Settling In

At Holden Park Day Nursery & Pre-school we are happy to provide a stimulating, safe and nurturing environment that enables children to thrive as they learn through their play.

We understand that entrusting your children to the care of others is an important step to help you. That is why we arrange a settling in period to suit your family. We believe that it’s very important for your child to feel safe and secure in our environment that is why we let them decide the time they are happy to stay with us during the settling in period.

We advise settling in sessions to take place with a morning and afternoon session as this enables your child to experience all of the activities and mealtimes that go on throughout the day.

These sessions are free and flexible to suit. Usually booked in for the week before the start date keeping the experience fresh in your child’s mind.

On your first settling in session at the Nursery you will be welcomed into the Nursery by one of our Management team.

They will introduce you to the Room Leader, Key Person, Secondary Key Person and the rest of the team in your room.

We will ask that you sit with your child in the room, allowing time for them to start getting used to the new environment, with the close comfort of you there. The keyperson will play with your child with you, starting to form positive bonds and get to know each other.

Before your child will start the nursery, we kindly ask you to complete all the really important details on our documents. We will need contact details, vital medical and dietary information and parent permissions. The information is important in ensuring the safety and well-being of your child, whilst in our care at nursery.

During the second session we may ask you to leave the room/nursery to see how your child reacts with an initial separation. This will not be rushed and we will only attempt this if both child and parent are happy to do so.

If your child is happy then we will continue to play with them with you out of the room to build on the positive relationship with the team in the room. If your child becomes distressed with your absence, then we ask you to allow us time to console them. If after a short time they are still distressed, then we will ask you to re-enter the room/come back at nursery.

We understand that the timing of the initial detachment is imperative to ensuring a positive and secure start at Nursery. We aim to gradually gain the trust of you and your child at a comfortable rate to suit you both.