Parent News
Dear Parents and Carers
Next week there are going to be a
few room movements for the children in our Bumblebees due to the refurbishment
of the 2-3’s room. A notice is on both the front door and the door to the
bumblebees room explaining the extent of the works being carried out. The team
have devised a plan whereby there is minimal disruption for yourselves and
especially the children. The younger
children will join with the Ladybirds and the older children will interact with
our pre school children. If you have any
queries, please do not hesitate to contact either Michelle or the team leader
in your child’s room. Many thanks, in
advance, for your co operation during this exciting time.
Staff Reshuffle
Sadly Tracy has decided to step
down from her role as third in charge of the setting as she would like to
commit all of her time and energy into implementing lots of exciting new things
into the pre school. Tracy will remain
team leader of the pre school and I look forward to seeing the fruits of her
labour. I am happy to announce that
Jenni in our Bumblebees will replace Tracy as third in charge. Jenni has been with us for over 5 years and
has demonstrated strong leadership skills.
Jenni has a foundation degree in Early years childcare.
I would also like to announce that
Amy in our Bumblebees has been promoted to team leader of our baby room. Amy has been with us for almost 5 years and
is a well respected team member. Amy is
very excited about her new challenge. A welcomed
new team member to our Bumblebees is Alba.
Alba has been working with us for the past two months as bank staff and
holds a teaching degree. Her enthusiasm
and passion for working with children is evident to see.
As previously announced, Alisha, senior
practitioner for our baby room will move down to the Caterpillars to re - join
Jamie’s team as they get busier and Tara will be moving through to our pre
school. This is where her previous
experience lies and where she feels that she can contribute more to.
Sadly we have to say goodbye to
Wendy, our kitchen assistant, who is moving onto pastures new. Wendy has provided us with some superb
cooking (especially her baking) and she will be missed but we wish her all the
best in her new venture. We are
currently recruiting to replace her and will announce this as soon as possible.
Next Thursday (August 21st)
is Leanne’s last day before she goes on maternity leave. We wish her the best
of luck and look forward to seeing her with her new son. Leanne is intending on returning to work in
June 2015.
I understand that there are a lot
of changes occurring at once, however all of the staff are very excited about
their new roles and the positive impact this will have on the children, parents
and setting as a whole. Each room has a
new list of keyworkers and those directly affected shall be spoken to directly,
however if you would like to discuss any of the changes further, please do not
hesitate to contact Michelle.
The NMT awards are upon us. These are national awards pertinent to early
years and childcare whereby practitioners are celebrated for the hard work and commitment that they show. The awards initially work on a nomination
basis whereby the winners are whittled down through a variety of stages,
finally being announced at a black tie affair in London. If you feel that a particular individual
within the setting has gone beyond the call of duty or travelled that extra mile
for yourself or your child and you would like to show your appreciation by
nominating them, please contact Michelle who will go through the criteria
required. The closing date for nominations to be accepted to the board is
September 12th. Thank
you.
Policies
Please find attached our procedure
for the control of communicable diseases.
Snails
The focus in the snails this week
will be farm animals. The children will have the opportunity to play with farm
animals in the sand tray, explore animal puppets and, for our older babies,
complete simple animal puzzles. Creative activities, this week, include
painting animal footprints and exploring
farm animal in cornflour. The younger
children will also be given the opportunity for tummy time whilst the older
babies will be encouraged to pull themselves up to standing position .
Planned activities within the
Snails surround each child’s current interest in conjunction with supporting
and extending their development. To find
out what activities are planned for your child for this week, please see your
child’s keyworker who will be happy to take you through the planning.
Alisha – Day off Monday
Caterpillars
This week the Caterpillars team
will continue to focus on physical development and messy play whilst supporting
new children during their settling in period. The children will have the opportunity to
play with the tents and tunnels, attempt posting shapes in the shape sorters,
attempt to blow bubbles and be encouraged to use their spoons at mealtimes,
independently. Creative activities this week include, mark making with chalks
and coloured glue, body painting and water play. The book of the week is ‘Muddy paws goes to
school’
Planned activities within the
Caterpillars surround each child’s current interest in conjunction with
supporting and extending their development.
To find out what activities are planned for your child for this week,
please see your child’s keyworker who will be happy to take you through the
planning.
