Dear Parents and Carers

I would like to start this weeks blog by thanking those parents who have volunteered to help in our forest school sessions.   It is wonderful that this experience can be shared with parents and the feedback we have had has been phenomenal.  We are planning another parent session for the forest school groups in September where parents are welcome to come along one Saturday morning (date tbc) to experience a taste of what the forest school entails, from a child’s perspective.

Snails

The babies shall be exploring different textures on their bodies over the next three weeks.  To take advantage of the warm weather, next week the practitioners shall encourage the babies to splash in the paddling pool, copying the body movements of one another. To extend this play, bubbles and seashells shall be added to the water.

Creative activities will include body painting and corn flour play.

Jenni – Annual leave all week.             

Caterpillars

This week the Caterpillars will continue with personal, social and emotional development of the children; evidence shows that this has helped the new starters adjust to the setting.  The focus this week shall be on social opportunities within the daily routine, such as mealtimes and nappy changing times whilst also building on social interaction through group activities, which this week will include, heuristic play, using the building blocks to encourage sharing and group time painting.

Jamie – Day off Wednesday, Alisha day off Monday

Ladybirds

Insects shall be the focus of activities during the following week, for the Ladybirds.  The children shall be encouraged to find insects out in the garden and also have the opportunity to create butterfly prints.  The children will also get to use the insect shape cutters in the playdough.

Days off   Julie – Thursday   Abi – Monday & time owing on Friday

Bumblebees

For the next two weeks the Bumblebees shall look at aspects of ‘The beach’ as they have really enjoyed playing in the sand and water during this hot weather.  To encourage the children’s learning the children shall mix sand and water together and discuss the consistencies of wet and dry sand.   To encourage mathematical skills the children shall be counting shells, which they will then decorate.

The children shall also have the opportunity to make their own ice lollies.

We would like to announce from the beginning of September we will be discontinuing the communication books for the bumblebees (toilet training books shall still continue) and the days activities, menu etc shall be displayed on the whiteboard outside the kitchen.  This is due to the increased number of books needed to be completed whereby the staff are under tremendous pressure to fulfil their tasks whilst also spending quality time with the children.  If you would like any further information, or have any queries concerning this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Also from the beginning of September, Krissi shall be stepping down from team leader for the Bumblebees to senior practitioner.  Krissi has worked extremely hard within her role however needs to concentrate more on her foundation degree studies. Krissi will remain working within the Bumblebees, and I am pleased to announce that Jani Skutek will be joining us as team leader of the Bumblebees.  Jani currently works in a nursery setting, within a pre school for children aged 2-4 years. Jani has a level 3 diploma for the Children and Young Peoples workforce and has attended a plethora of training to support her knowledge in this field.  If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Tash – Day off Friday and covering at one of our other nurseries Mon, Tues and Wed                Krissi – Monday        Leonie off Tuesday and Nikki off Thursday

Butterflies

This week, still continuing with the ‘farm foods’ theme, the children will be looking at alternative uses to traditional food.  The activities planned to support this theme are potato printing, using dried foods to make musical shakers, baking beetroot chocolate cake and using celery dipped in food dye to explore why the celery seems to be changing colour.

The pre school team would like to remind the parents of those leaving for school, that they must return their child’s school summary to the staff with their comments in the box provided in order that we can forward them on to each child’s primary teacher.  Thank you.

Please can we remind those parents who are term time only/accessing funded only hours that today is the end of term until September. Also the last French lesson for this term shall be this Wednesday July 24^th. Letters regarding the next set of French lessons, with dates, shall be out shortly. Thank you.

Next week sees the departure of Jo who shall be leaving us on Friday to travel the world.  I am sure that you will join me in wishing her the best of luck and thanking her for all of her hard work and commitment over the last 4 years. 

I am pleased to announce that Jo’s successor is an early years professional with teacher status, who shall be starting with us in September.  Further information shall be available nearer the time. 

Days Off: Jo – Tuesday   Stani – Friday