Marmalade Schools aim for the children to be safe, stimulated, and happy in the nursery and to feel secure and comfortable with the staff. We also want parents/carers to have confidence both in their child’s wellbeing and their role as active partners, with the child being able to benefit from our environment and the dedicated practitioners.
We aim to make all transitions as smooth as possible supporting the individual needs and circumstances of each individual child and their families. We aim to ensure children make a confident and secure progression through each stage of their experience at Marmalade Schools.
To support a smooth and happy start to nursery school, we use the following strategies and procedures:
- New Parent Pack Prior to your child joining Marmalade Schools you will receive a New Parent Pack containing information about life at Marmalade Schools. Included is information about our curriculum, our day-to-day structure and peripatetic teachers, and valuable advice on how to prepare your child for nursery. We recognise parents as a child’s first educators and therefore we ask parents to share initial information which is gathered using a ‘passport’ and ‘an initial profile’ giving details of the child’s background, likes and dislikes and outlining any areas that the child has difficulty with so extra support can be given.
- Transition Form to be completed by previous setting where appropriate
- Prior to your child starting a member of the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) will be in contact to connect and organise play dates so that children can start forming friendships before their first day.
- Stay and Play, In addition, you and your child will be invited to a ‘Stay and Play’ with only their group and group teacher at their new school. We recognise that children feel more secure when they know and trust their caregivers, so it is a wonderful opportunity to start establishing new relationships and to familiarise themselves with the nursery environment. In addition, it is a valuable opportunity for Parents to ask questions and share important information about their child that may help support a smooth start to nursery life
- Home Visit – Your child’s group teacher will visit the family and child at their home. This gives parents time to share information, ask questions and share any concerns about they might have about their child settling into nursery life.
- The children will then start school on a staggered basis over the first week with the siblings first followed by the non-sibling children.
- If a child has a known additional need and is using the Portage service or any other professional body, e.g. SLT, a meeting with all professionals would be arranged at the school (TAC - team around the child), prior to the child starting, to ensure a continuation of care and learning for the child
