Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Notes from the management team: Thank you for all of your support during this unprecedented time, we really do appreciate it. This is our last newsletter of 2020 - and what a year it has been. With all it’s up and downs we would just like to say your support really means a lot to us and we are very grateful for our Harvard Park Family. You are doing a great job in this strange time to continue a routine for your children so they feel comfortable enough to remain happy and safe. We would like to thank our Harvard Park team for their hard work this year; and we hope you have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year! We would like to say goodbye to Mary B who will be starting a new apprenticeship at a new nursery and goodbye to Amy G who will be leaving for Maternity leave at the end of the month. We wish them the best of luck and can’t wait to meet the new baby!
Please beware of bring food from home:
Reminder about agreements which were emailed to you in October:
We have several children across the nursery who have severe allergies which require EpiPens should they have a reaction. If bringing in food because you are running late, please inform staff of what it is your child is eating.
Agreements (which were emailed to you in October) MUST be sent in and is a requirement from Early Years. They are coming in slowly but please send your agreement back if you have yet to do so. We will be sending them out again in December so please return them, this is a requirement.
Please make sure that you are not bringing food in your child’s school bags without informing a practitioner. Please be mindful about what you have packed or check before you leave the house to make sure there is nothing harmful in their bags (including medication).
Clothing and the weather: Please bring hats and gloves! We don’t have spares on site so please make sure you write your child’s name inside the hat and each glove to prevent them from being misplaced! We also need you to be sending children in THICK winter coats or if in waterproofs, provide an extra layer for them. We are keeping the doors open to keep a constant flow of clean air through the room to reduce the level of germs within the building.
Reminder regarding Christmas cards: This year we will not be opening our Christmas card post boxes for cards. This is simply to reduce the risk of infection. Children we be encouraged to make cards for family at nursery and will able to take these home. They will also get the opportunity to write some for friends while they are here.
Dates for you diary and reminders: Tuesday 8th December — Christmas Jumper day: fundraiser for the Royal Brompton Hospital
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Tuesday 15th December - Children’s Christmas lunch: Traditional Christmas lunch with trimmings. •
Thursday 17th December - Children’s Christmas party day: Fancy Dress or party dress •
Thursday 24th December - Christmas Eve: 4:00 pm closure and Pyjama day!
Thursday 24th December will also be Amy’s last day as her maternity leave begins! Friday 25th December to Friday 1st January 2021 : We are closed for the Christmas holidays. We re-open on Monday 4th January 2021!
Staff in the rooms: Baby Studio: Simran (room leader), Mary, Amanda (group leader) and Martina Small Steps: Qani (room leader), Paulina (group leader), Amy, Elvia and Sherry Freedom Zone: Viviana (room leader), Charlotte (group leader), Ellie, Sam, Sonia and Nabila.
Birthdays for the month of December: Small Steps: Happy 2nd birthday to Zion whose birthday was in November! Freedom Zone: Happy 3rd birthday to Theo, Raphael, Alan and Cierra! Happy 4th birthday to Freya, Amazing and Yayha! Staff: Happy birthday to Nicki on the 1st, Amy G on the 7th, Sherry on the 8th, Amy S on the 11th and to Nabila on the 15th! We hope you all have a lovely birthday celebrating!
Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Notes from Baby Studio: Ducklings - Simran, Mary, Amanda, Sherry and Martina Focus: Physical Development We would like to mention that Sherry will be helping out in Small Steps for the month of December but will be back with us in January. This month’s focus will be all about physical development as well as Christmas! We will be talking short walks using reigns to encourage our babies to get some well needed fresh air as well as develop their walking skills and stability. Indoors, we will be using large balls to kick and roll to each other to encourage the development of gross motor skills. All of our babies are mobile at the moment so we will be also using our large soft play too. Please can we remind you to provide thick winter coats and weather appropriate shoes to make sure your child is nice and cosy when we are out and about. Unfortunately we do not hold spare jackets at nursery, if you do not bring one if your child will not be able to go out for a walk. We would like more of you to use the EyLog to upload pictures of what your child has been up to during the weekend! It all helps work towards your child’s development here. If you need help with this or are unsure, Amy is putting together a picture step by step guide which will be ssent to you in the month of December. Mission: Choose 1 book and 1 song to use and sing for a week with your child. Repetition is a great way to support your child with new language and is a key skill we use here. Share your progress on the EyLog with us! Notes from Small Steps: Bunnies - Qani, Paulina, Amy, Saptati, Elvia and Sherry for the month of December Topic: Christmas! We would like to welcome Jibreel to our Small Steps room! We would like to welcome Sherry from babies to our room for December, helping out as Saptati will be on holiday until January and Amy is becoming an afternoon practitioner until she goes on her maternity leave at the end of the month (her last day will be the 24th). Through December we will be all about Christmas! It is our favourite time of year and the children really enjoy it too. This month we will be making lots of Christmas decorations for our room and to take home, learning new Christmas songs such as jingle bells and we wish you a merry Christmas, and we will also be learning 3 new key words which are father Christmas, reindeer and presents. We will make sure that all of our children will engage in some sort of creative activity so that everyone has something to take home to their families for Christmas. A small reminder to provide hats and gloves for your child. We have no spares on site so please make sure you are providing these as it is getting very very cold now! We would like more of you to use the EyLog to upload pictures of what your child has been up to during the weekend! It all helps work towards your child’s development here. If you need help with this or are unsure, Amy is putting together a picture step by step guide which will be sent to you in the month of December. Mission: At home, encourage your child to help you decorate your house or Christmas tree for Christmas! You can post their progress on the EyLog! Dates for you diary and reminders: Tuesday 8th December — Christmas Jumper day: fundraiser for the Royal Brompton Hospital
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Tuesday 15th December - Children’s Christmas lunch: Traditional Christmas lunch with trimmings. •
Thursday 17th December - Children’s Christmas party day: Fancy Dress or party dress •
Thursday 24th December - Christmas Eve: 4:00 pm closure and Pyjama day!
