We all really enjoyed this week’s activities as the focus was all about turn taking, teamwork and our community.

 

 

Lilly and Larry paid the children a visit on Friday afternoon and the children had certainly missed them. Grace, the story teller, really knows how to bring stories to life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXPLORERS

Our preschool group did a fabulous job this week and made great efforts to remember to work as a team. They worked together in a memory game, made their own room painting and played a fun game of musical chairs with a twist!

 

WOODLANDS

The Woodlands group worked incredibly well together this week, and really enjoyed learning about our community. They paired up to complete puzzles and it was lovely to see them working together, and the pride when they had completed.

The number focus for Woodlands is numbers ‘3’ & ‘4’ and they loved recognising the numbers on balloons and then having the chance to pop the balloon.

 

DIGGERS

The highlight of Diggers week has to be the community walk! The children loved meeting members of the community who all commented on how delightful our children are.

NEW JOINERS AND LEAVERS

We are pleased to welcome Tayshaun to Diggers. We are pleased to welcome Nelema to the Discovery team. Nelema is an an undergraduate currently studying for a BA degree in Early Childhood Studies. Nelema will be with us every Monday and Wednesday until she completes her studies.

We are sad to say goodbye to LeeAnne who will be ending her apprenticeship with us next week. LeeAnne has been a valued member of the team and we wish her well for the future.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

29 Feb – 4 March is National Book Week and we would like to invite a parent to come in each day (at 11.30) and read your child’s favourite story to their group. A love of books is such an important thing to promote and it will be lovely to get you involved (and I know the children will love it!). We would like to have one parent each day throughout that week so please do let us know if you have the time to spare.

4 March is World Book Day and the children are able to come into nursery dressed as a character from their favourite book. As with last year, please do not feel like you have to go and buy something as there are so many creative ways to dress them up without spending a penny.

We love books at Discovery so we had to get the staff involved in all the fun. We have decided to run a little competition. Each staff member was given a book, a jute bag and a couple of pounds and tasked with creating a spectacular story sack. The best story sack will win 50 pounds to spend on resources in their room. And, the parents will be the judges. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page, as that will be the easiest way to poll the scores. Voting will be on 4 March.

Upcoming
8 February – Chinese New Year parade
16 February – It’s our 1st birthday!!! Please do join us for birthday cake on collection.
15 – 19 February – Half Term (children accessing funded hours only)
22 February – Staff Training Day (Nursery will be closed)
26 February – Lilly and Larry are back!

 

The weeks are flying by and it so good to see the children throwing themselves into all the activities.

Gymnastics and Spanish

Gymnastics and Spanish continue to be a big hit with the children, and Baby Yoga is very popular. Participation in activities is completely up to the children so it is so lovely to see them eagerly joining in.

 

 

 

 

 

Early Maths

 

Over the weekend, the discovery Team participated in an Early Maths interactive workshop. It was great to gain so many new ideas, particularly for our new mud kitchen.

We are going to need a lot of kitchen utensils so if you have some spare kitchen equipment around the house please do bring them in for us to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Talk… Big School

Many thanks to all the parents that joined the Let’s Talk session. It was a very good turnout and was an informative session for us all.

 New Joiners

A big welcome to Amiyah Rae who has joined Diggers.

 

EXPLORERS

 

 

WOODLANDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIGGERS

 

 

The weather is getting colder and I am sure the children were very excited to see the snow over the weekend. Please can I kindly ask you to remember to bring your children’s winter wear. Scarf, hat and gloves are essential, and I would recommend that you layer the children’s clothing to ensure that they are able to retain heat. Please do label your items of clothing to help us to identify clothing. We also have a lost and found box in the entrance way which has been filling up over the past weeks

Last week, we had our first WOW! of the year. Well done Mia who has been doing a fabulous job with her toilet training.

Please do continue to share your WOW! moments with us.

