thumperrabbit Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Just wondered what people offered for a 'settling in' procedure? We are always happy to work with the family re settling in etc and we have no problems there. We encourage parents to visit before their child's actual start date, but over the years this has been taken up less and less - infact this year we have 7 children who started with us who hadn't met any of us until the day their little ones started!! but that's a different story. What im wondering is what you offer re reduced payment, if anything? eg if a child is unsettled and in the end you call mum to come, and they decided to take them home for the rest of the session, what do you charge them? and how long would you let this go on for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 (edited) We ask parents to bring their child and stay with them for an hour. The parent chats to the child's key person and fills in all the paperwork while their child plays, then both leave. Then depending on the child, the parent comes in and stays for a little while then leaves for an hour or so before coming back and either staying with the child or they go home. We decrease the time the parent stays until everyone is happy. We don't charge for any of this and start charging when the child is settled and doing full sessions. We do monitor this though to make sure parents don't take the mickey! Having said all that, it does all vary as we have babies upwards so it very much depends on the age of the child, and how the parents feel about leaving their child. Edited January 14, 2014 by Stargrower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Families are charged from the start date. (unless delayed by sickness!) they have to pay on or before the child's start date. I do not have a set procedure for settling as every child and every family is different but most children will allow their parents to leave in the first week...if they do short sessions in that time they will still get charged after all i still have to staff up for it! and if you leave a swimming lesson early you don't get your money back do you??!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 We insist that parents and child come for a visit first and set a date , the child gets used to the environment whilst parent does paperwork and has an informal chat , talking through likes , dislikes , any concerns etc , if the child is happy , parent may leave for an hour and then the next date is start date , we have had 3 new starters , 2 of which have come through our toddler group and they are used to the environment . Personally I think it is in the child and parents best interest to make visit compulsory especially if there is no home visit . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredbear Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 (edited) Hi we have stay and play sessions before each child starts. Generally about three in total. Child and parent/ carer come for an hour once a week, meet the keyperson and other staff, have a play etc. This is staggered so not too many come on the same day. We also do home visits during this period. Keyperson and a senior member of staff attend these, keyperson plays and interacts with the child, whilst other practitioner completes all paperwork with the parent/ carer. When the children start proper irrespective of how long they stay they are charged. As Finleysmaid says, staff have to be paid etc. The children start by doing a shorter session gradually building up as and when we feel it is appropriate to do so. All children are nearly always doing the whole time within a half- term, in fact probably after three weeks. All our children more than get this time back throughout the remaining year, with various extra activities, so we do not adjust fees. Parents say they love the method we use and certainly works for us. Edited January 15, 2014 by Fredbear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Just wondered what people offered for a 'settling in' procedure? We are always happy to work with the family re settling in etc and we have no problems there. We encourage parents to visit before their child's actual start date, but over the years this has been taken up less and less - infact this year we have 7 children who started with us who hadn't met any of us until the day their little ones started!! but that's a different story. What im wondering is what you offer re reduced payment, if anything? eg if a child is unsettled and in the end you call mum to come, and they decided to take them home for the rest of the session, what do you charge them? and how long would you let this go on for? I always ring the parent and say we have these dates available when or which do you want to come in for your child's orientation morning. This request has so far never been declined. That morning I do paperwork with the parent and the child is free to roam or not as the case may be, we are already making notes about the child even if subconsciously I.e., how confident etc. When they start, we go with the flow with parents, sometimes children do a shorter morning, I have even had children come in at 11.30 and go with all the other children at 12.15 just to reinforce the message that their parents all come at lunch time to pick them up. we also have the system where children play as soon as they come in, no assembly or get together first we do that much later in the morning and I think that helps. If a child was doing shorter hours due to settling issues parents would still have to pay, I do give them the option to go or stay so it's up to them if a child does shorter hours not the pre school, after all I can't sell that time to anyone else can I? Same as when they take holidays mid term or are off sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Thank you all for your replies. It was the payment issue that I was really interested in, but you've given me food for thought ref new starters in the future (should we still be open!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts