Parent Handbook

We actively seek to provide an inclusive environment that will enhance children’s abilities and develop the whole child.

You can be confident that your child will be safe and well cared for in the Carnaby's Club Crèche while you enjoy the ARC.

We are open Monday to Friday from 8:45am to 1:15pm and Saturdays from 8am to 12:30pm, for children from 8 weeks to 5 years.
During school holidays, children up to the age of 11 are also welcome.

We are an unlicensed venue under the Children Services Crèche Regulation WA 2006. This service is not an approved education and care service and does not require a provider and service approval.

To enable us to provide the best possible service to parents/guardians and to meet unlicensed crèche regulation requirements, parents/guardians must maintain responsibility for their child and are required to:
 

• Remain in the centre at all times and be able to attend to child’s needs if required.
• Immediately return to the crèche if requested by centre staff.
• Complete all required paperwork including enrolment forms and keep information updated.
• Sign child in and out of the crèche for every attended session.

• Inform crèche staff if their child has any allergies or medical conditions.
• Inform staff if the child has or has had an illness.

• Inform crèche staff if their child requires food/bottle/sleep at a particular time.

Your child’s booking must not exceed two hours and attendance can be up to a maximum of 12 hours per week.

We have wonderful staff members in our crèche team who have a wealth experience in the care of children. Our staff are enthusiastic and energetic and actively develop and deliver educational, fun and engaging activities for our crèche attendees. We make fun a priority, whilst ensuring quality care and supervision of all children at Cockburn ARC Crèche.

You must enrol online before your child can attend their first session. You must enrol online for every child separately.

Enrol online

Allergies

Please let us know if your child has any allergy and  the severity of your child’s allergy,symptoms and the emergency procedures to be followed in case of an allergic reaction. Please indicate this on your enrolment and each time you sign in.

If any particulars on the enrolment form change, such as address or phone numbers, crèche staff must be advised immediately and enrolment details will be updated. Information recorded on these forms is confidential.

All bookings are easily made online using any device, anywhere and anytime.

Please only book your child into one session and timeslot per day.
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Bookings for any additional children in the family must be made separately.

Creche bookings


Once you have made your booking, you will receive a confirmation email and all changes, including rescheduling and cancellations, can made using this email. We regret that reception staff are unable to make any bookings or alterations on your behalf.

All bookings must be made online prior to attendance and can be made up to two weeks in advance. Bookings can be taken up to 12 hours prior to your desired day/time and a minimum of 12 hours’ notice is required for all cancellations to avoid an attendance charge. All bookings are for a maximum of two hours per day and a late fee of an additional attendance will be charged if time limits are exceeded.

Your booking can easily be rescheduled or cancelled also using our online system. All bookings allow your child to stay for up to two hours from the booked start time, however there is no minimum time restriction and you may collect your child at any time within the booked period.

Crèche visit passes are the only form of payment which can be used for your crèche bookings. Payment per child, per session must be made upon arrival at crèche reception, before entering the crèche, using pre purchased crèche passes. More than one child per family can be paid for using your visit passes.

Please be advised that while we will endeavour to accommodate your crèche needs, there is a risk you could be turned away without a booking as we must ensure the right staff to children ratios. So please book early to avoid missing out. 

If you have made a booking but can't attend, you must let us know within 30 minutes of your booking start time. Otherwise as you are taking a place that someone else could have used, we will remove one of your visit passes.

Your child must be signed in when they arrive and signed out when they leave. The parents/guardian signing in must be over the age of 18 years. A daily attendance sheet will can be found at the front of crèche reception. Please use this to sign your child in and out of crèche.

Persons collecting the child must be authorised on the enrolment form, as required by the Commonwealth Government. In the event that someone other than the person who signed the child in will come to collect the child, the parent/guardian must have notified staff prior and completed the necessary paperwork. In the case of emergency where the parent/guardian cannot be contacted, the names and contact numbers on the enrolment form may be used and that person may collect the child. Any changes must be advised in writing to the crèche by the custodial parent.

