Parent News

Dear Parents and Carer,

Shortly we shall be asking some of you if you would kindly volunteer to read some of our policies and procedures which are in the process of being reviewed.  If you are interested in helping us with this please could you email Michelle.

We have set ourselves a challenge of making an igloo out of two litre milk cartons which is big enough for the children to play in.  Could we therefore ask any of you who buy this size of milk to bring in your empties. Thank you

We still have places available on our parent first aid course, Friday 27^th February.  If anyone would like to book a place, please see Michelle.

 

March is going to be a busy month; we have a few events for you to put into your diaries.

Monday 2^nd March the nursery is celebrating St. David’s Day by having a Welsh menu for the children to enjoy.

Friday 6^th March the nursery is going to dress up for World Book Day. We are encouraging children to dress up as their favourite book character, so we are able to take lots of photographs and play games from the books.

Friday 13^th March we would like to invite all mothers in to celebrate Mother’s Day Breakfast. There will be a selection of croissants, pain au chocolat’s, bacon sandwiches and juices. This will also be a moment where you will be able to meet other mothers from your child’s room and enjoy a nice breakfast alongside your child. Breakfast will be running between 8am – 9am, please feel free to join us during these times. Please see a member of staff within your child’s room if you would like to attend.

Saturday 14^th March we are holding a St Patricks Day evening meal for parents who wish to attend. Please see the menu attached to the entrance door. Please see a member of staff within your child’s room or Michelle if you wish to attend, by Friday 27^th February. The evening will begin at 7.30pm with a sit down, three course meal followed by a quiz, drinks and Irish crème coffee and a selection of traditional Irish biscuits. The evening will then come to a close around 9.30pm.

Policies

Please find attached our social contact policy.

Snails

The focus in the snails this week is St David’s Day. The children will have the opportunity to create flags by using mark making materials and to also enjoy our Welsh menu. The children will also be able to explore the pop up tent and tunnel, problem solve by playing with the shape sorters and exploring the sensory shapes and taking part in heuristic play to explore the different utensils. Outdoor activities include exploring with the wooden puzzles, musical toys and ICT toys and exploring the outdoor treasure baskets.

 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.

Amy – Day off Monday

Tarnia – covering at another nursery Friday morning

 

Caterpillars

This week the Caterpillars team will focus on the outdoor environment by playing and exploring the outside. Activities this week will include painting, exploring stacking cups and how they fall over, exploring the shape sorters, taking part in cornflour play, puzzles, playing with the happy land village, exploring the sounds of the sensory bottles and playing with the heuristic play. The book of the week is ‘I spy with my little eye’. Outdoor activities this week include mark making with chalk and exploring wet sand play.

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 – Thursday

Alisha – Monday

 

Ladybirds

The current interest in the Ladybirds this week is physical skills. The children will have the opportunity to mark make in paint, enjoy an afternoon with soft play, gluing and sticking with coloured sand, dancing to songs and sounds that the children enjoy, mark making using a tripod grip, table painting using rollers and water play, filling and emptying containers. Outdoor activities include practising their balancing by walking along the balancing beam, practice throwing and kicking by using the footballs, playing in the tents and the tunnels and using the pedal bikes in the big garden and to encourage the children to climb on the climbing frame. The story of the week is ‘six little chicks’.

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, training on Tuesday

Naomi – Friday

Maria- covering at another nursery Monday afternoon.

 

Bumblebees

This week the children will be focusing on dinosaurs and cooking. Activities this week include turning the role play into a dinosaur cave, pretend to be dinosaurs, junk modelling by making dinosaurs out of boxes, reading dinosaur stories in the dinosaur cave. The children will be able to take part in making playdough and then playing with it, counting dinosaurs, reading the story of the week which is the ‘the dance of the dinosaurs’ and ‘Harry and the dinosaurs go wild’, letter lollies and looking at letters and drawing letters in flour. The children will also have the opportunity to turn take by building a train track with each other and enjoying listening to the Gruffalo on the computer. Outdoor activities this week include balls and hoops, little sports stars, sand and water play with dinosaurs, large chalk drawing, playing with bubbles, water play with brushes. There is also an additional focus this week which is encouraging the children to take off their coats and shoes and washing their hands independently. The children will also be making flapjack.

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 – Wednesday, training on Tuesday

Jenni – Office based Monday, Annual leave Thursday and Friday

 

Butterflies     

This week the butterflies are focusing on books and stories. The activities include talking about people who help us, reading stories about people who help us, listening to music and using movement whilst listening, cooking club runs on Thursday and this week the children will be making homemade pizza’s, focusing on Italy. The children will also have the opportunity to role play about people who help us, such as doctors, nurses, police officers etc. Outdoor activities this week are turn taking games (what’s the time Mr Wolf), running games, climbing frames, threading, chalking on the ground, water play and looking at and finding different colours within the garden. The children will be focusing on the letter of the week, which is, ‘M’ and the number of the week, which is number 4.

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                                  

Tara – Tuesday

Juan – Wednesday

Lee – Annual leave Monday, Forest School Tuesday morning, Forest School all day Wednesday

Jade - Monday

 

Michelle is day off Monday.

Social Contact policy

 

Aim of policy

 

To give guidance to both staff members and parents/carers to appropriate social contact outside of the nursery.

 

Points to consider

 

This policy works with the Parents as Partners policy and confidentiality policy.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool aims to achieve this by:

 

At Castle Daycare and Preschool we understand they may be social occasions outside of the nursery where parents come into contact with staff members. We want our staff to form bonds with the children’s families however professional boundaries need to be drawn in order to maintain these bonds appropriately.

We would ask all staff and parents to not make links on social networking sites, such as requesting “friendships” on facebook. This is to protect confidentiality and professional boundaries.

 

Whilst Castle Daycare and Preschool do not facilitate babysitting, we do understand that it may occur. We would ask all parents and staff not to discuss nursery life (even regarding their own child) outside of Nursery times. This can create awkward situations and problems that may affect the parents/staff bond.

There may be other occasions where the staff meet the parents/ carers outside of nursery again we ask all parents and staff not to discuss nursery life (even regarding their own child) outside of Nursery times.

 

The Nursery is happy to arrange a time for the Parent/Carer to discuss their child within nursery time.