a term or two terms before they move to mornings, this is also highly recommended as a great way of easing your child into school life.
- When your child attends their first session we recommend that you bring a toy or comforter, if they have one, as this can provide them with a great sense of comfort in the new environment.
- We also suggest that you talk to your child before they attend and explain what nursery is and also reinforce the process whereby you will leave them but reassure them that you will come back to pick them up.
- Your child will be assigned a key worker to help them settle in. This will also become your point of contact within the nursery to liase on how they are settling and any queries you may have.
- On the first day we will ask you to stay for up to half an hour to help them get settled and involved. This will entail withdrawing in order to allow them to explore the room without you, but still with the comfort that you are in the room. This will also afford them the opportunity to start to build a relationship with their key worker and the other children.
- It is then our policy that you do leave them. Each child is different and some children will then settle easily and be fine to stay for the whole session without you, until the usual pick up time. Other children will settle, but start to become anxious after a while about where you are. We recommend that you stay in the area for the first few sessions so that if this is the case we can call you and ask you to come back a little early. The amount of time your child is left without you can then be slowly built up over a few weeks until they are able to be left for a full session.
- It is important for each child to have a positive experience of school and for it to be fun!