If there is an order by court, magistrate or an officer of the Police Force that exempts a particular individual having access and/or communication with the child, a copy of the order must be provided to the Children’s Services Team Leader to protect the safety and care of their child.

The cost per session, per day is $4.:50, for a maximum of two hours.

To assist with correct staffing ratios, all bookings, modifications and cancellations must be made online using our booking system.  Bookings can be made up to 12 hours prior to attendance but no more than 14 days in advance. We can take ‘walk in’ bookings provided there is space available and the child is enrolled.

If a cancellation is made more than 24 hours in advance, you will be able to move your booking to another day or time with no extra charge. Cancellations less than 24 hours in advance or ‘no shows’ cannot be transferred or refunded. Consistent ‘no shows’ will result in you being excluded from the crèche booking system.

Please be aware that leaving your child in the crèche over the two hour maximum affects our adult to child ratios. We ask your cooperation with these strict limits.

Parents/guardians who pick up their child after their allotted two hour time slot, or after the crèche’s operational closing hour, will be charged an additional payment from their visit pass. Payment of this late fee must be made before the child can attend crèche another time.

In the case of late collection, the parent/guardian will be asked to come and collect the child. If the parent does not come or cannot be found, the crèche staff will then call the emergency contact person authorised on the enrolment form.

To help your child enjoy our crèche even more, please make sure they come to crèche in appropriate, comfortable clothing and footwear and that you bring the following, clearly labelled with the child’s name;
 

• A bag for belongings
• Spare clothing and underwear
• Disposable nappies and wet wipes
• Hat and sunscreen. Please note we have a No Hat, No Play policy at Carnaby Crèche. Please apply sunscreen prior to attendance as, due to potential allergies in the crèche,  staff are unable to do so.
• Drink bottle, water only.
• Milk bottle and dummy, if required
• Pram, if your child requires a sleep
• Snacks - preferably fruit, vegetables, crackers and cheese (please see Allergies, Medication and Illness section)

We advise that personal toys be left at home as we are unable to take responsibility for lost items.

Carnaby Crèche has a Nut Free Policy. Peanut butter, Nutella, nut food bars and any other products containing nuts are strictly not permitted in the crèche. Popcorn, lollies or chocolate are also not permitted in the crèche.

Epipens and asthma puffers/spacers are the only medication that will be administered by staff in an emergency.  Please give crèche staff your child’s Epipen or puffer each time you visit the crèche along with their treatment plan. In the case of an allergic reaction or asthma attack, crèche staff will start emergency procedures and page the parent.

Please do not bring your child to crèche if they are unwell; sick children require the comfort of one-to-one care, which is difficult to provide in crèche. If your child falls ill while in Carnaby Crèche, you will be contacted immediately.

Crèche Regulation WA 2006 and Carnaby Club Crèche do not permit children with an infectious illness to attend the crèche. A child with an infectious illness/condition jeopardises the health of other children, crèche staff and other families.

Such medical conditions requiring exclusion include:

• measles
• mumps
• chicken pox
• diarrhoea
• vomiting
• head lice
• conjunctivitis
• ring worm/tinea
• gastroenteritis
• hand, foot and mouth

A medical certificate may be required before a child can return to the crèche after an infectious illness. The decision to exclude or re-admit a child who has been ill will be the responsibility of the crèche staff.

We recommend immunising your child against preventable diseases to minimise the risk of contracting an infection. Parents are advised that non immunised children will be excluded from care in the event of an infection outbreak. If there has been a confirmed case of such disease, notification will be clearly displayed on the front door.

Under Health Department direction, a child not immunised against measles (MMR vaccination at 12 months) must be excluded from a child care setting for two weeks once any case of measles is diagnosed. A case of measles must be notified to the local authority.

