Frequently Asked Questions

Penny Tassoni, leading author and childcare expert explains that it's a huge step for young children and their parents, we understand this too!  Leaving your child with us is a big decision, please be reassured that it is normal to feel anxious.  We aim to support you all the way through the settling process and to make it as smooth as possible, ideally without tears.

Firstly, we need to work together, building a strong relationship with your key person so that you feel comfortable to leave your child in their safe hands.  Your key person is allocated upon enquiry, so you will know their name before you've even looked around.

Your child needs to feel that you are happy and relaxed about them playing and spending time with their key person, you can help this process by standing back and letting your key person get to know your child.  This helps your child to understand that their key person is a "safe" person to be with.  Never sneak off whilst your child is playing as they will associate playing with their key person with you leaving them.

It is important that your child learns that nursery is where they play with their key person and not where mommy and daddy stay to play too.  This means during their phasing in sessions we ask you not to play with them although we want you to stay close by to help them feel secure.  It is difficult, but the idea is that you sit in a corner and be a bit grown up and boring, maybe bring something to read or talk to another grown up, so that your child will be interested in going off to play.  If your child doesn't want to play that's ok too, they can stay with you but I'm sure after a while they'll get bored when they see others having fun.  If you're patient they will eventually venture off, it's your job to wait, please don't rush or encourage them - just be boring.

Teaching you child that parents always come back is one of the things need to teach, we do this by always saying "Goodbye".

We'd like you to follow these steps;

1. Once your child is playing, move a few steps away.  Can your child continue playing without you next to them?  Keep repeating until they can.

2.  Once your child is playing, say that you have to collect an object from the other side of the room or garden, then go to the other side.  Don't worry if your child tries to follow you, keep repeating until they can cope.  It is important that your child knows that you are moving away but always come back.

3.  When your child is engaged in an activity, say that you are going out to the car or to get something from another room.  Go and come back immediately, make sure your child sees that you've come back.  Don't worry again if they try to follow you, repeat until your child allows you to come and go.

Bribes are not needed, please don't reward your child for coming this teaches your child that nursery must be a scary place.

Remember all children are different, some settle in very quickly and some need more time.  Please try not to worry, children are unique and develop at different rates.  Settling is not a race!  Some of the steps may need to be repeated 10 or 15 times per session, we will support you with this.  You might also like to practice these ideas at home and with trusted family or friends.

Some children may benefit from bringing in a toy, special item or comforter to help them feel more secure in their new environment.  You might even like to create a photo book with photos of familiar faces in to share at nursery.  This helps children "hold in mind" special people who they are missing.

Many parents find leaving their children difficult but please don't feel guilty about worrying but try to be positive and relaxed with your child.  Remember, you are welcome to spend as much time as you need in the nursery.  We will not let your child be unhappy and if we work together your child should settle quickly.  We will send you moments on parent zone so you can see how they're getting on.

If you have any queries or concerns, please speak to your Key Person or one of our Deputy Managers Karen or Sophie.

Although bibs, napkins and aprons are provided for mealtimes and messy play activities, at times they may begin either of these becoming fully engrossed and therefore we would interrupt some deep level learning taking place if we insisted they wear them.    

Children are curious explorers that learn best through discovery without fear, children that worry about getting dirty will miss out on learning opportunities therefore it is important that we hold their learning and development in much higher regard than their clothes.  

Please always send your child dressed in inexpensive clothes that you don’t mind them getting dirty in, learning through play is a messy business.  Staff will make every effort to ensure that children’s clothes are cared for however we cannot guarantee that they will come home pristine.   If your child comes home from nursery looking rather bedraggled then you can rest assured they've had a fun packed day.  Please remember to send in their smart clothes if you are going out straight from nursery, if you let us know when you drop off we will get them cleaned and changed ready for when you collect.

We provide all in one waterproof suits for outdoor play but ask you to please provide wellie boots, if you know that your child won’t wear an outdoor suit please send in plenty of spare clothes so that they can still explore the outdoor classroom as this holds a wealth of learning opportunities.

Many children have the same clothing for nursery so it is extremely important to ensure everthing is clearly labelled.  We recycle an enormous amount of lost property  on 15th of each month, this can be dramatically reduced by clearly labelling all items.

Our lost property shelving can be found in the main entrance to the building through the green door.

Historically in early years every child would come home with an identical piece of "artwork" or a pretty coloured worksheet, thankfully those days have gone.  The focus is now on the process children take to create "their masterpieces" as research tells us this is where the true learning takes place.  It is not what your child brings home in their hands that is important it is what they bring home in their heads.  We capture as much of this learning for you and publish it to parent zone.

It is sometimes tempting to encourage your child to read and write “properly” before they are ready, especially if your friends’ child who is younger can already say the alphabet and write their name.  Communication and language is our highest priority, introducing language, listening and literacy skills through activities that evolve from their play and exploration is most important.  The foundations for literacy is based on using language, music and movement and stories to introduce ideas of reading and writing.  

Even our babies are exploring valuable sensory experiences and mark making when they poor their food and drinks into their high/low chair tray, they’re not just messing with their food.

Many young children still have baby fat around their hands making it difficult to hold a small pen, pencil or crayon in a chubby fist.   Their bones and muscles are still developing and forcing them to use a small pencil grip before they are ready may hinder their grip in the future.

