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At Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings we aim to support parents and other carers to help their children settle quickly and easily by giving consideration to the individual needs and circumstances of every child and their families. 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 about 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 their family, before they start to attend. The key person welcomes and looks after the child, ensuring that their care is tailored to meet their individual needs. The keyworker offers a settled relationship for the child and builds a relationship with their parents during the settling in period and throughout their time at the nursery, to ensure the family has a familiar contact person to assist with the settling in process

• Offering a ‘Meet the teacher’ for parents so they are able to meet their child’s new Keyworker and discuss important information before their child starts nursery. This is an opportunity to come into the setting and in the unit your child will be in.

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

• Providing parents with relevant information about the policies and procedures of the nursery 

• Planning settling in sessions over a period of approximately 4 weeks and building on the length of each session, dependent on individual needs, age and stage of development. Please be aware all settling in sessions are child only and the keyworker will come and collect your child from the door.

• 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

• Ensuring the child has any comforters or familiar items from home during their sessions to help them feel at ease.

 

This policy was adopted on

Signed on behalf of the nursery

Date for review

April 2025

Becky Cogan and Genna Cornford

April 2026