The Nursery works in partnership with parents and carers, operating with a commitment to the key person system. All practitioners and managers are aware of, and understand the difficulties that families may face when leaving their child/ children with unfamiliar people, and strive to make initial and subsequent transitions as easy as possible through encouraging close attachments between families and nursery practitioners.
We aim to make The Nursery a welcoming environment for both children and families, to assist children in settling in quickly, with special awareness to individual favoured activities, learning styles and friendships. The home visits which we offer, allows for the key person to understand a little of what your child enjoys and how they play, and allows key people to meet families informally and share information.
Children’s wellbeing is essential for their health, happiness and ability to learn. Each child who attends The Nursery, regardless of how many sessions are undertaken, is assigned a key person to bridge the gap between their home and the setting. The key person will be the main, although not exclusive, point of contact for the parents/ carers of the child, for the duration of their nursery years.
We believe that children settle best when they have a key person to relate to, who knows them and their family well and can recognise and meet their individual needs. A key person ‘buddy’ is allocated for those times where the key person may be unavailable, working closely with the key person and sharing necessary information.
The key person will support their key children, and monitor their learning and behaviour, supporting each child along their personal learning journeys, sharing thinking, experiences and events, respectfully supporting the family’s culture, heritage and religion. Individual ‘Tapestry’ learning journey’s are created by the key person and the child to record experiences and achievements. These are accessible online for each parent and carer to look at and add to, a log in and password will be allocated at settling in visits for your child.
The children are greeted upon arrival by their key person where possible, with all practitioners present to welcome children and families into the nursery and to discuss, share and explore any issues, changes or news. We do not work shifts, and all key people are here throughout the week, with the exception of holidays, training and unavoidable absences.
All key people are present throughout the child’s day, with the exclusion of lunch breaks and planned office time, enabling the children to feel safe, confident and secure. This enables key people to be aware of the child, the events which occur and to be knowledgeable when discussing the child’s day with parents and carers at the end of their session, using first-hand knowledge and personal experiences.
The key person will become attuned to the child’s individual preferences, learning styles, attitudes and characteristics, providing individualised planning to encourage learning progression and enjoyment. Particular support will be provided by the child’s key person whenever there is a transitional change, a significant event in the child’s life and throughout the day to day events where the child needs personal care.
Training is provided for all practitioners to enable them to be knowledgeable and competent in implementing this policy and fulfilling the key person role.
Arrangements are in place to balance out the number and age spread of the children each key family is supporting, in order to care for and achieve successful outcomes for all children and families. Each child will remain with their key person throughout, with siblings kept together in key groupings at all times, unless this is against the wishes of parents and carers.
Throughout The Nursery, all adults are accountable to all children and families. Children are very much a shared responsibility, where all children are included, educated and cared for by all, with sensitivity to the child’s needs and wishes.
We welcome and value all feedback so please do tell us what we are doing well, or what you feel we can improve on.