Please tell us if your child has any infectious illness. Expectant mothers come into the Centre so it is important that we know about cases of German Measles in your family and other general illnesses. Please also inform us if your child is ill and therefore unable to attend the Centre. We need to know by 9.30 a.m. in order to cancel school meals. If your child has been sick or has a tummy upset, please keep him/her at home and do not send him/her back to the Centre until 48 hours after the symptoms have ceased. Coughs, colds and sore eyes can all be passed on to other children very easily, so please help us to keep the Centre free from these, and similar infections. If we feel your child needs to be in your care during session time you will be contacted and expected to make arrangements to collect your child as soon as possible, as your child’s well being is paramount to us.

If your child has an allergy or any medical/dietary requirements please discuss these during your home visit or inform our office as soon as possible. We believe that a sick child should be cared for at home by a family member, however we understand that during the final stages of a course of prescribed medication it may be possible for your child to return to the setting. In such cases our team are only able to administer prescribed medication to children if the child’s name, dosage, timing and date of issue are clearly marked on the label and this has been agreed with the Centre team. We request that parents give permission for an infant suspension to be administered to your child by practitioners following the Centre’s strict medication procedures, which will only be implemented if it is felt it would be disadvantageous to your child not to do so. If you have any further questions about the administration of medicines to your child at the Centre please discuss these with your child’s key worker.

No – Please discuss specific needs re comforters with your key worker. We will also work closely with you to help your child separate from a significant ‘special’ toy.

No – Please do not send food, drink or sweets with your child. We provide water, milk, snacks and fresh fruit during each session. Please note we do ask for a contribution towards the cost of the fruit.

All meals are prepared on site by our Catering Manager from healthy fresh ingredients. As far as possible we will endeavour to cater for any specific dietary requirements. Please discuss requirements with your key worker.

Clothes should be practical and comfortable. Please do not send children in their ‘best’ clothes. We do have aprons but clothes still get wet or dirty at times. Easily washable clothes are best so that children can happily engage in ‘messy’ activities without anxiety. Please Note: your child will get ‘positively’ dirty from time to time! Shoes should be practical and suitable, appropriate for the children to put on or remove with minimal support. The centre provides wellington boots and waterproof clothing for all children. It is always helpful if a child has their own change of clothes in a bag that can brought to the Centre. At certain times of the year children may need additional items such as sun hats. Please label your children’s clothes and footwear clearly with their name.

Yes, certainly it is always difficult to judge this one. If we inform too early, people forget, but we do appreciate busy people have a lot on and so we will try to get the timing right. Please remember that dates are issued at the beginning of the academic year in the planner. Please do not tell the children repeatedly about events happening in the Centre – it is upsetting if parents cannot bring their children to events and they realise they have missed them. We understand that many of you have very busy schedules and that if at all possible you will support events at the Centre. Sometimes it is necessary to explain to our children that on certain occasions it is not possible to do everything. Obviously from our perspective, working with such young children repetition and referencing all things is a part of our routine and of course we do not want anyone to miss the lovely events we organise either! We arrived a little late and missed some activities – please advise of what the evening will entail. We are sorry if people miss things and realise how frustrating this can be. Most events are arranged to start pretty promptly – we are aware that you have given up time to attend events, but we will try to give more outline in our forward notification in future.

Around spring half term we begin our sharing initiative – we send information home and organise information sessions for parents. There is no hidden message as to when children bring books home. This is very relaxed initiative whereby the practitioner takes time with the children, usually individuals, to really unpack a book. As you can appreciate it takes time to share this with 80 children and sometimes a child is too busy to share on a particular day. Please be patient, if you wish to borrow a book from our home library you are more than welcome to use the trolley on a but a sharing book will make its way home eventually if your child chooses one.