First day and saying goodbye
We recommend that you visit DayStar at least three times prior to starting. This prepares your child and provides an opportunity for them to see the routine, meet the teachers and hear all about the fun experiences he/she will have.
We suggest that you pop away for 30 to 45 minutes for the last visit. This helps build trust that you will return to the DayStar again. On your first day, a teacher will greet you and talk to you about your child’s needs, interests, sleeping and eating patterns.
A teacher will endeavour to call you throughout the day and update you on how your child is going. Please also feel free to call us at any time during the day to find out how your child is.
Parent Involvement
We operate an open door policy, where parents and families are welcome into DayStar at anytime. Parent participation sends a strong positive message to your child that you support them and are part of our childcare environment. We strive to ensure that you and your child are happy and feel welcomed at DayStar. A three-way relationship between parents, educators and your child exists in our setting and communication is vital to the success of this partnership.
Parent involvement extends the experiences that a child has in the classroom to real-world activities that happen in the home.
Staff
At Daystar we are committed to staffing the centre with skilled, professional, caring and professional educators. We employ fully qualified staff and also staff in training and staff participate in ongoing professional development.
The adult to child ratio is regulated by the Ministry of Education. The ratio of staff required to work with children is 1 to 10 for over 2 year olds. At Daystar, we provide a higher ratio of adults to children because we believe in providing quality care.
Food
There is now clear evidence that childhood nutrition has a lasting effect on many aspects of health. Children need nutritional and well-balanced diet.
We provide all lunch meals, sourced from Nutrifare. We also provide morning and afternoon tea, except on Fridays where we ask that you provide a FRUIT BOX with fruit and vegetables. This is a good preparation for school and in line with our Transition to School programme. It is important that any food allergies be advised to staff so they can be posted in the kitchen and Nutrifare can provide us with appropriate alternative dishes.
We ask that parents DO NOT put food in their child’s bag as there may be children who have allergies attending the centre.