Settling In

We encourage parents/carers to visit Little Swans with their child before attending their first session. We offer home visits, where the manager and key person meets your child in their own home prior to starting preschool. This gives the child the chance to get to know their key person in a familiar setting.

Children all act differently when left for the first time but we find that with reassurance from you and the staff, most children will be happily settled within two or three weeks. We want your child to feel happy and secure with us and we will act sensitively to their needs.

In order for us to get to know your child better, we ask you to help us complete a form called ‘All About Me’. We ask a few questions such as what are their likes and dislikes, favourite foods, special comforts, etc; this enables us to build a relationship with your child. (All information provided is kept confidential and stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR).

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Key Person System

Little Swans operate a system whereby each member of staff is responsible for a small number of pre-school children within the group. While all staff will interact with your child, their key worker will be responsible for recording observations about your child and their development. These will be used to identify the next stage of development to support your child’s learning. Your child will be allocated a keyperson prior to starting based upon the information gathered on the registration document and All about me. However,once your child has attended the group for a few sessions and they have had the opportunity to get to know the staff thier keyperson may change if we find they have bonded to a different member of staff.

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Record of Achievement

Each child has their own online “Learning Journey” on Tapestry. Tapestry allows us to keep photos of their work, photos, videos, and details of observations made by their key worker. These records are confidential, protected by a password. Parents /carers will be given Log -in details and we encourage you to add in information about events that your child has been involved in outside the pre-school, including photos and their achievements. 

When your child leaves Little Swans we will transfer the journal to their new setting where possible , along with a summary of the progress that you may wish to show their teacher on starting primary school or a new Pre-school. We will give you the opportunity to download their journal in the weeks before they are due to leave the setting. This journal is a lovely keepsake of thier time at Little Swans.

 

What Do Children Need to Bring to Pre-school?

Children should be dressed in old comfortable clothes appropriate to the season/weather and flat, sensible shoes (we try to discourage open-toed and slingback shoes) The children will go outside every day, so in the summer we ask that children arrive with sun-cream applied and bring a sun-hat. In winter they need a coat, gloves and wellington boots. (All these items need to be labeled clearly).

Children also need to bring a bag with spare clean clothes into every session – spills, mess, and accidents are inevitable, but also part of learning!