Hall Farm Nursery School
Settling in
We look forward to welcoming your child into nursery! We understand that starting nursery can be a daunting time with lots of new experiences for both parents and children. We try our best to work with families to make this new beginning as smooth and easy as possible. We hope this gives you lots of useful information, but please feel free to ask us any questions about your child starting with us.
Tips for Settling Your Child into Nursery
-
Make the most of our complementary settling in sessions to get them used to the new environment. See below for more details.
-
On their first day, when you take your child to their classroom our experience has shown that the best thing to do is to take them in, say goodbye, and leave quite promptly. They may find it hard for you to leave, but in our 30 plus years of experience we have found this is the quickest way to help them settle. If you would like, you can go and wait in the office for a few minutes until they have settled, or telephone to check when you get to work. We promise that we will look after them and have lots of experience in helping children make this adjustment.
-
Download our Famly app and you will be able to see updates on what your child is up to at nursery throughout the week. Ask your room leader for more information on this.
-
Fill in our ‘About Me’ Questionnaire. This will provide us with useful information about your child and the rest of your family, which helps us to make your child’s first days and weeks at our nursery happier and more comfortable.
-
For babies in the Bumblebee room, we can offer shorter sessions in the first few weeks to get your child used to being at nursery. We recommend starting your baby in the bumblebee room before you are required back at work so you can do a couple of morning only sessions, before extending it to 9 until 3, and then 8 until 5.30 (or whatever hours are required).
-
For our older children, we find it better to keep to the usual routine from the beginning. It may be tempting to want to come pick up your child if you gain a few extra hours off work or have changes in your plans; however, to begin with we recommend dropping off and picking up at the same time each day so they get used to what to expect. Once they are settled, then you can be much more flexible if you wish to be.
What to bring on the First Day!
-
We recommend bringing something that will comfort them, ie. their favourite toy. Just remember not to forget it when leaving nursery at the end of the day!
-
Please pack at least a change of clothes in case their clothes get messy or wet. We recommend writing your child’s name on clothing to avoid any belongings going home with other children.
-
Please supply appropriate clothes for the weather i.e. sunhat, rain coat, warm jumper. If it’s a really hot day, please put on sun cream on your child before they arrive. If it has been raining, do pack wellies as we may well go for one of our walks through the woodland and splashing in puddles is certainly not something they’ll want to miss!
-
You will need to supply a named cup for water, which needs to be taken home each day.
-
If you are providing meals from home then we recommend sending them in a named container. You can ask at the office for more information on what you can and can’t put in a pack lunch (for example, please do not pack any nuts or nut products!).
-
If your child is still in nappies, you will need to send in nappies and wipes. If your child regularly uses cream, please supply this.
Settling in Visits
To help your child settle into nursery, we offer two settling in sessions. The first session is with you and your child visiting the classroom. This will give you the chance to meet the room leaders and practitioners, and for you and your child to explore their new environment. Then on the second visit, we recommend that you come in and leave your child with us for an hour. This is just a brief introduction to being at nursery by themselves and will help enormously when they start.
Call
01953 888516
Address
Hall Farm Nursery School
Hargham Road
Hargham, Norfolk
NR16 2JW