Enrolling in Spraoi & Sonas Early Learning Centres

At Spraoi and Sonas we are committed to the smooth transition of the child and the parents/guardian into our childcare services. Settling in should be a positive experience as it will influence children’s self-confidence, attitude to relationships and socialising and will lay the foundation for lifelong learning. Here at our centres, our team of highly qualified childcare professionals aim to make the transition as comfortable and stress-free as possible. These guidelines aim to help children and parent/guardians settle in happily to the service, enabling the children to gain maximum benefits from their experience.

Pre-Admission

Before your little one’s first day, we encourage parents to visit for a tour of the service and to meet our staff. We will learn from parents/guardians about a child’s feeding routine, sleeping routine and rituals, general routine preferences, and create close links with home, encouraging you to bring in familiar items/photos.

Parents/Guardians must complete a registration form with all the relevant details about the child, especially collection and contact details, allergies and medical conditions/concerns and vaccination records.

We have an open-door policy for parents/guardian to encourage them to drop in at various times during opening hours with their children to familiarise the children and themselves with the routine, the crèche and the staff.

1st Day

On the first day, your child joins our childcare facility, a specially assigned key worker will warmly welcome them at the entrance. Throughout the initial one-hour period, our key workers will assess how the child is adapting to the new environment. This observation period is crucial in understanding the child's comfort level and readiness for a more extended stay at the creche. Based on our evaluation, we can then consider the possibility of increasing the hours spent at the creche to ensure a smooth and gradual transition for the child.

It's essential for parents to actively engage with their child and others during this settling-in period to offer reassurance in this new environment. Importantly, there is no expectation for the child to participate in activities during this phase.

We emphasize the importance of prompt collection at the end of the session, whether full or partial. Additionally, we encourage parents never to leave the premises without saying goodbye, ensuring a positive transition for the child.

Our approach prioritizes a gradual and individualized introduction to our childcare setting, fostering a supportive environment for both the child and their parents or guardians.

2nd Day

On your child’s second day attending Spraoi and Sonas Early Learning Centres, parents will be encouraged to extend the separation period at the child’s pace. On the second day we encourage families to attend for 2 hours.

Our childcare service staff will be there to assist parents/guardians through this separation process, as an extended goodbye can distress the children.

3rd Day

Parents will be encouraged to extend the separation period and on the third day we encourage families to attend for 3 hours. We recommend that children attend for a mealtime and a sleep time.

When children are beginning to settle without their parents/guardians, they should be supported in observing, experimenting, and discovering for themselves without any attempts to make them participate in activities.
The settling in time has no time limits and may need to be repeated if a child becomes unsettled.

A Day At Spraoi ELC/Sonas ELC

At Spraoi and Sonas Early Learning Centres, we understand that the child’s wellbeing and development are influenced by the environment around them. Our wonderful team focus on creating a stimulating, supportive and fun environment with enough challenge to keep your child engaged and learning.

The physical environment of each of our centres are purpose-designed to provide ample space both indoors and outdoors for children to explore and learn through their play.

The materials and equipment in our playrooms are designed to present the children with 4 key areas which are relaxation and reading, construction play, home corner and role play and table top area. Playrooms for infants have large soft matted areas to encourage exploration and movement. Each of these areas include a wide variety of games and puzzles to encourage creativity and fun.

Our outdoor areas have climbing frames, role play areas, bikes and trikes and scooters, sensory play centres and lots of open space to enjoy. We incorporate nature through seasonal planting and outdoor activities.

Our Educational Curriculum

Our curriculum is play-based, which means that all of the activities that we plan are fun and focused on the children’s enjoyment and engagement. Each activity will have learning goals and outcomes identified under Aistear and Siolta.

Our curriculum is an emergent curriculum which means that we carefully observe and record these observations on children at play in the playroom. This allows us to plan meaningful activities for the children based on their interests.

Throughout the day, we share meals that are prepared by our chef and which are drawn from our 3-week menu. Our meals are nutritious and delicious and encourage children to try new flavours. We serve breakfast, dinner, and evening tea each day and have a light morning and evening snack.

Each of our crèches have dedicated sleep facilities. Smaller infants sleep in dedicated cots while older children sleep on individual cot beds. We also include rest times throughout the day which include music and low lighting to encourage relaxation.

Keeping track of your child’s activities and their day at crèche is essential for parents and we share all the details of your child’s day in real-time through our parental communication app Childpaths. This provides parents with photographs and information about key points of the day as well as essential information around feeds, sleeping and toileting.