Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Notes from the management team: Although this may not have been the start that we were all hoping for, we are here for the time being and we are open for your children. During this time, it may be hard for you to keep a routine at home, come up with continuous amounts of things to keep your children engaged whilst trying to deal with a range of emotions yourself but it is important to remember that you are doing an amazing job and other people’s opinions do not matter - whatever your choices maybe, it is what is right for you and your family and that is what is important. We are keeping up with the updates and will inform you accordingly - we ask that you do the same and if you are away from the nursery, please inform us as to why. If you are off sick from day nursery, isolating at home or simply choosing to stay at home, it is important that you keep your children engaged throughout the day. Pinterest, YouTube and the internet are full of ideas with simple activities which you can replicate at home. We will continue to provide ideas for you via the EyLog and Facebook but if there is anything specific you would like us to help with, email us and we will see what we can do. For our older children in Freedom Zone and Pre-School, if there are areas of learning that you would like help or support with email us and your keyworker will be able to respond. For those parents in Small Steps who are dropping children off and picking up from the back gate, we have purchased a bell and hopefully this will speed up the process for you as we feel that this is something we may be doing for a while before we see any government changes. Thank you for you co-operation and understanding to make this process as safe as possible. We would like to extend that thank you to all of our parents, you support is forever gratefully received. Please beware of bring food from home: for ALL rooms
We have VERY severe allergies which require life saving medication DO NOT bring in any snacks in children’s bags! If children are eating on the go, please inform a practitioner what they are eating and we will handle the situation accordingly. We are a strictly NO NUTS setting which means children can not be eating nuts or bring nut products into the setting under any circumstances.
Clothing and the weather: This is a serious issues and needs to be addressed 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! Children MUST be dressed in trousers and jumpers with t-shirts/vests underneath. 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. This means no summer dresses or skirts with tights!
Dates for you diary and reminders: Please make sure you are informing us if you will be away from the nursery for any reason! If you receive government funding - it is a requirement that you remain in contact with us as you may lose your funding as a result of this. We will try (where we can) to contact parents on a regular basis, however you need to work in parentship with us and inform us of you decisions. Dates to remember: Friday 12th February - Chinese New year, Sunday 14th February - Valentines day and Tuesday 16th February - Pancake Day Please inform us of any changes to contact details:
While calling parents, we have noticed that some contact details are incorrect such as mobile number. Please make sure that if you have changed your mobile number, home number or moved house that we have the correct information for you. Thank You
Birthdays for the month of February: Baby Studio: Small Steps: Happy 2nd birthday to Leonidas, Alexandra and Julia! Freedom Zone: Happy 3rd birthday to Asim, Livia and Christos Staff: Happy birthday to Sonia on the 9th! 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 This month we will be focusing on our physical development and will plan lots of fun activities to encourage this area of development. This will include bringing out our black and white soft play, lots of movement to music and different types of mark making such as using hands and feet instead of crayons or chalk. Events: Our children will be sending gifts home for Valentines day and we will also be celebrating Chinese new year on Friday the 12th with some fun crafts and food tasting! We may also be doing a little something for pancake day on the 16th - what a busy month! Reminders: Please keep you child’s nails short - check them and where possible, clip them as we have a lot of children scratching themselves because their nails are too long. Please make sure you child’s nursery bag is packed with a good amount of spares - around 4 to 5 changes of clothes will do as children can have accidents such as leaking nappies, getting messy at food times and of course, teething and milk dribble. Target @ home : Send pictures on your child’s EyLog of you and your child joining in with physical activities like going for a walk, dancing or climbing on and off the sofa or low chair! It is great to help us with their development here to see what they can do at home.
Notes from Small Steps: Bunnies - Qani, Paulina, Gurpreet, Elvia and Katie Focus: Communication and Language - Our topic will be Stories and Books Firstly, We would like to welcome Aaron to our Small Steps room! We would like to say goodbye to Robyn and her family who will be moving away - all of us in Small steps would like to wish you the best of luck!
