· Our feelings on biting
incidents at Winyates Playgroup, through our 35 years of experience, is of open
mindedness and stage of development,
meaning most children between the
ages of 0-5 will experience either being bitten or biting another child!
· Although this can be a
downside to group care, every honest playgroup/ nursery in the country will
have experienced these incidents at some time. These incidents can also be
beneficial to the children involved, by understanding about the feelings of each
other.
· Every incident of
biting is individual, as so is every child, no situation can be assumed and
many reasons can be behind these incidents.
· IT CAN ONLY BE AVOIDED
COMPLETELY BY ISOLATING CHILDREN, BOTH AN EXPENSIVE AND ANTI-SOCIAL OPTION!
· Every care is taken to
avoid biting as it isn’t a social skill, we encourage and praise :
·
Sharing
·
Friendship
·
Caring
·
Kindness
·
Taking
turns
· The needs of the biter
/bitten and surrounding children of the situation will be dealt with calmly and
firmly by the nearest member of staff.
· In any incident the
bitten child is comforted and dealt with together with the child who bit, to
let them witness the hurt they have applied to another.
· Both sets of
parent/guardian will be informed by a member of staff of the incident that day
and accident sheet to be signed by the bitten Childs parent/carer.
Parents/carers will be kept informed if the incidents reoccur at anytime.
· Winyates playgroup is
positive with helping children through this stage of development, we have found
that through stories and songs enriched with the awareness of feelings e.g.
Crying, hurting, scared, encourages the understanding of both sides of the
incident.
· If in any case this
didn’t resolve the matter with the help of parental guidance and support
outside, help would be sought through our improvement adviser for further
advice and guidance.
This
policy was originally adopted at a meeting of Winyates Playgroup
Pre-school
19/05/11
Held on
(date)
Julie Skipp
Signed
on behalf of the pre-school