Environment

Health and safety are a top priority at our centre, and our policies are continuously reinforced by our staff. These include (but are not limited to) regular safety checks of all equipment, identification of and mitigation of any hazards, the storage of chemicals and hazardous items in locked cupboards, and educating children on personal safety matters such as walking inside, staying seated while eating, not throwing equipment and encouraging respectful caring behaviour at all times. All permanent staff have their current First Aid Certificate.

To make the transition as stress-free as possible, we recommend several short visits prior to the start date, where you stay with your child as they familiarise themselves with the new environment.

Our teachers will work together with you to ensure your child has a great experience right from the start. Each child is assigned a key Teacher who is responsible for their settling in, parent induction, routines, development updates and individual discovery projects. We find that having a key Teacher as a familiar point of contact helps to reduce stress and increase trust and excitement about starting at Footsteps.

Once your child starts with us, feel free to visit or phone the centre at any time to find out how they are getting on – you might find this unnecessary once you see how much they love our centre!

We have learnt from experience that it is best to devise a regular routine for saying goodbye, and discuss it with your child before arriving at the centre. Some tips to make it a bit easier include:

• Talk to your child about what activity you are going to do with them before saying goodbye (such as staying to complete a puzzle or reading a story)
• Keep the goodbye process short to minimise stress
• Always let your child know you are going to leave but will be back later to pick them up. If your child gets upset at this point, we recommend sticking to your routine
• Leave them with one of the teachers or some other children rather than just on their own
• Always leave as soon as you have said your goodbyes
• Crying is normal when you leave, however rest assured this usually stops soon afterwards as they get on with their day!
• Children will pick up on your emotions about coming to the centre. Make sure you have positive conversations about the centre and always ask them how their day was when you pick them up

The children at our centre are very busy which means there is often a need for parents to pack a few extra things. We recommend packing the following named items:

• Two or three complete changes of clothes, including underwear and socks
• Sunhat in summer
• Warm hat in winter
• Appropriate footwear
• Nappies if necessary
• A healthy lunch

We love to build close relationships with all our families and use a private Facebook page for current parent/s caregivers only, to share your child’s learning with you. We also create profile books, which provide a hard copy for children to look through with their friends and family.

Staff and management are always available to discuss any matter regarding your child and centre. We recommend that you make an appointment so that teachers can be available without interruption.

Please phone the centre and let us know (you can just leave a message if no one picks up the phone).

We will phone you and/or your child’s caregiver and an ambulance if necessary. We will care for your child until you or the ambulance arrives.

We respect parent/caregiver choice around immunisation. If your child is immunised, please provide their Plunket book on enrolment so that we can photocopy their immunisation chart. If you have chosen not to immunise your child, please let us know on enrolment, so that you can be notified if there is ever an infectious disease/illness in the centre.