About us

‘Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care & Pre-school’ for Children is the only day care centre of this nature in the Hertfordshire County.

Our key focus is in the care, education and development of children aged 3 months to 5 years and upwards, with an international twist – learning a foreign language.

We welcome all children into our caring nursery, where every child is special and treated fairly by our highly qualified staff, with respect, love and with the utmost careful attention to their health and safety.

We can provide transport for your child if required.

Languages are integrated into our daily activities as well as having specific sessions in the foreign language. For those children where English is not their primary language, we also provide daily English lessons. All language tuition is provided by native and extremely well qualified teachers. Our aim is to develop in children, the ability to become bilingual by the time they are ready for Junior School.

We strive to establish an excellent provision of activities for all children that attend ‘Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery and Pre-school’ with games, activities and songs, to develop their full potential at their own pace.

Children of all ages can continue to develop their language skills by attending our ‘after school’ clubs or our ‘Saturday morning’ club.

Aim
We aim to make Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school a welcoming place where children settle quickly and easily because consideration has been given to the individual needs and circumstances of children and their families. We endeavour to make sure children feel happy, stimulated, secure and comfortable with staff. We also reassure parents to have confidence in both their children's well being and their role as active partners with us.

Methods

In order to help children settle comfortably in or setting we use the following procedure:

• Before a child starts to attend Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school, we use a variety of ways to provide his/her parents with information about the Spanish and English tuition. These include written information (including our prospectus and policies), displays about activities available within our Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school information days and evenings and individual meetings with parents.
  
  
• During the half-term before a child is enrolled, we provide opportunities for the child and his/her parents to visit Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school.
  
  
• We allocate a key person to each child and his/her family before she/he starts to attend; the key person welcomes and looks after the child and his/her parents at the child's first session and during the settling-in process.
  
  
• We may offer a home visit by the person who will be the child's key person, to ensure all relevant information about the child can be made known.
  
  
• We use pre-start visits and the first session at which a child attends to explain and complete with his/her parents the child's registration records.
  
  
• When a child starts to attend, we explain the process of settling-in with his/her parents and jointly decide on the best way to help the child to settle into Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school.
  
  
• We have an expectation that the parent, carer or close relative, will stay for most of the session during the first week, gradually taking time away from their child, increasing this as and when the child is able to cope.
  
  
• Younger children will take longer to settle in, as will children who have not previously spent time away from home. Children who have had a period of absence may also need their parent to be on hand to re-settle them.
  
  
• We judge a child to be settled when they have formed a relationship with their key person; for example the child looks for the key person when he/she arrives, goes to them for comfort, and seems pleased to be with them. The child is also familiar with where things are and is pleased to see other children and participate in activities.
  
  
• When parents leave, we ask them to say goodbye to their child and explain that they will be coming back, and when.
  
  
• We recognise that some children will settle more readily than others but that some children who appear to settle rapidly are not ready to be left. We expect that the parent will honour the commitment to stay for at least the first week, or possibly longer, until their child can stay happily without them.
  
  
• We do not believe that leaving a child to cry will help them to settle any quicker. We believe that a child's distress will prevent them from learning and gaining the best from setting.
  
  
• We reserve the right not to accept a child into Merrywoods Bilingual Day Care Nursery & Pre-school without a parent or carer if the child finds it distressing to be left. This is especially the case with very young children.
  
  
• Within the first four to six weeks of starting we discuss and work with the child's parents to create their child's record of achievement.