Frequently Asked Questions
What are your operating hours?
We are open from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
What age groups do you cater to?
We accept children from 6 months to 5 years old.
Do you provide meals and snacks?
Yes, we provide nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day.
Starting Nursery
Ok, I think I want to sign up. What do I do?
Great! We can’t wait for you to join our Domi Domingo family! The first thing you would need to do is complete a registration form online. Once you have done this the manager will email you a letter of confirmation detailing which sessions you have selected, your start date, the monthly cost of your sessions, and anything you need to bring to Nursery. There will also be details on the letter of settling in sessions and a home visit if needed. Our office manager will also input your details onto our invoicing system, and you will be invoiced the registration fee of £50, (not applicable for funded places).
When you attend your first settling in session we will introduce you to your child’s keyperson, and they will take the lead in the visit.
Can my child start tomorrow?
No. We need time to process your application, look at booking patterns, do the letter of confirmation, book settling in sessions and arrange staffing and a keyperson!
What about if my child is crying when I leave?
Please don’t worry! You can phone us anytime on 01132783104 and speak to your child’s room. We will also try to update the parent app as often as we can so you can see that your child is enjoying their time at Nursery.
I don’t want my child to play out if it is rainy or cold or if my child has a cold/cough. Is this ok?
At Domi Domingo we play out in all weathers. Research shows us that it is unhealthier for a child to be inside, even if they have a cold, cough or some other illness. This is true for all weathers. Fresh
air and being outside is the healthiest place for them. The only exception for this is if your child had a doctor’s note stating that they needed to be kept inside. In addition to this children at our Nursery get to explore different learning environments and learning opportunities outside that the different weather offers us.
Can I give it a go and see if I like it?
We would prefer you not to do this. We believe that you have to be positive about Nursery right from the start so that your child can see this as a positive too. If you are not sure about your child attending, your child will pick up on that uncertainty too. Additionally, there is a lot of admin work and time from staff spent settling in your child which would also be wasted.
Can you please tell me about the settling in process?
It is important that every child has at least three settling in sessions. At Domi Domingo, we do a very calm settling in process, based around your needs and more importantly, that of your child. For our younger children this starts with a home visit. The manager or the deputy and your child’s keyperson will come and visit you at home and begin to develop those initial relationships with your child. Following this we ask for you to visit Nursery with your child, and for both of you to stay for an hour. This give you chance to show your child around their new room and show them that you are comfortable with the setting. We then ask on the second visit that you bring your child and leave them for a short amount of
time. Your keyperson will be able to advise on this. We gradually build the time up in the following visits until your child is in for a full session. These visits will include at least one mealtime and a sleep time if they need a sleep during the day. We don’t have a set number of settling in sessions and will do as many as needed. It is important to us that your child is fully settled and that you are comfortable leaving them!
What if my child prefers another member of staff to their keyperson?
All of our staff are highly trained and we offer continuous professional development to them. We expect all of our staff to be friendly towards our families and children, however children sometimes naturally gravitate towards another member of staff. If this is obvious, where we can we will change keyperson for your child. This is not always able to happen straight away – we have to bear in mind the number of key children that member of staff has already.
General Admin
Can I pay weekly?
We prefer you to pay monthly and we always ask for a month in advance. In extreme circumstances we can allow weekly payments, however this must be in agreement with Emma J, (Office Manager).
When are you closed?
We are closed every bank holiday and the week in between Christmas and New Year. Y. We don’t close early for staff training sessions. These happen after opening hours.
What about if I recommend a friend?
We recognise word of mouth as our most important way of advertising and we reward you if you do recommend a friend and they sign up. After your friend pays their first month’s fees, you will receive either a £20 gift card or 10% off your next month’s fees. You can recommend as many
friends as you want!
We love your Nursery! Who should we tell?
Everybody!!!! We love to hear positive feedback from visitors who come in to see us. We would also ask that if a member of staff has done something well or made a difference to you, please tell them! The management team also love to receive emails from parents praising staff or telling us about something that you have been really pleased about. We then also share with our staff. The management team are also available should you have any other questions or comments. Sometimes things don’t always go to plan or you may be concerned about something. Please pop in and see us or drop us an email so we can sort this out for you.
Do you charge for bank holidays and if I go on holiday?
Yes we do. Our staff are paid for the bank holidays and are on contracts. We cannot reduce their hours should you be on holiday so do charge if you take a child out of Nursery.
Do you do term time only places?
We do offer term time only places, however we feel that stretched provision, (all year-round places) are more beneficial for your children. This means that your child will not have nearly six weeks off in the school holidays in the Summer. This can be traumatic for children as they lose their routine. If you do require a term time only place, please let us know on registration.
How can I get more involved with Nursery life?
We encourage you to be as involved as you can! There are lots of opportunities to take part in different events throughout the year. You may also want to consider joining our PODDS group, (Parent’s of Domi Domingo Support group.) Our PODDS are parents whose children attend our setting, who meet up on a termly basis and discuss and offer support to various parts of Nursery life.
Additional Support
My child/family are EAL. How can you help?
Lots of children who attend our setting our EAL. This is what makes are setting so diverse and special! We have a number of staff who can speak different languages, ranging from Arabic to Spanish, so we will communicate with you in your home language initially if we can. We also have a ‘survival sheet’ in which we will ask you to write key words in your home language that we may need to use with your child in the setting.
Children pick up English very quickly and we will support them in doing this through using picture clues, sign language and simple sentences/words in our setting.
I think my child has additional needs. How can you help?
We firmly believe that every child at Domi Domingo is special, and we want to encourage every child to be the best they can at anything they set out to do. This is an important ethos and message that we believe children should believe in. The first thing that we would do is get to know your child. We would listen to your concerns and note these. If your child already has outside
agencies working with them, we will liaise with them and look at future support from Nursery. If your child hasn’t been diagnosed or has no outside agencies working with them, we would have very open and honest conversations with you – it might mean a referral to an outside agency should we have any concerns. This is called ‘Early Intervention.’ The benefit of this is that if your child needs a bit more support in a certain area, for example in their speech and language, research shows that the earlier we get that support the better for your child in the long run. We would then continue to work alongside the professionals and follow their advice. This might mean different teams coming into Nursery to observe and work with your child. We will always let you know when this is happening and share all information with you. We would ask that you do the same.
Sometimes we will put things in place in Nursery to support your child and judge that at that moment in time, no referral to an outside agency is needed. We would ask that you support us in any strategies that we have in place so there is consistency at home and at Nursery.
