Baby signing – The Joseph Garcia way!

Nursery & Childminder Training

Information for Parents

One of the most common questions we get from parents in a Babysigners class is “I'm going back to work next month, what if my child care provider doesn't use signs”. It didn't take us long to work out that we needed to train nurseries and childminders to support the little baby signers coming to our classes.

We set about creating a comprehensive training programme for nursery staff which launched early in 2006, since then we have trained many nurseries throughout the UK .

If you would like to find a local nursery or childminder that can sign with your little one please click here.

Information for Nurseries and Child Minders

The Babysigners Nursery Training Programme (BNTP) is designed to train staff to support baby signing at work. And with more and more parents taking up signing, we are finding that there's a lot of demand for nurseries that can understand their little ones.

Once your nursery has qualified, we will list you on our register of approved nurseries and you can use our Babysigners logo on your advertising.

What's involved with the training

The BNTP includes full training for all members of staff. To get the Babysigners seal of approval at least 80% of staff need to be trained.

Before your training begins your local Babysigners teacher will spend time shadowing your staff so they can personalise our programme to your individual nursery's needs and routines.

As well as course notes for the classroom section, each member of staff trained will receive a copy of Joseph Garcia's Complete Guide to Baby Signing. This is the essential text book for your staff and parents alike.

Also, to show you how it all works in practise, your trainer will spend time with the children in a fun signing session, demonstrating how to incorporate signing into story and singing time.

Although your staff will be thoroughly briefed on all the most frequently asked questions, your trainer will continue to be available to offer advice on anything that parents may ask. And in terms of continuing support, we can help by training new staff. Your trainer will also be able to offer classes or workshops to parents of the children in your care.

Other benefits for nurseries

As well as providing support and reinforcement for signing babies, our Babysigners Nursery Training Programme has huge benefits for older children in the nursery too.

Reduces aggressive behaviour, especially hitting and biting
Serves as a language bridge for multi-lingual classrooms
Reduces noise levels in classrooms
Reinforces memory and creative skills
Helps develop language and literacy skills
Enables children with special needs to communicate supporting inclusion
Enhances child-caregiver relationships by increasing interactions
Increases teacher and staff job satisfaction

The training also highlights how baby signing supports the Early Years Foundation Stage..

If you are a nursery and would like us to come and train you please send an email to emma.finlay-smith@babysigners.co.uk and she will put you in touch with your local Babysigners teacher.