We practice our pre-writing skills by mark making in shaving foan, gloop, glitter or sand.  We use large sticks to chalk marks on the floor outside or may even paint using various implements.  Our older children somteimes procuce lists or letters showing the beginnings of letters and words, we story scribe from their imaginations and re-tell them to our freinds, we listen to music and make massive movements with our bodies, arms and hands.  All of these activities help your child prepare for reading and writing later on but the difference is they thoroughly enjoy the learning process.  

Some tips for practicing writing and drawing at home;

For pre school age children have a variety of writing materials available, pencils, pens, crayons, chalks, paints etc...

For younger children offer sensory materials ie. drawing in wet or dry sand, playdough, gloop (conflower and water), draw in the mud with a stick or a finger.

Write on the wall or floor with a paintbrush and water making large patterns and then watch it magically dry away ready for next time.

Write a shopping list or a to-do list together, use a whiteboard instead of paper and pen. 

Start a scrap book and stick pictures in, make a wish list.

Our environment has been resourced so that children can retreat to cozy areas for a rest or a nap if they need to.  Many of our younger children have a nap after lunch in line with their hometime routine, this is important for them to recharge their batteries as learning through play is exhausting.   Comforters are kept in the children's bags on their pegs so that they can access them when they need to, clean sheets and blankets are provided for each child and washed after every use.  Children are monitored during sleep and 25 minute sleep checks are published through the parent zone app.

As soon as your child shows signs of being ready to toilet train, we will work with you to ensure that we fully support your child's independence and progress.  We have small toilets that children can reach in setting and all we ask of you is to send in plenty of spare clothes so that your child can learn bladder and bowel control without worry and fear.  We expect accidents at first but they soon get the hang of it.

It is helpfuly to children during this very important time that they wear comfortable clothes that encourage independence, please avoid denim, dungaress, belts etc...

There is a slightly higher chance of becoming ill when starting nursery as your child is spending time with other children.  To help reduce the spread of colds and other viruses, we display signs and circulate emails to inform you.  We do ask that parents keep their children at home if they have a contagious illness.  Please see "Guidance on Infection Control" under parent information.

If a father is known to us and they usually collect, we are unable to prevent them from collecting upon the mothers request, we would need a court order on file explaining the contact arrangements.

If a father is not known to us and on the authorised to collect list, then our security policy would be followed and we would alert the mother and our password system would come into force.  

We would not release a child to an unknown person or family member without authorisation from the mother, even if the persons are on the authorised to collect list.

We ask daily on arrival "who will be collecting today".

At Charlie's it is vital that we keep our children safe at all times, therefore we have adopted a very easy sun safety procedure that we use with the children. Vitamin D from sunshine is essential for children’s development so we do not propose that children are completely protected from sunlight. However, our nursery has a strong focus on outdoor play and it is important that we protect children from over exposure when we are outside for long periods.   

We kindly ask that each parent/carer apply the following please:   

Ensure that your child has sun cream applied prior to the start of their session (staff will then if your child is with us all day top up at lunch time or excessive water play, using nursery sun cream-  Nivea factor 50 sensitive.  We ask that you ONLY provide sun cream for your child if they have sensitive skin/ allergy to this cream as we cannot store or be responsible for personal sun cream, if this applies to your child please provide your child's sun cream brand clearly labelled with their name). Please note that if your child does not have any cream on, you will politely asked to apply this before leaving your child, as I am sure you can appreciate that applying every child's sun cream can be a time consuming process.  

Please ensure that your child has a sun hat and is dressed appropriately for the weather.  

Despite the warm weather children will still be running and climbing so appropriate footwear must be provided. Flip flops are not suitable footwear for a nursery day.

Parent drop off -

Ground floor Early Years Rooms 

Caterpillars, (baby room parents) will drop off using the first green gate before 8:30am, please ring the video intercom on the gate to enter the garden and bring children to the baby room door where you will be greeted by a staff member.  From 8:30am you will bring their children to the white nursery reception door, ring the video intercom to alert staff of arrival.

Chrysalis and Butterflies parents will bring their children to the white reception door at all times, ring the video intercom to alert staff of arrival.

Parent collections - 

Ground floor Early Years Rooms 

Parents will collect children from the white nursery reception door, ring the video intercom for attention, staff will acknowledge your arrival and get your child ready to be returned to your care, please be patient as children will be allowed to fully access activities until you arrive.

Parent drop off –

First floor Pre-School Rooms

Parents will drop off using the green door, please ring the video intercom leading to the enclosed internal staircase.  The video intercom will be supervised and managed by a qualified staff member that has a register of all children booked in for the session.  Parents will please ring the audio intercom on the internal door to gain access and bring your child upto the main entrance of the Pre-School rooms on the first floor.

Parent collections –

First floor Pre-School Rooms 

Parents will collect from the Pre-school room using the procedure explained green above at the end of the session, children will be returned safely to the care of their parents from the Pre-school room.  During the warmer months, children will be collected from the pre-school garden after 5pm.

At Charlies, we understand the value that children gain from spending sustained period of times in our outdoor classrooms and the increased enjoyment, freedom, creativity and inspiration that outdoor experiences offer children.

Research tells us that fundamentally we need nature not just to survive but to thrive. 

Our cognitive, social, emotional and physical health is affected by time spent outside, especially when in a natural space. This is why our outdoor classrooms are designed to be as natural as possible.  It is also why we naturalise our outdoor classrooms to increase the use of plants, encourage wildlife, enjoy sand, water, rain puddles and mud as this all makes a positive contribution to children's well-being.

Please dress your child for the weather regardless of the season as we spend as much time outdoors as we possibly can, we provide wet suits for winter and create shade plenty of shade in the summer, “there’s no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing”.