We recognise that each child, parent, and nursery relationship is unique, and we use our experience to support everyone in making that transition into nursery life as smooth as possible.

At Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Cambridge – Grange Road, our settling in sessions are unique and tailored to each individual child. The children’s wellbeing and happiness is a priority at our nursery. This is reflected in our settling in sessions as we offer up to ten settling in sessions over a two-week period. This is to ensure the child has secure attachments to familiar adults and they are content in their new environment prior to attending their scheduled sessions. This enables the new families transition into the nursery to be as smooth as possible and causes less disruption to parents work schedules if the child is settled and in a space they can thrive. The parents and staff work in partnership to provide each child with accurate starting points to begin to scaffold their learning throughout their Monkey Puzzle journey. We have an effective key person system in place which is child led on entry and established as soon as bonds are formed.

The key person is responsible for embedding the EYFS within the child’s day and to ensure parents receive observations and assessments that reflects the child’s ongoing development.

We advise settling in sessions to take place with a morning and afternoon session as this enables your child to experience all of the activities and mealtimes that go on throughout the day.

These sessions are free and flexible to suit. Usually booked in for the week before the start date keeping the experience fresh in your child’s mind, your key person will fill in a report each step of the way which will help us and yourselves to track your child’s settling in and plan future support and development.

Our experience has shown that having a Key Person for your child is the most effective way of ensuring that children develop a strong relationship with a significant adult in the nursery, giving every child the reassurance to feel secure, familiar, and confident in the nursery environment.

At Grange Road your child’s Key person will:

• Be assigned to your child on their first settling-in session, getting to know the child and family well in order to form strong relationships to support emotional needs.
• Be with your child at every settling-in session in order to make the handover as smooth as possible, providing essential consistency for you and your child.
• Ensure they have all of the information about your child and share this with other staff so that your child’s individual needs are cared for throughout each and every day.
• Carry out assessments and plan for your child’s development, ensuring they are always challenged and supported to reach their full potential.
• Prepare a report every 6 weeks to ensure you are kept up to date with all of the information about your child and their development.