At Tiny Steps Academy we recognise the importance of parent’s involvement in their child’s development, we, therefore, encourage parents to take an active role in their child’s learning.
By working in true partnership with parents we aim to provide a stimulating, challenging environment which is a warm, friendly extension of home, where children and adults can explore, have fun, play, talk and learn together, developing as happy, confident and independent individuals within their community
Inspires – we invite parents and carers to Inspire sessions within the Tiny Steps provision throughout the year. These sessions allow parents and carers to see their child’s learning in Tiny Steps and ‘stay and play’ with their child. It also allows adults the opportunity to communicate with the Tiny Steps team about their child’s learning.
When your child starts:
We discuss with you when your child will start and how long they will attend each session. We listen carefully to your views and the needs of your child. We are very flexible with our start dates and times. All children are different – some may settle in very quickly, whilst others need a little more time.
We also acknowledge this separation can be as upsetting for parents as it is for children and so we offer comfort and patience to all during this transition time. Time spent on settling in is time well invested for the children’s security and confidence.
It is really important that children are collected on time, as searching the sea of faces for your mum or dad, nana or grandad, and finding no-one there can be really upsetting when you’re only two or three years old. We ask that parents inform us of the people who are most likely to collect their child.
In the interests of safeguarding all our children, we ask parents to provide a password at the beginning of the year for all adults to use when collecting children at the end of the session. Anyone the staff don’t recognise, will not be allowed to leave the building with a child unless they provide the correct password.
NO TEARS POLICY
We aim for children to feel safe, stimulated and happy in Tiny Steps and to feel secure and comfortable with all staff. We also want parents to have confidence in both their children’s well-being and their role as active partners, with the child being able to benefit from what Tiny Steps has to offer.
We aim to support parents and other carers to help their children settle quickly and easily by giving consideration to the individual needs and circumstances of each child and their families. Tiny Steps staff will work in partnership with parents to settle their child into the environment by:
- Providing parents with relevant information regarding the policies and procedures of Tiny Steps before they start.
- Encouraging the parents and children to visit Tiny Steps during the weeks before an admission is planned (where possible).
- Reassuring parents whose children seem to be taking a long time settling into Tiny Steps.
- Encouraging parents, where appropriate, to separate themselves from their children for brief periods at first, gradually building up to longer absences.
- 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 and his/her parents during the settling in period, and throughout his/her time at Tiny Steps, 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.
Click here for the TINY STEPS No Tears Policy
Click here for the Personal Care Policy.