 

 

 

EXPLORERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOODLANDS

 

DIGGERS

Diggers introduced another new joiner last week, and it was amazing to see the children include him in their activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important Information

Let’s Talk…. Big School – Friday 22 January from 6.30pm (Adult only event)

Please let me know if you will be attending the Let’s Talk…. Big School so that we have an idea of numbers.

Family Pictures

Please can I ask you to bring in some family pictures that we can keep at nursery.

 

 

After a long break, we were certainly glad to see the children back. It was a mixture of smiles, and the inevitable tears as they got back to the nursery routine. By the end of the week, it was as if we had never had the break away.

One of my New Years resolutions is to try and keep the parents updated on a regular basis about what the children have been doing during the week. Our topic of the day can be accessed on Parentzone, and the Facebook page is regularly updated, but I realise that parents can never have too much information. So, I am going to try and pick up the pace with the newsblogs

EXPLORERS

Explorers worked incredibly hard this week. as they got to grips with early maths and writing. The highlight of the week had to be our Resolution Tree. The children  started off the week by thinking about their New Year resolutions and what they thought they could do better. It was amazing to hear their resolutions which they then hung on the Resolution Tree (which will be displayed in the entrance area). The activity was great evidence of literacy (each child attempted to write their own name), fine motor skills (as they had to thread elastic through a tag), communication and personal, social and emotional development.

 

 

 

Our story of the week was ‘Goldilocks and the 3 bears’.

The Explorers had fun by making porridge play dough,  using ‘porridge’ to make yummy flapjacks, and playing ‘who did it?’

 

WOODLANDS

Woodlands children focused on fine motor skills. We also used a range of textiles to encourage letter formation. Gymnastics was popular as ever, and the children made some yummy pizza bagel’s for afternoon tea. The highlight has to be the beautiful ”Achievement photo frames’ (which unfortunately I don’t have a picture of!)

 

 

 

 

DIGGERS

Diggers happily welcomed a new addition to the group. It was a very busy week full of creativity for Diggers. From making a New Year hat to cooking ‘porridge’ for the bears in our new mud kitchen – it was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important information

Staff Training Dates

Our new look calendar has been updated with our staff training dates. The next staff training day is Friday 22 February.

Uniform shop

We have been advised that the manufacturing company is out of action as a result of a fire. As such, uniforms will not be available until the middle of January.

Happy New Year to you all and we hope that you have enjoyed the holidays. A big thank for all your lovely cards and presents which are truly appreciated by us all. 2016 promises to be a productive and fun filled year for us all and we are very excited about our plans with the children.

New Joiners

We are pleased to welcome Jayda and Kaine. We are also pleased to welcome a new member of staff Yasmine. Yasmine is a university graduate who has been working as a teaching assistant for the past 4 years. She is incredibly enthusiastic and will be a great addition to the team.

Leavers

Our Woodlands teacher Dora has decided to further her studies but will continue to join us as bank staff.

Let’s talk……. Big School (Friday 22nd January)

This session is aimed at parents of preschool children. We will talk about the best ways to get your child ready fro school. Including our phonics programme and how you can help your child in preparation for reading and early mathematics.

Health and Safety

We have had a few occasions over the past few months where children have come into the nursery a little unwell. It is not always obvious when a child is unwell. We understand that it can be very frustrating to drop your child off at nursery only to receive a call within the hour asking you to collect your child. We have therefore introduced temperature taking on entry as of 4 January 2016. Upon welcoming your child to the nursery, a staff member will use our contactless forehead thermometer to do a quick reading.

We will also be reinforcing good hygiene practices with the children through a variety of activities, and would ask that you reinforce this at home. We have introduced alcohol free (child-friendly) hand santiser and will be encouraging the children to routinely wash and sanitise their hands.

Daily Diaries

Please can I remind parents to ensure that they have their child’s red diary with them each day. The key workers regularly include notices for parents, and we will also be including copies of accident/incident forms.

 

Staff Training dates for 2016 will be published this week.