Welcome to Term 1!
I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new families, as well as a “welcome back” to our returning families. It is so lovely to see you all again, safe and well!
It is an exciting start to the new year! As I am sure many of you will have noticed, we have a brand new reception office. We hope that this will make it much easier for you to access the amazing office team and for them to provide support. We are also expanding our two-year-old provision. We are in the middle of a project that has transformed the unused kitchen space and the old main office into a shiny new classroom! It is already looking fantastic, and we can’t wait to start ordering furniture and resources ready to welcome in more children. If you know of anyone who might be looking for a place for their two-year-old, please spread the word.
Mandy, Acting Head teacher
New Statutory Guidelines for Early Years
This year we are launching our new “Food and Healthy Eating” Policy. The government have given us new requirements to make sure we are working together to give children the best start to life.
Obviously, our amazing curriculum is already doing this educationally, but we are also now required to make sure we are meeting health needs too! We have started to put together some ideas about how to do this, but we need your help……..see below!
Our First Challenge!
We want children to bring water into Nursery in their bottles! We all know how important having drinks throughout the day is to keep hydrated and healthy! Water is cheap, easy to access and doesn’t contain sugar or sweeteners.
If you leave your child’s named bottle in school, we will happily fill it for them every day. It takes one job from you too! Way easier than finding it at the end of the day too!!
Parent Group
We really need your help!!!!
We would like to create a parent group who will help us with ideas and be honest about how we are doing! Lucy Hobbs, our Family Link worker, will be working with the group to get as many ideas from you as possible! The first project is to help develop our approach to the “Food and Healthy Eating” approach.
We want to know: what do you want to see?
What do you think will help?
What can we do as a Nursery to support you?
We promise it won’t be a massive commitment, just a termly meeting or so. It will be during the time your child is at Nursery to make it easier for you.
Please, please come and see me, Lucy or the office if you can help!
The Big Brush Club
Last year we worked with The Big Brush Club to enable children to brush their teeth every day at Nursery. The children in star/dust and Sun/Shine do this every day after lunch.
The Big Brush Club provides us with individual brushes and toothpaste so that the children can learn to do this all by themselves. It was a great success and another way for the children to keep healthy! Please sign a consent form in your child’s class.
Dates for your Diary
Wednesday 22nd October: INSET day
Friday 24th October: Last day of term
Monday 3rd November: Term 2 starts
Friday 19th December: End of term
Friday 20th December: End of term
Monday 5th: January: Term 3 starts
Wednesday 14th January: INSET day
We hold Parent Engagement days every other term and will let you have dates with as much notice as we can.
Please see the website for our other INSET dates.
Fruit, Glorious Fruit!
A charity called “Operation Christmas hamper” has chosen our school to receive a piece of fruit for every child every day! We are so lucky that Sun Room practitioner Nicky Powell volunteers with the charity that provides hampers for families at Christmas and has also provided Easter Eggs for our children for the last two years!
It’s great timing too! Just as we launch our Healthy Eating Project, we can provide lots of fantastic fruit for out children. It was great to see so many children leaving last Friday munching bananas. Yum! Whilst we are lucky enough to receive this fruity bounty, we will be providing children with a delicious and healthy snack every day!
Healthy Packed Lunches
As we progress through the year, we will be supporting you with lots of ideas to help with healthy packed lunches. It is said that a child’s tummy is the same size as their fist. This is the reason children often eat smaller meals or “graze”.
This can be helpful when planning a lunch box. You only need to provide a small manageable amount of food. And don’t forget all that lovely fruit the children eat during the day too!
Term 1 Curriculum
This term we will be focusing on making sure the children settle in and are “Happy at Nursery”. It can be a big change for some children, and we want them to build relationships with us and get to know their new environment. Lots of time will be spent on learning where to find things, us getting to know them and them getting to know us. We are also getting to know you the parents/carers too! Please make sure you talk to your child’s room leader or key worker if you have any worries at all, or just to share something about your child.
In the Reception area at the front of the school, there are lots of leaflets that provide more detail about our curriculum. Please help yourselves if you want to know more! We have lots of ideas for helping your child at home too!
Please the back car park is only for those who have a disability badge. Please see the office if you need one. Please also note, the car park is used at your own risk.