First Day – Our team will be available to go through the settling routines with you. Sign in and get your child to look for their name tag on the tray next to the cubbies. Place lunch boxes on the shelves next to the name tags. Place your bag in any of the cubbies to your left and put your name tag on the magnet next to your bag.

We do encourage you to let your child go through this process independently, when they are able to.

You are welcome to stay until you feel comfortable to leave. Ensure to communicate with our team throughout this time, for advice and support. Feel free to ring us at any time to see how your child is and be assured that we will call you if your child is unhappy. Please put in your child’s bag – A spare set of clothing and jacket. Please provide all nappies and wipes and clearly name all your child’s belongings. If your child requires nappy cream, medications etc. please give these to a teacher who will complete a medication form which must be signed by a parent.

Allergies / Medication – Please inform our team of any allergies or medication so we can meet your child’s needs appropriately.

We will require you to fill in a medication form and you will be asked to sign this form again when you take the medication off the premises. For long term medicines, i.e., Ventolin or EpiPen a personalised medicine form needs to be completed, signed and training given by you with additional training form completed and signed. This will document what, how and when the medicine should be given, and needs to be renewed every 3 months, or when your circumstances change.

 

*PLEASE ENSURE THAT ALL MEDICATIONS, ETC, ARE HANDED TO A TEACHER AND SIGNED FOR. 

First Aid – We endeavour to make our environment as safe as possible.In the event of an injury, one of our team who holds a current comprehensive first aid certificate, will attend to your child. If an injury is more serious, we will contact you and/ or act in the best interests for your child’s safety. For safety reasons, plasters will cover all blood, arnica cream and ice packs will be applied to any bruise where necessary. Please inform our team if for any reason you would prefer us not to do this. All injuries and incidents will be documented and explained to you, and you will be required to sign the injury/incident register to acknowledge that you have been informed.

Sun Safety – We provide every child with a named sunhat to stay at Montessori STARS. You can also purchase an extra sunhat for $12.00 to keep for your private use. T-Shirts can be purchased for $10.00 each. Please apply sunblock to your child prior to coming to preschool and we will reapply at lunch time.

Food – In the preparation for school we believe in all children having their own named lunch box to include lunch, morning, and afternoon tea. Please bring a named drink bottle and place in the drink bottle holder. As part of our programme, we encourage children to make healthy food choices and would appreciate it if you could provide healthy lunches. Please no chocolate or sweets, all children have access to water all day.

*Due to allergies at Montessori STARS we are a NUT FREE ZONE. 

Celebrations – We celebrate every child’s birthday and last day at Montessori STARS with a globe ceremony and the children sing ‘Happy Birthday’. You are more than welcome to join us for this. To maintain the healthy food messages and to accommodate all children with allergies, you can bring a small wrapped treat that will be given to the child’s parent at pick up time e.g. Freddo Frogs or something similar to this that is nut free please

Sleeping – If your child has a special sleep toy or cuddly blanket, please bring this so we can ensure continuity at sleep time. 

Toileting – Please inform our team of where your child is at regarding toileting, so we can meet your child’s individual needs. We will also support toilet training routines that are occurring at home. 

Illness – If your child is unwell please keep them at home and telephone us at Montessori STARS to let us know. The Early Childhood Regulations give the staff the authority to exclude sick children from attending in order to stop the spread of infection. We ask that you keep your child at home for 48 hours after their last onset of vomiting or diarrhea. 

Hearing and Vision – The Canterbury District Health Board Vision and Hearing Screening Service offer us regular visits for testing. This is for children 3 and 4 years old and you will receive notification from them if there are any concerns. 

Emergency Closure – Situations may arise that lead to the emergency closure of Montessori STARS preschool. Some events, such as loss of power or water, may lead to the Ministry of Education requiring us to close. On rare occasions extreme weather conditions may also force us to close. In the event of an emergency closure, it will be necessary for you to collect your child.