In the event of any accident or illness where ambulance transport, medical or hospital treatment is required, the parent/guardian will be required to pay any associated expenses.

We know it can be a challenging, often daunting, experience being separated from your child and every effort will be made by crèche staff to make the settling in experience as positive as possible. To assist with this transition, our Crèche staff will always provide a safe, secure and clean environment that welcomes your child and your family.

Whenever possible, your child should be introduced to the crèche gradually by using short visits before they are due to stay longer in the crèche. This will help them become familiar with the crèche and our staff and gain confidence in staying with us.
When your child first starts at Carnaby Club Crèche, we encourage you to speak to our crèche staff about specific routines, such as sleep patterns and toilet training and any strategies you may use to settle your child, especially for babies.

We encourage parents/guardians to always calmly say goodbye to their child and tell their child where they are going and when they will return. Please do not leave without notifying your child and, as hard as it may be, ignore protests from them.

From time to time accidents can occur during your child’s time in crèche. We will note any incident and inform parents when they collect their child. All of our crèche staff are first aid trained and any major incidents will be attended to immediately and the parent will be contacted immediately.

A record will be kept of all accidents, injuries and illnesses to assist in any insurance claims or the outbreak of contagious diseases.

The Carnaby Club Crèche provides a secure, loving and stimulating environment which encourages children to co-operate enhances their self-esteem and encourages their ability to interact with others.  Acceptable behaviour is promoted and any recriminations are kept to a minimum.  Disciplining children in the Crèche is done by positively reinforcing desirable behaviour and redirecting inappropriate actions. All crèche staff will model desirable behaviour and praise children who are exhibiting good behaviour.

If a child does not respond to redirection of behaviour, crèche staff will gently take the child to a quiet place in the crèche to settle them and, depending on their age, prompt them to use the time to reflect. Parents will be notified of the inappropriate behaviour whilst in the crèche and any action taken.

If your child’s negative behaviour continues, cannot be modified within a reasonable time and staff have justifiable concerns for your child and other children in the crèche, the Crèche Supervisor will discuss the action that may need to be taken with the Children’s Services Team Leader.

Unacceptable Incidents;

• Repeated physical violence, such as hitting, biting, kicking and throwing toys at others.
• Repeated verbal abuse such as name calling, swearing and foul language.

Visitors cannot access the crèche unless they have permission from the parents and/or crèche staff. If not authorised on the enrolment form, other family members and friends may only visit the crèche if they are present with the child’s parent or legal guardian.

On rare occasions the crèche may offer student placements to high school students or students training in Early Childhood or Child Care, who wish to gain work experience as part of their school, TAFE or university program. This placement will only take place if the school, TAFE or university has initiated the placement. If a student is present in the crèche, a note introducing them will be put in clear view for parents/guardians to see. All students will only be accepted after an interview with the Children’s Services Team Leader.

In the event of an emergency, crèche staff will remove all children from the crèche following our evacuation procedure to the safety check point. In the event of an emergency evacuation, please do not go to the crèche to collect your child. Crèche staff are trained in emergency response and you will be able to meet your child at the muster point at the front entrance to The ARC.

Please ensure you label all of your child’s belongings to assist with reducing lost property. Items which are left at crèche will be kept in a box at crèche reception for you to retrieve next time you visit. Please note that items cannot be kept longer than two weeks.

What happens to information collected by Carnaby Club Crèche?

The ARC is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information that is supplied to the centre in the course of carrying out its stated functions. The information collected by The ARC is kept in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2000 and the Health Records Act 2001. All of the information collected is stored securely, remains confidential, and only accessed by the appropriate crèche staff members.

Parents are encouraged to discuss any areas of concern with our friendly, approachable crèche staff or the Children’s Services Team Leader. All discussions will be kept confidential. Please also come to us with any questions you may have, we are always happy to help where we can!

Above all, enjoy The ARC while your child has fun with us in Carnaby Club Crèche!