This month will be all about stories, books and developing language in our room. We will be looking at some of the traditional stories such as goldilocks and the 3 bears and the 3 little pigs. We will do this through story sacks and props, making our own porridge, decorating biscuits, making little face masks and adjusting the stories so they are more suitable for our age group. We may also learn a new song or two! Events: Our children will be sending gifts home for Valentines day and we will also be celebrating Chinese new year on Friday the 12th with some fun crafts and food tasting! We will also be doing a little something for pancake day on the 16th - what a busy month! Reminders: Please remember to bring in hat, scarves and gloves - we go outside in all weathers and have no spare gloves onsite! Do not put snacks in children’s bags - we have a child with a severe allergy to several food items and the children have access to their bags. Please remember to bring in a water bottle or water cup for you child - it is important for them to have access to their own cup throughout the day.
Task @ home: Complete the EYlog homework which has been sent through to you on your observations - we do look at what you post! For those of you who have already completed it well done keep it up :) Dates for you diary and reminders: We have VERY severe allergies which require life saving medication - DO NOT bring in any snacks in children’s bags! If children are eating on the go, please inform a practitioner what they are eating and we will handle the situation accordingly. We are a strictly NO NUTS setting which means children can not be eating nuts or bring nut products into the setting under any circumstances.
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Please make sure you are informing us if you will be away from the nursery for any reason!
Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Notes from Freedom Zone: Cool Cats - Viviana, Charlotte, Sam, Sonia, Ellie, Nabila, Saptati and Danielle Topic: Let's Explore Space! Firstly we would like to say congratulations to Asim for becoming a big brother and to Lava for becoming a big sister! Congratulations to their families on the new little bundle of joy’s - all of us would like to pass on our congratulations and cannot wait to meet the babies when it is safe to do so! For our topic this month we will be introducing the idea of Space through a range of discussions and planned activities. When we talk about Space we are looking at our solar system, planets, the world we live on as well as concepts such as aliens and space travel. The children from previous years have enjoyed getting creative with making their own aliens or designing their own planets. We will begin to explore the topic through group discussions, chatter times and talking boxes in our small groups. Within the setting we will be linking all of this new learning to arts and crafts and looking in depth at the solar system and planets and hopefully wow you with our new knowledge! While we are busy getting creative at nursery, we would like you to create your own space rocket at home in whichever way you want. It could be our of junk or it could be out of cushions - you choose but post it on your EyLog so we can show your friends at nursery - we will be checking the last week of February! We have a few events coming up on the 12th, 14th and 16th of this month so during this week we will have an events week and take a break from space. On Friday the 12th we will be celebrating Chinese new Year with a range of food tasting and craft activities. This year it is the year of the Ox. The 14th is of course Valentines day and the 16th is pancake day. During this time we will have a range of things coming home with your child as they will be very busy making little gifts and artwork! Targets to work on @ home Encourage your child to drink water at home - we encourage it here but a lot of children will take the other option on offer. Water is important for brain function so please encourage this as we do here. Labeling language - To encourage language development, please make sure you are labelling items. By this we mean not just handing children a t-shirt, for example “now we put on your red t-shirt” or “can you pass me the blue plate?”. This is something we focus on at nursery and would be very helpful for you to do at home too. Although the weather is cold and a bit dull, make sure you as a family are keeping active. Home yoga, meditation and bend and stretch are all great ways of keeping active. There are a few YouTube channels that can help with this - CosmicKids is one of them! Reminders: •
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Spare clothes: Please return them! If you have been sent home with any of our clothes over the past week, could you please return them as we are running EXTREMELY low. Please make sure you are packing spares (3 to 4 pairs) of clothes to prevent us having to use yours. We are still accepting clothes donations so if you are having a clear-out - we would gratefully receive them. Children can feel anxious in these times so ensure you are taking the time to explain what is happening in the world and discuss any up coming changes with your child. They listen to more than you think and maybe holding onto to some feelings they don’t know how to process. Clothing and the weather: Please remember the weather is only going to get colder so please ensure you are providing layers that are appropriate as well as hat, gloves and scarves for when going into the garden. Also with the weather changes please be vigilant when sending your children to nursery. Ensure you are checking their temperature as well as ensuring the children have a full bill of health before attending the setting.
Dates for you diary and reminders: If your child was born between 01/09/17 and 31/08/18 - you can apply for school nursery if you would like to. Applications are now open and must be filled in online - the closing date is 7th May 2021. You are more than welcome to stay with us for another year if school nursery is not right for you. Please follow this link to fill in the application form for school nursery: https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20028/primary_admissions/74/nursery_admissions