Our Approach
Children’s Wellbeing
settling in
A child’s first days and early weeks are vital in a new place and we take ‘settling in’ seriously at Creative Garden. We work with you to get to know your child, understand their routines, their likes and dislikes so that we can establish an environment that suits the needs of your child quickly. This helps both you and your child feel comfortable, happy and safe.
Children experience a multitude of emotions and reactions when starting in a new environment and you may also have a mixture of feelings. We are committed to working together to make this transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible.
Before starting at the centre, we invite you to visit with your child at least three times so they can build up a relationship with the staff and familiarise themselves with the environment.
We encourage as many visits as possible in the time leading up to your child’s start date to ensure they feel as comfortable as possible before they start their learning journey.
We will ensure that at least one staff member is able to make themselves available at times throughout your visits to get to know you and your child.
We encourage open and honest communication during this time. You can expect to have detailed conversations with a teacher about your child’s development, behaviour, sleeping and eating requirements. The more detailed these conversations are, the better the relationship we can develop with you and your child.
Parents are asked to stay with their child for all transition visits to help settle them and to demonstrate that they feel comfortable in the centre and with the teachers too.
Children are welcome to bring their own (named) ‘cuddly’ or special toy from home if this is something that will assist in the settling process.
We would love to know as much as we can about you and your home life such as your cultural and family celebrations as well as some of your home language so that we can add these aspects into our programme where possible.
The settling process is the beginning of our partnership with you as we work together to support you and your child during their time here with us. We feel honoured that you have given us the opportunity to share and celebrate your child’s learning journey here with us at Creative Garden.
