We would like your child to feel happy and safe coming to Little Owls. To make sure this is the case our staff will work with you to decide on how best to support your child settle in. We are very aware that each child is an individual and we will work with you to create an approach that works for your child. We will support parents and their children as much as possible during this process, with your child’s key person working closely with you.
Please make sure you have completed the admission form and return it to us before your child starts as this gives us all the important and official information we need to care for your child. Please ensure you inform us of any changes on here at any point, particularly that the contact details are up to date so we can contact you quickly when needed.
We recommend that you make at least one visit to Little Owls with your child, close to their start date. This enables your child to familiarise themselves with Little Owls whilst they have the security of having you close by. During this time Kayleigh, our Manager, will introduce you to your child’s key person and discuss how to best approach settling in your child. You can make as many visits before you child starts as you and your child need until you feel ready to leave your child with us for their first session. When it is your child’s first session we find it works best to say goodbye and then leave promptly so that your child can quickly focus on being at Little Owls. You are more than welcome to phone us as many times as you need to check how your child is getting on. We understand it is a difficult process for you as well. If we find your child is not settling we will quickly contact you to give you the opportunity to collect them early and plan for the next session.
We are very lucky that all our staff at Little Owls are very experienced and we have used lots of different approaches over the years to settle children who are finding it more difficult. We sometimes find some children settle easily at first and then become unsettled weeks or even months later. If this happens we simply begin the settling procedure over again until they are happy once more. We find that by working together and being understanding of you and your child’s needs, a child can feel confident enough to stay at Little Owls without their parents.