Information on orientation.
The Director/Nominated Supervisor will take the family on a tour of the centre, introduce them to all staff members as well as other children and their families who attend the centre. The Director/Nominated Supervisor will give the child the opportunity to explore the room in which they will be placed.
The Director/Nominated Supervisor will encourage the family to come back and visit the centre as many times that is convenient to them prior to enrolment to ease the child’s transition into the centre. The orientation process must be tailored to meet the needs of individual families and their children. Factors for consideration at arranging these times are the child’s sleep needs, parents’ working hours and specific individual needs of the child. Other family or friends who are nominated by the family as being authorised to collect the child should also attend on these visits if possible.
Families will have their photo taken with the child, which will then be attached to the child enrolment form so that staff can identify them and release their child to them if they have not had the opportunity for a pre-enrolment visit. Families will be asked to provide photo’s of the people nominated on the enrolment form as authorised to collect the child.
The parents and child will be given the opportunity to ask as many questions as they like about the centre’s routines, policies and procedures. Parents will be asked to share any information about their child’s individual needs, eg allergies, interests, etc.
The parent will be shown how to sign their child/ren in and out of the centre each day, the location of their communication pocket, the day book, the location of their child’s portfolio, urged to apply sunscreen to their child when they sign-in each day (regardless of the weather conditions) and invited to give suggestions for and feedback about the daily program.
The Director/Nominated Supervisor will encourage parents to ring the centre when their child is attending as many times as they like to check on how they are settling in, to receive reassurance about the care their child is receiving. Children will receive a “First Day Diploma”, which gives the parents feedback as to how their child’s first day has been.
The Director/Nominated Supervisor will enrol children for one calendar year. All enrolments will be reviewed by late August for the following year. The review should cover:
All children enrolled at the centre that are not going to school the following year, to ensure that priority of access is still being met.
Children who are starting school the following year cannot be guaranteed care for January. The Director/Nominated Supervisor can allow a child to fill a vacancy created by a child who is absent in January.
