Starting Life As A Small Friend
Whether a Little One is 2 or 5 years old, we all to run with a a See How I Go transition period that allows all of our Small Friends the chance to settle in. And like all things in life, each child is different so we let them lead the way as far as how they're feeling in our world, and what works best for them in the first few weeks. Some of 2 year old Small Friends are more comfortable starting with short days and may continue with this plan for length of time, and other Small Friends are comfortable playing to learn and learning to play for longer days right from the start.
Your Small Friend… during my See How I Go time I will :
enjoy and feel confident about being in a busy space where all of the Small Friends play and learn together inside the house, and out in the backyard
feel OK about being away from my family for my school session, and will feel comfortable approaching my Teachers to help me when I'm at my Small Friends.
feel confident in expressing my needs and wants to my Teachers and friends whether it be with speech, gesture and/or vocalisations
feel confident playing alongside other Small Friends that are not the same age as me. Some of my friends might be 2 years old, and some could be 5
engage and have lot's of fun in all of the awesome learning spaces that are all around the house and out in the backyard
join in one chat time during my session... it could be News, Storytime Music or What's On This Week.
be OK with not having my comforters with me for my whole session
enjoy sitting with my Friends and Teachers at meal times.
My Small Friend Needs Help With…
Even if your Small Friend’s speech is developing or they have limited speech, be assured that we have seen many children 'bloom' in our world as they are given so many opportunities to play to learn and learn to play with other children. We’re often heard saying that are the best Teachers in our house when it comes what life as a social and communicative little human is all about are our Small Friends!
We are happy to work with the Therapists your child may be seeing, and can implement plans that you are using at home which are assisting with your child's speech development. If assistive communication options will help your Small Friend feel confident in communicating with everyone in our house and their Speech Therapist is keen for us to use related resources, we are open to helping with the implementation of Augmentative Alternative Communication resources such as low tech Assistive Language Stimulated systems or Key Word Signing with the support of your therapist.
The most important part of our philosophy is that all of our Small Friends become social beings who develop their social confidence not only at school, but in life. All children are different when it comes to their personalities and how they take on the world from a social point of view, but from our experience our program and the set up of our physical spaces support a child's social development.
We foster each child's individual play, as everyone needs to find their place in the world, and we encourage and model parallel and shared play with all of our Small Friends with the knowledge that even the quietest/most reserved child will develop the social skills they need to make connections with those around them.
As long as we have plenty of spare clothes and nappies in your Little Ones school bag, then we can definitely help you with this part of childhood! If you have particular strategies you find helpful at home, never hesitate to chat with us about them and we will endeavor to implement all the help we can to make sure your Little One feels comfortable and confident about asking for assistance when they head for the bathroom.
Please note that all of our Small Friends use our Little People toilets through the day, and that we don’t allow families to bring a potty in from home.
We are very conscious of how long our Small Friends day can feel, and having quiet times and a space to rest is important for everyone to make sure the day is always full of smiles! We have a Rest and Relax time after lunch at 12.30pm. All of our Small Friends find a pillow and a space to relax in the quiet room, and with music playing and a relaxing ambience created many children relax and drift off to sleep and dream.
In general we find the majority of our Small Friends feel comfortable enough during our rest time to either just tune into a quiet time and relax, or drift off to sleep, however some may not. If this is the case for your Small Friends and you would prefer they have a sleep everyday, we have a bed in our office that we can make up for them so that they can snuggle down and have a rest.
Our teams years of experience with children of all personalities and levels of development gives us the knowledge and confidence to work alongside families to help their Small Friend develop their confidence and independence at in our house.
We encourage you to speak to us about any concerns you may have about your child whether it be in relation to a physical and/or cognitive disability; a learning disorder; certain behaviours they may display they may not be considered atypical, or any other challenges you worry about when it comes to your Little One.
A Note For My Family
We are always on hand to chat about how your Little One is going and whether our world is working for them. We can chat with you from the time we open the door at drop off and pick up, or we are always just a phone call away. In our world it not only important that our Small Friend has a smile on their dial...but the Big People in their life do too!
We look forward to seeing you soon -:- Small Friends Team