The familiarisation phase in the day-care centre offers time to settle in

In our day-care centres (crèches and kindergartens), we attach great importance to a gentle familiarisation phase for the children. We use the findings of attachment theory as a guide here. Right from the start, your child is assigned an educational caregiver, who takes them by the hand and gives them a feeling of security.

Later on, taking a look at what the “older kids” are doing is also expressly desired: at almost all of the Wichtel facilities, the crèche and kindergarten are in the same building, allowing the children to interact at an early stage.

An educational guideline, which we have developed based on the latest scientific findings, exists for the familiarisation phase in the day-care centre at the Wichtel Academy.

The five phases of the day-care centre familiarisation phase at the Wichtel Academy:

First meeting with the parents
Getting to know each other, gaining security

Criteria for separation met

Building trust, stabilising security
First separation attempt
Final meeting

1. The first meeting

The educational employee gets in touch with you by phone and arranges a date for the first meeting. The aim of this is to get to know the child’s eating and sleeping habits, possible allergies, motor skills and language development.
However, the first meeting in the day-care centre is also a good opportunity for you to ask questions about the familiarisation phase and other topics. You have the chance to discuss your expectations and possible concerns with our educational employees.
We will present our familiarisation concept to you in detail and arrange a time for the first day.

2. Getting to know each other and gaining security

In the first few days of the familiarisation phase, you remain in the day-care centre group with your child for around one to two hours.
The educational employee will assign you a permanent place in the room. From there, you can watch your child and show joy and interest in everything your child does. Show your child that you feel comfortable with us.
You are the “safe haven” that your child can head back to at any time.
Your child should explore the room as independently as possible. You should remain rather passive during this. Do not urge your child to play. At the same time, do not constantly take the initiate to maintain contact with your child.
At the start of the familiarisation phase in the crèche or kindergarten, the educational employee would like to establish contact with your child slowly and at a friendly distance and encourage them to explore the world.

3. Building and stabilising trust

No separation should take place yet in the first three days of the day-care centre familiarisation phase. We do not want to overwhelm your child, but instead have sufficient time to intensively get to know your child and establish a relationship with them.
Watch your child closely in the first few days – then you will see when they are ready for the first separation.

The following criteria should be met for this:

Your child explores the immediate vicinity, shows a positive feeling and expresses joy.
Your child reacts to the educational employee and communicates with them.
Your child shows perseverance and an interest in activities. Your child should not be too tired during a separation.
Your child takes part in the care situation. The educational employee should possibly have already changed your child’s nappy in your presence.
You are ready for a separation and also think your child is capable of taking this step. The focus here lies above all on your “inner consent”. Without your willingness to let your child be looked after at our day-care centre, the familiarisation phase will be made more difficult.

4. First separation attempt

As part of the familiarisation phase in the crèche or kindergarten, the first familiarisation phase never takes place on a Monday. This is to give the child the opportunity to slowly settle back into the day-care centre after the weekend.
The first separation lasts around 10 to 15 minutes. This gives us plenty of time to observe how your child reacts to the separation and see whether our employee can comfort your child.
Please deliberately say goodbye to your child. Do not creep out of the room, as this can make your child feel very insecure.
Please stay on site for the first separations. For longer separations, you are welcome to leave the day-care centre. However, we should still be able to contact you by phone so that you can be back with your child in a very short time.
After the agreed separation time, you come back into the room, say goodbye to your child and go home.
If the separation has gone well, we will gradually extend the separation times in the course of the day-care centre familiarisation phase up to the full booking time.
If the separation has not gone so well, only one correspondingly short separation should also take place on the following day. Your child should learn that the process is the same every day and Mum or Dad come back after a separation.

5. Final meeting

The familiarisation phase in the day-care centre is fundamentally complete if your child has accepted our educational employee as a “secure basis”, can be calmed and comforted by them and has settled into our daily routine.
A final meeting takes place after the familiarisation phase. This offers you and us the opportunity to reflect on the familiarisation phase in the crèche or kindergarten and, for instance, look back on the particularly nice moments. However, it will also provide an outlook for future developmental meetings.

After a successful day-care centre familiarisation phase: welcome to the daily routine at the Wichtel Academy

We offer your child a clearly structured, regular daily routine. This makes it easier for them to find their way around and master their day with confidence. The daily routine in the crèche and kindergarten offers plenty of time and space for educational activities. Free play is always in harmony with your child’ biological rhythm. Working in mixed-age groups gives them additional encouragement to learn from and with each other.

I’m big now! The transition to kindergarten

In 21 out of our 24 Wichtel facilities, the crèche and kindergarten are in the same building. Our crèche children can regularly visit the kindergarten group and also get to know the other children and the educational staff on excursions and at parties together. The transition from the crèche to the kindergarten is thus very smooth and easy for the children.

External crèche children are given the opportunity to visit us with their parents before the start of the kindergarten year. This allows us to create the ideal conditions for the subsequent familiarisation phase or admission to the kindergarten during the first meeting.

I’m going to school! Our first-years’ programme

Die Bild zeigt einige Kindergarten-Kinder und dient der Verdeutlichung des Themas „Tagesablauf und Eingewöhnung in die Kita

It is a big, exciting change for all of the children and their parents: moving from kindergarten to school. We carefully and thoroughly prepare your child for this process in the Wichtel Academy day-care centres. This enables your child to start their first school year with eagerness and confidence.

We help preschool children to become successful “first-years” with these activities:

Project work on weekly tasks that prepare them for school
Themed excursions (e.g. at a bakery, at a radio station or a laboratory)
Age-appropriate, fun development of perception, vocabulary, spatial visualisation and numerical reasoning,
Promotion of gross and fine motor skills as well as memory and concentration skills
Visits to neighbouring primary schools, practising of the route to school and road safety education from the police

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Do you still have any questions about the subjects “Familiarisation phase in the day-care centre” or “Daily routine in the crèche and kindergarten”? Then please contact us. We’ll be happy to give you information and we look forward to hearing from you!