Thursday 24th December will also be Amy’s last day as her maternity leave begins!
Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Notes from Freedom Zone: Cool Cats - Viviana, Charlotte, Sam, Sonia, Ellie, Nabila and Danielle Topic: It’s Christmas! Welcome to Zain, Akram and Alia who have joined Freedom zone and goodbye to Ishana and Ira D who are both leaving us this month due to relocating. We wish you the best of luck with your futures and we know you will shine bright in whatever you choose to do! Our topic for this month is all about the celebration of Christmas. We have specific dates which you need to make yourselves aware of so please read the dates and notices section carefully. This month, we will be using our senses to talk about colours and incorporate maths when exploring Christmas activities. We will be learning new vocabulary based around the celebration, recalling and talking about Christmas’ of past and about upcoming events which will happen at nursery—all of this will help extend our language. We will be doing a variety of craft activities such as making Christmas cards, writing Christmas lists, hand-print Santa’s, creating Christmas trees and wreaths. All of our children will be encouraged to take part in hope that all of us will be able to take something home to share with our families. As well as these activities, we will be learning some new songs such as Jingle bells, we wish you a merry Christmas , when Santa got stuck up the chimney and Christmas pudding. You could also sing these songs with your child at home to help them learn the words. Simply type the title into google and a version should come up if you are not sure of the words or the tune! We will also be using lots of books, stories and role play to develop friendships as well as our creativity! Reminders:
Clothing and the weather: Please bring hats and gloves! We don’t have spares on site so please make sure you write your child’s name inside the hat and each glove to prevent them from being misplaced! We also need you to be sending children in THICK winter coats or if in waterproofs, provide an extra layer for them. We are keeping the doors open to keep a constant flow of clean air through the room to reduce the level of germs within the building. All children must have a jumper every session.
Updated photo’s for family albums: Some of our children are looking like babies or have had new additions to your families. Please can you send some updated family photo’s through on our email address: info@harvardparkdaynursery.co.uk so we are able to updated these on your child’s family albums. If you are a new child or have never sent any in, please do so! So far we have had 2 :(
EyLog: We would like more of you to use the EyLog to upload pictures of what your child has been up to during the weekend! It all helps work towards your child’s development here. If you need help with this or are unsure, Amy will be putting together some step by step photo guides to support your further. Thank you to those parents who are already sending through great observations!
Self Help skills - we need to work on this together. Please encourage your child to feed themselves at home. When they go to big school, the teachers and lunch staff will not sit there and feed your child. We understand it can be frustrating but it is for their development not convenience. May we suggest that you get children involved in making dinner or setting them cooking challenges to help your child understand what is in it and maybe more happy to try it.
Mission: Where we are going to focus on stories, it will be good to encourage Storytime before bed as part of a routine or quite time. Post you favourite story on your EyLog!
Dates for you diary and reminders: Tuesday 8th December — Christmas Jumper day: fundraiser for the Royal Brompton Hospital
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Tuesday 15th December - Children’s Christmas lunch: Traditional Christmas lunch with trimmings. •
Thursday 17th December - Children’s Christmas party day: Fancy Dress or party dress •
Thursday 24th December - Christmas Eve: 4:00 pm closure and Pyjama day!
Thursday 24th December will also be Amy G’s last day as her maternity leave begins!
Harvard Park Day Nursery’s Christmas Dates for your diaries - if you would like to swap days so your child can attend - please email us and we will accommodate where we can! Tuesday 8th December - Christmas Jumper Day We will be holding a small fundraiser this day for the Royal Brompton Hospital which is a hospital that does amazing work and is one which is very close to our hearts. On this day we will kick start or Christmas activities with a Christmas Jumper day! A donation of £1 may seem like nothing but it will continue to fund such hard work! Tuesday 15h December: Children Christmas Lunch – no dress up required This applies to all rooms: Today Justyna will prepare a traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings including party hats! It is a normal day so no dressing up required. Children will still have the opportunity to engage in lots of Christmassy activities. Thursday 17th December: Children’s Christmas Party– Fancy Dress or Party Dress Up
It is a Dress up day for children so encourage your child to pick their favourite fancy dress outfit or party outfit and join us in some festive fun! Children will get the opportunity to engage is some fun Christmassy activities including wrapping stations and festive dancing! Santa will pop in to see us too both in the morning and in the afternoon! Lunch time will be a normal lunch and tea will be a tea party style tea time! Tuesday 24th December: Pyjama day for everyone and 4:00 pm closure! It’s Christmas eve and to make sure we are all ready for the next day we will be having a 4:00pm closure . Please be prompt when picking up your child as we all want to be home tucked up in bed ready for Santa to arrive! Please encourage your child to come in your favourite festive pyjama’s and enjoy a relaxing Christmas eve. Lunch time will be a normal lunch and those in the afternoon will have a light tea and maybe a little bit hungry later in the evening. We would like to thank our Harvard Park team for their hard work this year; and thank you our parents and carers of Harvard Park for your continued support and co-operation, we really do appreciate it!! We hope you have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are back to nursery on Monday 4th January 2021! Don’t forget during the holidays to upload pictures of your Christmas day and new years onto your EyLog’s. We would love to use them as talking points when we return in the new year.