Starting the new year TP style

In the words of Les Mis..."At the end of the year it's another year over!" (Or something like that!).  Which also means, the beginning of something new and a little unknown.

Transitions for children who are entering your service occur throughout the year, but your biggest intake will naturally be at the start of Term 1.  Children are practicing their Early Childhood experiences that will take them out of the family / familiar home, and into a new and exciting - and sometimes daunting - space.  To assist in this period of learning new faces, routines, expectations, and generally where the child 'fits', it's so valuable to have an emphasis on creating visual supports and how best to communicate.  The Inventory of Practices, whilst usually a reflection tool, may also provide you with some excellent points to consider prior to the year starting.

Visuals
On the first visit to the service, capturing a photo of the child, individual family members and even a cuddly, will mean you have a beautiful resource to reprint and reuse for an inordinate amount of experiences that will help bring familiarity to the otherwise unknown.  A beautiful tracking of growth throughout the year can also start with this first image.  If it's possible to reciprocate with photos of you and the new environment to take home, the family then have a wonderful resource to include in their bedtime stories, home routine and expectations for the new year.  Your encouragement for this would be helpful for families who may not have used social stories or visuals before.

Relationships
During the relationship building with the family, determining areas of interest from the get-go will provide a great place to start with your programing, and another area to snap for your choice board/routine board and show that you are responding. Photos, drawings or a favourite story from home to share will also bring home to the service.

Routine Explaining a routine even in the initial visit will provide another discussion point for families with their child, and another way to provide consistency and expectations for the child. 
Taking time to explain your routine and where the routine can be located is a great starting point for your relationship with families and a good conversation starter into family 'routine' - particularly if you think there may be some areas to follow up in the future.  "When you are getting ready to go shopping and Billy needs to come, what do you do that works well?", is an example of a positive question that gives you a lot of information about a family and child regarding transitions, environment, communication, attachment - consider the possible answers and how that may influence your approach to helping Billy settle into the new environment.

Communication Determining how future discussions can take place beyond the first visit may also give you the confidence to review a child's development should you require a further parent/educator discussion.   Suggesting a three monthly short discussion following every child starting at a service gives you an immediate date to follow up any areas you would like to explore without the need for 'that chat' being thrown in as confronting or awkward.  Other preferred communication should be determined at the beginning eg. face to face,  phone calls, emails, texts, website etc to also have the most optimal impact of information sharing.

Expectations may be drawn out with the children in the first days.  These will be a very useful element of the service experience to share with families.  Consider a small number and use them for your directed praise when achieved.  Broad expectations that cover all areas of development are important - consider respect, safety and the social element of team play / consideration of others.  Make sure it resonates with you and you can explain each area.