Do's and Don’ts (Parent handout)

1. Initial Days
Do’s:	During the child's first days at school, we need to settle in them comfortably without disturbing other children. Hence we take the child in for shortened duration of 1 hour to start with and increase it to full extent gradually over a period of 2 weeks. The time taken depends on the child, and will vary from child to child. We initially introduce activities to the child that he / she is most comfortable with which will include art, music, sand play and outdoor activities which will help them settle faster. We require your help in ensuring the child settles in the school as soon as possible.
Don’ts:	Do not linger after leaving the child in the school as they get disturbed knowing you are around. Please do not have too many goodbyes while dropping the child which may disturb the child. A smiling and reassuring bye and see you later would be best for the child.
2. Drop off and Pick up:
Do’s:	Drop off and pick up is a very important part of child's day at school, therefore it is necessary to ensure that your child is handed over to the concerned staff. You may leave after telling a goodbye to your child and reassuring that you will be back to receive. Children need to know that you are seeing them off or receiving them properly. While picking up, the children are excited at seeing you again, please ensure you greet them affectionately, and not disinterestedly. The parents/guardian need to show their ID card when they come to pick up their children for security reasons. Escorts without guardian ID cards will have to show a permission letter from the parent and the parents need to inform the school management about the temporary escort arrangement for pick-up with foolproof & secret personal identification mechanism such as One Time Password code from the mobile number recorded in the ID card etc., in advance. Without which the child will not be handed over.
Don’ts:	Please ensure that you are not speaking on the mobile and leave the child at the gate and walk off. At the same time, do not linger saying 3-4 rounds of goodbyes. We request parents not to chat/ talk in very loud voices outside the school premises when you come to pick up or drop your child. The teachers will escort the child, help them with their footwear and hand them over to you.
3. Food:
Do’s:	Parents should provide a packed snack / lunch. Please ensure that you send healthy snacks to school. We would strongly encourage healthy food like chappatis, fresh fruits, dosa, upma, sandwiches etc. Also make sure to cut it into small pieces so that the child can manage by themselves. Quantity of the food should be optimum according to the intake of the child. Aqua Guard water is provided in the school. If you are particular, please do send water in water bottles and we will ensure your child is fed the same and not the water in the school.
Don’ts:	Food like chips, fizzy drinks, Maggi etc. are not allowed. Sharing of food among the children is generally not encouraged as each child has a different food intake and health that may lead to consequences such as allergies. No junk food will be allowed. We would strongly encourage healthy food like chappatis, fresh fruits, dosa, upma, sandwiches etc. Also make sure to cut it into small pieces so that the child can manage by themselves.
4. Attire:
Do’s:	Please ensure that you send your children in loose fitting and comfortable clothes and easy to wear shoes. We encourage and teach the children to be independent and perform all their activities themselves. Please send two changes of dress which we will keep in the school for emergencies. Please replace the soiled clothes when we send them back to you the next day. The parents have to make sure that all the belongings of the child such as bags, water bottles etc. should be labelled with the child's name so that it does not get misplaced.
Don’ts:	It would be a huge deterrent to the confidence of the child if you attire them in clothes and footwear that are not easy to handle by themselves.
5. Illness:
Do’s:	If your child’s illness is long term we could administer medicine in school based on your written instructions. If in case the child is unable to come to the school due to illness kindly inform the school about this. If there is a situation of long leave in case of emergency, a medical report should be submitted to the school. We may not wait for the parents to administer any necessary first aid treatments.
Don’ts:	Please do not send him/her to school, if your child has a temperature, is sick or has diarrhea, contagious illnesses like viral fever, typhoid etc.
6. Toilet Training:
Do’s:	Most children are reasonably toilet trained by the age of 2, however if there is any challenge, we will do our bit to ensure that they get trained. But we do expect parents to take primary responsibility to ensure that their child is toilet trained.
Don’ts:	We would prefer not to have the child diapered in school unless it is a necessity due to medical/other reasons.
7. Birthday, Festivals and Celebrations:
Do’s:	Birthday is a very special day for both parents and children, we encourage parents to celebrate their child's birthday only with a fixed appointment in our school premises. We also encourage the parents to distribute child safe stationary objects, plant saplings or any other eco-friendly, better India themes and artifacts instead of sweets or chocolates as we need to respect the fact that children are prone to food allergies. Festivals call for celebrations. As it is a part of their cultural experience, we encourage children to experience various forms of celebrations without hurting any religious or other sentiments. We will be having celebrations as part of our routines details of which will be communicated in advance to you.
Don’ts:	We don’t encourage elaborate celebrations in school as it inculcates disparage expectation among the children and creates avenues for burdening other ones.
8. Visitors / Observation:
Do’s:	We would like parents to visit our school and watch their children at work at least 2-3 times a year. This helps you understand our methods of work. It is important that the child have a connected network between his parents and school in order to minimize any conflicts. There are rules to be observed in the environment and it is important to adhere to them to avoid disturbing the children. We will be providing CCTV access for parents to observe their children at work in the natural school environment.
Don’ts:	Please do not disturb the school by calling each time you see anything that you feel uncomfortable with. There will always be trained people supervising the child's work and ensuring the child is safe and secure. Constant interruptions will not help us in our cause.
9. School's property:
Do’s:	If the child carries any material belonging to the school environment the parents need to return it back to the school. Children often do this as they are attracted to the materials. It is natural and not by any means an offence. We request parents to check the children’s bags and pockets regularly and return any material that they may find with the child.
Don’ts:	No play materials are allowed from home in the school environment.