Days off Jamie – Monday
Tara - Wednesday
Ladybirds
The current interest in the Ladybirds
is the ‘containment’ schema. That is
filling g vessels with different materials (eg) pouring sand or water from one
container to another. This week the children
will be encouraged to do this in the water tray, using jugs and also with
cornflour and different sized pots. The
book of the week is ‘Missing’. Creative
activities this week include, golf ball painting and heuristic play
Planned activities within the ladybirds
surround each child’s current interest in conjunction with supporting and
extending their development. To find out
what activities are planned for your child for this week, please see your
child’s keyworker who will be happy to take you through the planning.
Days off Abi – Thursday
Bumblebees
This week the children will develop
their mathematic skills by building towers, naming the shapes as they do so,
counting compare bears and playing the ladybird game, identifying ladybirds
with a particular number of spots. To
help the children develop their understanding of the world, the children shall pretend
to be dinosaurs. Activities to support creative development
include dinosaur print painting, table painting and drawing using crayons. Literacy development shall be supported, this
week, through, using dinosaur stencils and paint and writing letters that
appear in their names. The book of the week is ‘Harry and his bucket full of
dinosaurs’.
Planned activities within the Bumblebees
surround each child’s current interest in conjunction with supporting and
extending their development. To find out
what activities are planned for your child for this week, please see your
child’s keyworker who will be happy to take you through the planning which is
now displayed on the large notice board outside the Bumblebees room.
Days off
Jani – Wed, Annual leave Thurs, Fri Jenni – Tues Amy – Annual leave Fri
Butterflies
This week the children’s interest is ‘Summer
holidays’. The children will make a collage of a beach
and discuss different transportation used to go on holiday and then make models
of them. The children will talk about
what they have done through the summer and then be encouraged to a draw a
picture of their experiences. The book of the week is ‘Amanda’s butterfly’. Planned
activities within the Butterflies surround each child’s current interest in
conjunction with supporting and extending their development. To find out what activities are planned for
your child for this week, please see your child’s keyworker who will be happy
to take you through the planning.
Days off Stani – Friday Tracy
– Annual leave all week
Procedure for
the control of communicable diseases
Aim
of policy
To give clear guidance on how we will minimise the spread of
infectious illnesses.
Points
to consider
The Manager will be responsible for establishing and
maintaining the appropriate Health Authority contacts for information and
notification with regard to the control of communicable diseases.
Contacts are:
The Health Protection Agency’s (HPA) local Health Protection
Unit (HPU):
Surrey and West Sussex Health Protection Unit
Telephone: 0845 8942944
This
website gives up to date information on communicable diseases.
Castle Daycare and Preschool
aim to achieve this by:
The Manager or Deputy Manager must notify the Health
Authority and Ofsted immediately of any suspected outbreak of communicable
disease at the Nursery.
Health Authority guidelines indicate that it is not necessary
to operate a policy of exclusion for all child illnesses but it is important
that staff and parents understands when exclusion is required.
Many illnesses are infectious before a full diagnosis can be
made. The Nursery must be aware of its
responsibilities to protect the sick child and to prevent the spread of illness
to other children in its care.
Common diseases and symptoms requiring exclusion include:
·
Temperature of 101 deg F (38 deg C)
·
Chickenpox (Herpes-shingles)
·
Measles
·
German Measles (Rubella)
·
Whooping Cough (Pertussis)
·
Mumps
·
Scarlet fever (Streptococcal infection)
·
·
Contagious skin conditions
·
Diarrhoea and/or persistent vomiting (Gastrointestinal
infection)
We will contact the parent to collect the child if they have
three cases of vomiting and/or diarrhoea within a 24 hour period and request
that they do not return for 48 hours after the symptoms have cleared.
A list of communicable diseases and minimum periods of
exclusion is given on the HPA posters available on the office door .
The Manager or senior worker must be informed immediately if
a child becomes ill while at the Nursery.
They will ensure that the child’s parents are notified as quickly as possible.
If the illness appears to be communicable, the child should
be cared for by a member of staff but kept away from other children. The parents should be encouraged to collect
their child as soon as possible.
If a doctor confirms that the child has a communicable
disease, the Manager will notify all other parents of their child’s exposure to
infection within 24 hours. This is
particularly important with regard to Rubella, given the danger it represents
to unborn children in the first trimester of pregnancy.
The Manager is responsible for the well being of the children
and staff while they are in the Nursery.
No child or member of staff known to be suffering from a communicable
disease or considered too ill to participate in normal nursery activities
should be admitted to the Nursery.
Please check Health Protection Agency’s poster and website
for up to date details on guidance on infection control and exclusion periods.
No comments:
Post a Comment