News
March/April 2011
New Friends
A big welcome all our new friends, we hope you are very happy with us
Welcome back
We are very pleased to welcome Lucy Dant back from Maternity Leave at the end of April
Topics
Mini eggs - During March and April the babies will be celebrating St David's day by making flags and Daffodils, and St Patricks day by making Shamrocks and flags. For Easter we will be creating chicks, lambs, bunnies and Easter eggs and then finishing with St Georges day making Flags and Roses.
Caterpillars - We have a new message book in Caterpillars, if you want to let us know something like a change to medication or if your little one has had a bad night then jot it down for us, Please don't write anything Private and Confidential such as a password of someone collecting your child, make sure you inform a member of the team.
During March and April we are going to be developing your little ones mark making skills using blocks, sponges, stamps and lots of different colours. We will be painting flags, cards and flowers. As the weather is improving we are going to be using the garden to its full potential so please ensure your child has shoes and coats.
We are going to introduce more cooking with the children especially now we have a new play kitchen so we will be keeping our eye out for the next Jamie Oliver!
A last quick note please can you name your child's dummy as many of the children have the same one.
Cocoons - we are going to be very busy over the next few months learning about circles, we will be drawing them on paper and in the sand tray, painting them and sticking with circles. We are also going to be looking at the parts of the body and making planets with paper mache so please bring in any old newspapers. We will be celebrating St David's day and St Patrick's Day by face painting and making flags. The children will be making special surprises for their mummy ready for mother's day (Shhh it's a secret). For Easter we are going to be growing cress, making bunnies, Easter eggs and more paper mache!! Then to finish off as it is spring we will be looking at baby animals
Butterflies - We would like to ask all parents to bring in any unwanted newspapers as we are going to be using them during our creative time.
We are going to be creating a family board so please could you bring in or email over a family photo for us to display.
We will also be introducing an alphabet board, each child is going to be allocated a letter and we would like them to take pictures of and find things that begin with that letter and bring them in for our display.
We are going to be growing plants, shape painting, making a display of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" looking at circles, 1, Monday, January and A Also as a progression the children who can phonically spell their first names are going to be introduced to surnames.
Dates for your diary
Tuesday 1st March is St David's day the patron saint of Wales, come in dressed in green and red
Shrove Tuesday 8th march - we will be having pancakes for pudding
17th March St Patricks day the patron saint of Ireland, come in wearing green, white and gold
Friday 1st April mother's day tea party starting at 3.30pm
Thursday 21st April - Easter chick parade, it's time for mums, dads and children to get creative again, dress your little one as an Easter chick ready for our parade
Shareen is taking a well-deserved break and returning home to Malaysia for 3 weeks in April, we will all really miss her, but she will be back before we know it.
Birthdays
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to all the children who have birthdays over March and April
Congratulations
Huge congratulations to Marzena Sosna (cocoons) who is expecting her 1st baby with husband Bartek in July.
Updates
Vouchers
It's that time of year again when Sainsbury's and Tesco's give vouchers for Schools and Nurseries, this year we are collecting again and hope to beat the amazing figure of last year and collect 5000 Sainsbury's vouchers and 10,000 Tesco vouchers in order to get some fantastic new resources for your children to help them on their learning journey. There will be 2 collection boxes in the foyer for all the vouchers.
New ideas board
Please have a look in the foyer at the notice boards the one directly in front of you as you walk in now has a new idea every few weeks on things you can do with your children at home to help support their development.
Recommend a friend
If you recommend Playtime nursery to a friend or colleague and they register their child at Playtime before the end of May 2011 you will get a £50 M&S voucher
Celebrations
If you would like your child to make a card for any celebrations or birthdays then please speak to your child's carer
Illness information
From now on if there are any illnesses going around the nursery that you need to be made aware of we will send out an email to all parents as well as putting signs on the doors
Geckos Visit
As part of your child's continuous learning, we are going to be introducing the children to 2 Crested Geckos called Yogi and Booboo. Providing your children with the hands on experience of getting up close and personal with the Geckos is a valuable learning experience on responsibility and of gentle handling of delicate creatures. They will be coming in for the day on Thursday 10th March. If you do not wish for your child to be involved in this then please let us know by Thursday 3rd March
Occupations
We would like to introduce the children to the many important roles in the community therefore we are asking anyone who would be prepared to come in and engage with the children about their professional job role.
The following are some of the many occupations we would like to introduce to the children
- Postman
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Baker
- Mechanic
- Landscape architect
- Nurse
- Builder
- Paramedic
- Pilot
- Police/ Inspector
Please see Shareen or Jo if you feel you could contribute or have something of interest to involve the children in, we would love to hear from you
New policy - Phones
Please ensure your mobile phones stay in your bags or pockets when inside the nursery, this is a new policy to protect the children and yourselves form any child protection issues.
Reminders
A polite notice that the nursery does open at 8am and close at 6pm, if you are late collecting your child at the end of their booked session then you will be charged a late collection fee of
- 1 - 15 minutes late £5.30
- 15 - 30 minutes £10.60
- 30 - 45 minutes £15.90
- 45 - 60 minutes £21.20
Security
Please ensure when you are entering or leaving the nursery you do not let in anybody who you do not know and inform a member of our team if there is anybody at the door, also please do not unlock the coded nursery door it must stay latched at all times if you have misplaced your key ring with the code on please see one of our staff members.
Labelling of Clothes
Please make an effort to label your child's clothing as it can be very difficult to return an item of clothing with no name in it.
Useful Contacts
Nursery Number
01932 246747
Shareen Dunford - Nursery Manager
Jo Godfrey - Deputy Manager
Victoria Robson - Nursery owner/ Director