Injury / Accidents:

In case of any injury, we will be administering first aid to the children or in some cases going to the nearest doctor. We may not always wait for the parents to administer any necessary first aid treatment.

Field Trips:

Field trips are a popular activity for all children. Since they love to explore new places with their friends such activities are encouraged with good planning to ensure a successful trip. Field trips are done to places like Museum, National parks, zoo etc. Necessary measures will be taken by the school while conducting these activities. Please ensure that you send the children with their full uniform for field trips including their bag.

Assessment:

Assessment in early years is a continuous process. Therefore, we need to have a system that constantly checks on the child's progress because development takes place so rapidly at this stage. We have a system which helps us keep updates and records about your child more efficiently. We ensure that the parents are informed about the child's progress and development at regular intervals.

Teachers:

Our staff is trained to ensure that our objectives for each child are met in a caring and warm way. They are trained to facilitate learning, observe, record, and evaluate on a daily basis. We have a healthy student - teacher ratio to ensure that every child's needs are met. Materials presentation will be given by teachers to the child individually for their overall holistic development. Each material has a specific objective for the development of the child. All the activities will take place in presence of an adult in charge.

Emergency Procedure:

In case of emergencies like sickness, strike, shut-down of the city parents will be informed through phone/text. However, in case parents fail to respond, the emergency contact details given in the admission form will be used.

Discipline:

Our curriculum and methodology runs on this wheel. Both the parents and the child have to be in proper discipline so that we achieve our goal and at the same time maintain the decorum of the school. We in turn will be as disciplined because we are the role models for the children at our school and will try to set the best example for them.

Holidays:

We work from Monday to Friday. We will be giving you a calendar with the annual holidays in the beginning of the year. Please try to plan your vacation in line with this so that the child does not miss school days. Please ensure you call and inform us if the child is not coming to school. If there is a sudden declared holiday/ Bandh the parents need to confirm this from the school before you consider it as a holiday. Please make it a habit to check the child's diary on daily basis and feel free to share with staff, information about their child's strengths, weakness, area of interests etc.

Safety in the Centre:

The following precautions will be followed for the safety of all children at all times:

Doors, gates and latches will be kept close all times.

Smoking is not allowed in and around the school premises.

Communication with Parents:

Communication will be maintained on a regular basis by the teacher through the school diary. The parents can use the same for any clarifications. Emails are generally sent by the management of the school to inform important events, holidays or any emergencies. Phone calls will be generally made in case of medical emergencies or clarifications. We will organise parent-teacher meetings.

If you have further questions or need more information, do not hesitate to call us.

Home Environment:

To aid us in the overall development of the child, we request you to follow a few things in the house.

One of the fundamental personality aspects we work on in the curriculum is to build the independence in the child to do their own things. Given this, we would encourage parents to allow the child to do their own things in the house (like pouring water into a glass, drinking water, feeding themselves etc.). It would be helpful if the items which the children use regularly in the house are kept at child level so that they can do things on their own (for e.g., having a small step stool next to the wash basin for the child to climb and clean their hands).

Involve the child in the day to day activities in the house as they enjoy doing / helping things

Try to be role models yourselves for everything you do in the house before asking the child to follow the same (like ensuring you remove your slippers and keep it properly in the shoe stand before asking the child to do the same).

Ensure you follow routines in the house. Children love routines and when routines are not maintained, they tend to be cranky and disoriented. Please ensure sleep timings, food timings, play timings are maintained as consistently as possible so that the child knows what to expect.

Most importantly, please reduce exposure to technology as this is fairly detrimental to a young child’s development. Instant gratification and expertise on a tablet / laptop / mobile is not very useful in the long run. These are skills that children pick up very fast at 6+ also, and there is no need to introduce them to it at a very early stage. Limited amount of television (preferably songs, music CD’s) is probably the most we should expose the child to.

Language development is followed in a very structured manner using phonetics. Please avoid teaching ABC, or “A for Apple” kind of programs at home. We do encourage a lot of reading to the child and story-telling by the parents which will also help you bond much better with the child.

WE WISH YOU AND YOUR CHILD AN ENJOYABLE AND HAPPY INVOLVEMENT

WE CHERISH OUR CHILDREN'S SENSE OF WONDER AND CURIOSITY, AND EAGERNESS TO LEARN

EXCELLENCE IS AN ATTITUDE AND NOT A SKILL