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Acknowledgement Liz Hodgman

Children may move between several different settings in the course of a day, a week, a month or a year.

As a Childminder you may be fortunate enough to care for a child from just a few months old right through until they start secondary school. Part of your role will be to support that child to settle and then move from pre-school to primary school and then onto growing independence at secondary school. Some children may only be with you for a short period of time before moving onto another form of childcare or another area. Each child needs individual support to deal with these changes in their life.

 

Some children will attend more than one setting during the course of the day, for example a breakfast club, school and then a Childminder. For these children it is vital that they are provided with support to make the changes and  understand the different rules of the settings.

 

 

Children’s social, emotional and educational needs are central to any transition between one setting and another or within one setting.

Your role is to support the child. Each child is unique and will react differently to change. It is important to discuss the transition with parents and plan how you will support the child. How this is done will very much depend on the age and stage of development of the child and their previous experience. Keep a closer eye on the child to see if there are any changes in behaviour, maybe they are more withdrawn or they could become more aggressive.

When a child is starting at your setting, plan how you are going to organise a settling in period, where the child gets to know you and your home and the other children that attend. Ideally, if it is possible, arrange weekly/fortnightly visits for a few months where a parent and child spends an hour with you. This will enable the baby/child to become familiar to your face and voice and for you and the parent to really get to know each other. You will be able to discover informally how they are planning on raising their child and about their culture/family background. This will enable you to provide quality continuity of care.

 

There are more ideas on how to welcome a child into your setting, from making ‘welcome packs’ to using photographs, on the Emotional Environment Page

 

 

Some children and their parents will find transition times stressful while others will enjoy the experience.

Some children will enjoy the opportunity to start at a new setting, looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends, other children will be more cautious, maybe even a little scared. Ask parents how the child has coped with change in the past.

 

Always explain to parents in advance how any transitions will work and involve them in it as much as possible. If you are settling a new child to your service ensure parents have seen a copy of your Settling in Policy and have been given every opportunity to find out exactly how your setting operates. Encourage parents to stay with their child helping them to feel settled, and reassure them that they can contact you throughout the day to see how their child is doing. One good practice to reassure parents is to provide them with photographic evidence at the end of the first day, showing how their child has been involved in and enjoyed a variety of activities with you.

 

Further ideas can be found at the bottom of the
Emotional Environment Page

 

Effective communication between settings is key to ensuring that children’s needs are met and there is continuity in their learning.

 

If you are caring for a child who attends pre-school, school or an out of school club that it is vital that you work in partnership with these settings to exchange information. This could involve you providing other settings with information about the child, their needs and what they have been doing with you. It could be you gathering information from the settings about what activities they have been doing with the child so that you can continue and extend their learning. For example if they have been looking at mini beasts at pre-school/reception then you might take the child to the library to borrow a book on them, help them find some information on the internet or go looking outside for what mini beasts you can find.

You will need to communicate regularly with the child’s key worker, sharing information on how they are developing and their achievements.

Download
Parental Permission
to exchange information with another setting

Download
Letter to Pre-school to work in partnership

 

Download
Transition and Continuity Policy

Download

Working with other settings policy

TRANSITIONS AND CONTINUITY

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