The Key Person Approach

How children feel about their key person:

• I know there is someone at nursery who knows and cares about me.

• I feel happy, safe and am ready to learn.
• I want to explore and investigate, knowing someone is there if things get tricky.
• I will try new things even if I’m not sure about them because I know it’s ok to make mistakes.
• I feel that I belong in nursery and have people and things around me that I care about.
• I know there is someone at nursery who will greet me when I arrive and make me feel welcome and secure.
• If something happens during my day that upsets me, I know I have someone who will comfort me and know how to make me feel better.

Why our families think having a key person is important: 

“Leaving my child for the first time, I was comforted by the fact that I knew he had made a bond with you. Having that one key person was vital for him to settle at the start of each day.”

“I spoke about you so much before he started that he knew you were his ‘go to’ person and he struck a bond with you right away.”

“I felt that you knew how to move him past being upset in the mornings quickly and he knew that if he had any problem that he could tell you.”

“It kind of felt like at nursery, you were taking the place of me at home and I know he really valued that.”

“The best part about having a key person is that someone knows your own child and if you have any concerns or want to know how their day was, we can go straight to them.”

“As a parent it’s important to know our child is valued and taken care of as we would do at home. For some parents this is the first time they are away from their child and communication is key. For the child to have a safe place and someone they can approach for any reason.”