We understand that for many families, starting at childcare for the first time can be an emotional or anxious time. We’re confident that it won’t take long for your child to feel at home in our engaging and nurturing environment and for you to feel relaxed about leaving them.

We provide orientation sessions to ease your transition and ensure the best experience for you and your child on their first day. Orientation helps you and your child become familiar with our centre and our educators. If your child is confident about starting childcare, you may only need to drop by quickly together the day before. Or, they might be more comfortable after a series of short visits leading up to the first day. Alternatively, you may prefer to start your child on shorter days to ease them into the new routine. We will be more than happy to work with you and create a plan that best accommodates your needs through the orientation period.

As the first day at Ally's Kindy approaches, you and your child may experience a range of emotions. No doubt you are especially concerns about how well your little one will settle in after you leave. 

Just remember we already know you, and we have a wealth of knowledge about you and your child as you have already supplied this to us prior to their first day.

Our director, Donna and all the staff at Ally's Kindy have a lot of experience and skills to help make this day exciting, fun and give your child a sense of belonging.

Preparing for Day 1

• Be positive about the experience. If you are positive your child will be. Talk confidently to your child about what will happend at kindy such as telling them that there will be different toys, painting, music, games and of course, making new friends.
• If possible, bring your child to Ally's Kindy for a short visit before the actual start date.
• Involve your child in choosing their bag and labelling it so they can recognise it.

The First Day

• Arrive at Ally's Kindy with time to spare. Your child is more likely to settle in if they feel unhurried.
• Spend time with your child's educator and ensure that you communicate any information needed to continue your child's care routines.
• When it is time to leave, do so quickly, settle your child into an activity, say "Goodbye" and go. Even when a child understands that you will be back, the moment of parting can still be sad.
• Be certain to say "Goodbye". Use set phrases such as "I am going now" and "I will be back after rest time". SMILE. Children take their social skills from their parents. Saying goodbuy develops a secure and trusting relationship between you and your child.
• Ring us throughout the day as often as you like.
• And remember to talk to your child's room staff when you come to pick up to find out all about their first day!

Starting at a new childcare centre can be just as exciting for you, as a parent, as it can be for your child. In order to ensure a smooth transition into our centre, we have provided a checklist below for what you should pack for your child on their first day.

When you enrol with us you will be provided with all the information you need to know about starting with us. Below is a list of items to bring on your child’s first day at a childcare centre:

• a change of clothes
• an item of comfort (such as a blanket or toy)
• expressed milk if required
• dummy if required
• any medications
• hat
• bottle / drink bottle labelled with the child’s name

Please dress your child in suitable play clothes with EVERY ITEM LABELLED. Children, who are afraid of spoiling clothes or of being scolded for getting dirty do not benefit from a large part of kindy activity. Remember, children from babies learn through their senses – touch, feeling, tasting, seeing, speaking and hearing. In other works, dress your child in old clothes.

Our Director will advise you if you need to bring along anything else specific to your centre.

Transitioning to your next Kindy classroom

Sometimes when children transition to the next Childcare Classroom, there can be a little anxiety for both the child and the parents, ie leaving familiar faces of friends and teachers.

Here at Ally’s Kindy we are very sensitive to these emotions and give a lot of support during this process.

After identifying the child’s needs, we then begin to transition the child over a 2-4 week period. We start with just a couple of hours each day until we see the child is happy and settled with the transition.

We then move them into their new room on a permanent basis once we know both the child and the parents are comfortable.

Transitioning from Kindergarten to Prep

The Centre provides a transition statement that is created to build and share an accurate picture of the child’s learning. This involves educators, families and the child to plan focused discussion on the child’s learning. A copy of the transitional statement is given to families to pass onto the school.

The transition statement summarises a child’s learning, recognising that children’s learning is fluid, particularly as they transition to a new setting, and that each learning and development area describes a range of key focuses and significant learnings.