Settling in at Serendipitys
Once you have received your confirmation of a nursery place for your child, settling in visits will be arranged at your convenience to ensure a smooth transition into nursery life.
We offer as many visits as necessary for both parents and children to feel happy and secure.
We understand how difficult it is leaving your child in someone else’s care, so please remember you can call the nursery at any time to check on your child.
During your child’s first visit, you will need to complete detailed information forms to ensure that we are aware of individual routines so that we can meet your child’s needs.
The Serendipitys loving approach quickly settles even unsure little ones.
Parents’ Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework
What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is how the Government and early years professionals describe the time in your child’s life between birth and age 5.
All nurseries must follow a legal document called the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and must register with OFSTED. OFSTED undertake inspections of all registered providers, they check that legal requirements are being met and give a grading. Serendipitys is currently graded as “outstanding” or “Good” at all of our nurseries.
What is the EYFS Framework?
It sets out the legal requirements that we must follow to keep your child safe and promote their welfare, learning and development.
These include:
- the numbers of staff required in a nursery, what we must do if we have concerns about a child along with things like administering medicines and carrying out risk assessments.
- the 7 areas of ‘learning and development which guide what play and activities we plan and provide for your child.
These are:
The ‘Prime Areas’
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and language
- Physical development
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Your child’s key person will work with you make sure we are supporting your child to make the best progress possible and getting them ready for school and preparing them for their future learning and successes.
Key Person
A key-person undertakes personal care routines for their key children and ensures that activities are planned to support children’s continued learning and development. Key persons also establish effective partnerships with parents in order to help ensure that there is a smooth transition between home and nursery and that information is shared on an ongoing basis.
Parents as Partners
In order to ensure that there is a smooth transition for children between home and nursery, we encourage parents to become involved in all aspects of nursery life. During normal nursery hours, staff are always on hand for parents to talk to and discuss all areas of their children’s care and development. We understand that communication can be difficult for working parents and therefore extend opportunities to include out-of-hours events.
Parent Evenings
All parents attend our termly parent evenings. These evenings provide opportunities for parents and key persons to jointly reflect upon children’s progress and identify their next steps in learning. Parents and key persons also share ideas of how children’s ongoing progress can be supported through fun activities at home and with their family.
Social Events
We organise regular social events for parents. These are wide-ranging and organised in response to parental feedback regarding their needs and wishes. They include sessions within nursery hours, such as grand-parents tea parties; along with evening or week-end activities such as family fun days and community events.
Parental Questionnaires
As we are always striving for improvement, we send out termly parental questionnaires to assess parents’ level of satisfaction about nursery and to seek ideas for improvement. We would ask that you take a few minutes to complete these when asked, and to be honest in your comments in order to help us continue to improve the experiences for all children who come to nursery.
