At Carousel we endeavour to provide a flexible settling in procedure enabling all children to meet the challenge of separation from primary carers at their own rate.
On registering your child at Carousel you will be invited to bring them along for a series of induction sessions. These are arranged to allow you and your child time to gain confidence in the environment. You are invited to attend with your child and stay as long as you feel you would like to. If you feel it would benefit your child to remain with them throughout this period then we would encourage you to do so. These taster sessions also give you opportunity to discuss your child’s individual requirements with their key person and with the manager.
We recognise that this process differs with every child and with every carer. The induction sessions are geared to access different parts of each session and they vary in length. Following your child’s gradual induction into Carousel you will wish to start them on their preferred session time and day.
On your child’s first visit to Carousel you and your child will be welcomed at the door and brought into a playroom. This will be the opportunity for you to complete the first of many parent partnership records for your child. We will ask you questions that will enable us to gain insight into your child’s current stage of development, likes, dislikes & talents. We will use this information as a baseline assessment and a springboard from which we will plan your child’s unique learning opportnities. If they are staying for lunch you will be shown where to place their belongings. At this stage we leave it entirely up to you as to whether or not you wish to remain with your child or leave them in our care.
We will contact you if we feel your child is not happy. We would much prefer the settling in process resulted in a happy child and carer than to rush the process and make the experience daunting for everyone involved. Your child’s key person will be keen to discuss with you how your child’s day has progressed so try to plan a little extra time at picking up time so you can have a chat.
Very young babies will require some additional settling time as their needs vary so greatly and this gives key persons time to get used to your babies individual routine and preferences. We encourage parents of our under 2’s to spend time with their child’s key person discussing their child’s preferences and routines so that this can be carefully documented in order to meet your babies specific requirements on starting at Carousel. All staff are made aware of this policy through a comprehensive induction process.
