Child Admission and Settling in

Child Admissions Policy

Happy Feet Preschool follows a policy in which every child is offered a place at the preschool regardless of race, gender, religion & beliefs or disability.

We currently have space for 36 children aged between 2 -5 years and offer private sessions, FEET, 15-hour universal entitlement to all 3 & 4-year olds and the extended 15 hours to those who are eligible.

We offer am & pm sessions over 3 days and initially parents are given the option of which sessions they want to take, as space fill up only available sessions will be offered to parents.

When a parent registers their child for a place at Happy Feet Preschool, we follow an admission procedure outlined below.

• An application form is filled out by the parents before any further communication is made, this form contacts the child’s name and dob, the sessions they require and the start date. It also contains the parents name and contact details.

• The manager will look at the available sessions and allocate the child a place if sessions are available, according to staff and child ratios.

• The manager will send the parent a letter to confirm they wish to take a place with Happy Feet Preschool, the parent / carer will need to return this by the date given on the letter

• Happy feet preschool enrolment pack, along with policies and contract is sent out to the parent / carer with a settling in session start date. The parent is asked to ensure this form is filled out and returned when they arrive for the settling in.

• A child cannot start a place at Happy Feet Preschool unless they have completed the whole admissions procedure.

Happy Feet Preschool offer a settling in process to every child, our aim is to make the transition as easy and as welcoming as possible for the child and their parent. Our settling in process is based on 2 30 minute visits and 1 1-hour visit, these can be increased if we or the parent feel the child needs longer to settle.

The Settling in process;

• The first 30-minute visit includes both the parent and child / children attending the setting. You will be welcomed in by the manager, who will introduce you to your child’s key person. The key person will stay with you throughout this session, answering any questions you may have, this session gives the child an opportunity to explore and play in the setting alongside their parent / carer.

• For the second 30 minute, we encourage the parent to walk into the setting with the child and when they are happy say goodbye and leave. This helps us see how the child manages without their parent / carer by their side.

• For the 1- hour visit, the parent will arrive at the setting like all the other parents and follow the morning / afternoon routine including selecting a peg and hanging up coats and bags. We then encourage the parent to say goodbye at the door and allow the child to go into preschool alone.

We acknowledge that every child is different and some children, take longer to settle and adjust to new surroundings, and by no means will we force a parent / carer to do something they don’t feel comfortable with. In an instance where a child doesn’t want to leave the parent, we will ask the keyperson to come and talk to both parent and child to make them feel at ease and when ready we will take the child from their parent. In cases like this, the manager will reassure the parent that this behaviour is very normal and will follow up with a phone call after the child has settled letting them know they are happy.

If in any one of these sessions we feel the child is becoming very distressed, we will call the parents and ask them to collect the child as soon as possible to avoid further distress to the child.