If you have landed on our website on the hunt for childcare for your child, you may well have noticed that we don’t offer half-day sessions, and have a minimum of two-day booking patterns. This blog post is all about telling you why!
Firstly, some context…
As part of our ongoing ambition to make Muddy Boots the best it possibly can be for children, families, and teams, we spent a lot of time researching and considering how to make the week-to-week routine work better. What we discovered was that half-day sessions really didn’t work for our team, the rooms, or the children who call Muddy Boots home. Here’s why:
With regards to half days, we found that lunchtime pick-up/drop-offs and handovers were really disruptive to the children, particularly those who are staying for a full day as they do not get the full attention of the practitioners during this time. As this can often be a busy time of day anyway with lunch, sleeps, nappies, etc., we found that the added stress of children coming and going just wasn’t the best. With all staff and children attending the full day, it’s more likely that the team who have been with the children in the morning will also be there to hand over at the very end of the day, meaning more streamlined communication and a higher quality of care.
Next up, two-day booking patterns. For children, attending for a minimum of two days offers a greater opportunity to settle into and enjoy nursery life. Our overwhelming experience is that children who do less than two days take longer to settle than other children. Two days in the nursery means far more social contact with their friends, time with our team, and more space to explore their unique interests, as well as being able to really develop learning opportunities that help their development.
Finally, having only full days, and a minimum of two-day booking patterns allows us to ensure a lower variation in attendance across days and sessions, spreading attendance equally over the week so that we don’t have extremely busy periods and quieter periods. We believe the more consistent the level of attendance, the better the staff can prepare and plan for the day, and children get an overall higher level of care.
So there you have it, three reasons why we don’t offer half-day sessions or one-day booking patterns!