Our Settling-In Process

At kinderzimmer, we know how important the settling in process is.

Our aim is to work in partnership with parents to ensure a smooth transition for your child into our nursery. We understand that choosing the right early years setting is a deeply personal and crucial decision. We are here to support both you and your child, helping them develop into confident and caring individuals. We recognize that children learn best when they feel healthy, safe, and secure. By building positive relationships with parents, we can meet each child’s individual needs and facilitate a smooth settling-in process.

Our Educators are trained to understand the importance of building strong attachments with children. They are knowledgeable about the various stages of attachment development and use this expertise to support both children and families as they adjust to the nursery environment.

We take pride in ensuring that the initial experiences with our nursery set the foundation for a child to become well-settled and secure. Our goal is to make the nursery a welcoming place where children and their families feel comfortable. We support parents and carers throughout their entire journey with us.

We employ a variety of strategies to ensure your child’s smooth transition into the nursery. We collaborate with parents and carers to select the most appropriate methods for each child, ensuring the highest likelihood of success. These strategies are carefully implemented to align with our welcome commitments below.

Our Welcome Commitments

Before their child’s first session every family will have:

A welcome phone call with the Head of Nursery and the Community Manager

A key person selected for their child

Their child’s essential information gathered to support top-quality care

Their care and service preferences explored with the Head of Nursery and the community manager

Access to the kinderzimmer app

Access to all the essential policies and guides

First Session: Play and getting to know you

The first session lasts 1 hour from 9.30-10.30. You will be in the room for the first hour with the Educators, your child and other children. During the first 30 minutes our room leader will discuss your Childs routine and learn key facts about them such as what helps to soothe them, their eating habits, where do they sleep and how they get to sleep.

During the second 30 minutes you will leave your child to have some playtime in the room and meet the Head or Deputy Head of Nursery to discuss the nursery and some other key information, reviewing our policies and procedures. This session is just so that your child can get used to the sounds and smells of the nursery. If they don’t leave your side don’t worry, this is quite normal.

Second Session: 2 hour Play and Lunch

The second session is from 10.30-12.30. Parents will stay at the nursery for the first 15 minutes then leave, we advise you to stay local in case the child gets too upset. We will begin to slowly build up their daily routine, ensuring we give lots of praise, fun activities, smiles, play and cuddles! During this time we will write an observation for feedback and take a photo of the child with their key person. The next day you can show this photo to your child.

Third Session: 4 Hour Play, Lunch and Sleep

The third session is from 10.30-2.30 pm. During this session drop-off will be practiced as normal. We will have a coat hook with your Childs name and photo ready, so they know where to go. We advise parents to bring things like blankets, teddy's, books and tops that smell like home to help with easing to sleep. We will also write an observation during this session of all the things your child has enjoyed during their visit.

This settle routine at nursery helps build from play sessions- to play and lunch-to play, lunch and sleep, to full day. Depending on age, they may run in happy and excited, other children may be a bit teary. More often than not, it is the parents that are crying at the first few drop offs instead of the children. If you feel like a little cry that is absolutely fine.

The Head of Nursery will be on hand to support any concerns or queries during this important time. Some children may be a little bit clingier and teary. We find this can be most prevalent when they are between the ages of 10 months to age 2 years of age. This is often linked to the developmental stage of separation anxiety (Please do not worry, this is developmentally normal for children). If they do have a few tears, please do not worry, this is very normal and the team will be on hand to give lots of cuddles and reassurance before easing your child into a fun activity.

Our Settling-In Process

Our Settling-In Process

Allocating a key person to each child and his/her family, before he/she starts to attend. The key person welcomes and looks after the child, ensuring that their care is tailored to meet their individual needs. He/she offers a settled relationship for the child and builds a relationship with his/her parents during the settling-in period and throughout his/her time at the nursery, to ensure the family has a familiar contact person to assist with the settling-in process

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

Working with parents to gather information before the child starts on the child’s interests, likes and dislikes and their favourite things available at settling sessions, e.g. their favourite story or resource, as well as completing a baseline of the child’s current development to plan, and meet, the individual needs of the child from the first day

Settling in visits and introductory sessions are key to a smooth transition and to ensuring good communication and information sharing between staff and parents

Encouraging parents to send in family photos to display to help settle the child

Reassuring parents whose children seem to be taking a little longer to settle in and developing a plan with them to support the child and family

Providing regular updates and photos of the children settling

Encouraging parents, where appropriate, to separate themselves from their children for brief periods at first, gradually building up to longer absences