Notes from the management team: our Managing Director’s Nicki and Tracey and our manager Carol:
What happened to January? Itflew past - the children have loved having their routine back and seeing all of their friends as well as getting back in to learning and play! We would like to officially welcome Vanashree to the team who has now joined Small Steps and we would also like to mention that Amy in the Baby Studio will beginning her maternity leave and her last day with uswill be Friday 10th February.We cannot wait to meet the baby and wish Amy, her partner and Flynn thebest of luck while they are away welcoming their new addition.
During the week of 13th February- This is achance for us to catch up on any outstanding observations and work, sorting or cleaning we may need to catch up on so during thisthere will be no observations for this week.
A few little reminders for February:
Please DO NOT let other parents into the building via the front door. If you are in thelobby could you please not let other parents in usingthegreen button as we had someonelet a lady in who was NOT A PARENT.This is a big child safeguarding issue .Thelady just wanting informationbut could of been anyone, regardless if you know whoit is waiting to come in - please allow us to let them in ourselves and be patient with us when answering thedoor. Thechildren’s safety and safeguarding them is our primary concern.
Could we remind all parents at both settings not to be on your phones when you are collecting your children even if you are at the gates, once you are collecting children you should be ableto hand your child to the practitioner with importantinformation for theday ahead and you should be ableto receive your child at home time and listen to anything thepractitioner has to tell you.
If you are getting rid of any children’s books - please consider donating them to us!
Health and Safety Notices and reminders:
Label your belongings: We cannot be heldresponsibleif your child’s belongings are misplacedif they do not have a name in. Childrenwill have the samehat, coat, gloves, bags etc. it is bound to happen. If there are noinitials in the item, we cannot be blamed if it goeshome with someone else.A simple marker pen on the label will help us all out.
Folding Buggies in the lobby: BabyStudio Parents - please folddown allof your buggies, both bigand small. We are limited onspaceand our baby studio isfull. Please note that no bikes are to be left at nurseryscooters only.
We are updating our policies and procedures - Our policies and procedureshave now been updated and sent off to our legal team to be checked. We arehoping that we cangeta fullcopy of these out to youby the end of February/beginning ofMarch.
Dates for you diary and reminders:
Tuesday 14th February - Happy Valentines day!
Tuesday 21st February - It’s pancake day - don’t forgetto pick up your ingredients on the way home.
Thursday 2nd March: World Book Day - We will be dressing up as our favouritebook Characters to help celebrate Worldbook day! We would like to encourage you to let your child do the same.
Birthdays for the month of February:
Baby Studio: Happy 1st birthday to Mikolaj and Conor!
Small Steps: Happy 2nd birthday to Reggie!
Freedom Zone: Happy3rd birthday to Aariv, Hazel and Albie!
Happy 4th Birthday to Julia and Amarr!
Staff: Happy birthdayto Sonia! We hopeeveryonehas a lovely day celebrating!
Notes from Baby Studio: Ducklings - Amanda, Mary, Afsha, Amy and Gurpreet: Focus: Physical Development
We have some new babies starting with us in January so welcome to Adam - we know you will have lots of fun learning and developing with us! This month we will be focussing on physical development. We will plan fun activities focusing on both fine and gross motor skills including mark making with different tools, climbing and moving over and under the black and white soft play; going for walks on the reigns with the confident walkers and walking/crawling and sitting practice with the younger babies.
Please upload pictures to the EyLog - thank you to Advik, Gabriel and Moksha’s parents who do this regularly - Your mission: To continue posting on the EyLog with pictures and video’s of your babies out and about on the days away from the nursery!
We would like to wish Amy all the best as she leaves to begin her maternity this month - her last day with us will be Friday 10th February. We wish them the best of luck and cannot wait to meet baby for cuddles - and Flynn you will be a wonderful big brother!
Reminders:
Washing bottles at home: Please wash and sterilise all bottles and cups each day. We only rinse them here as and when they are used. They need a proper wash at home to avoid the build up of mould.
Bringing more than one bottle and more spare clothes: Please make sure you pack around 3 to 4 spare changes of clothes. Children will have accidents and nappies may leak - we need clothes to change them into , please bring back any spares we may have lent you. Please also provide enough bottles to reflect your child’s milk routine. If they have more than 1 bottle, please provide more than 1 bottle.
Notes from Small Steps: Bunnies - Qani, Liliana, Ellie-May, Anna and Vanashree: Focus and Topic: Animals - Wild animals for 2 weeks, Sea animals for the last 2!
We would like to start by saying thank you to those parents who have been coming in and joining us for Parent’s in Partnership as well as littlesnippets of timespent with us within theroom - thechildren are loving having you into play! We have quitea few reminders this month so we are going to keep this brief.We will be focusing on Wild animals for 2 weeks and sea animals for 2 weeks - throughthis children will engage with different textures, sounds, colours and movements.We will be focusing on “Baby Shark” and “Down in the Jungle” during our group times - where possiblesing these at home with your child.You can use Youtube to help you out if you are not sure of thewords. We will also be taking trips to the local pet shop to look at the fish and of course water play! Where you can,maybe visit thepet shop too. Please upload pictures to the EyLog - thank you to Flynn,Poppy and Veda’s parents who do this regularlyWe would love to see moreparents contributing to their child’s learning journals and will be checking in with you to seeif you know how to do this.
Reminders:
Pull ups are for Potty training ONLY: If your child is potty training please use pull ups as this is easiest for thechildren.If you are not potty training please use nappies.It takes a lot of time to change 12 children and pull ups hinder this process.Italso hinder thepotty training processwhen it comes to it as children do not understand the difference between a pullup and a nappy.
At home, trim you child’s nails: :Please trim your child’s nails.Best timeis bath timewhen they are soft - if you have trouble, try while they are in their deep sleep state. We are having accidents/ incidents involving nailson children themselves such as scratching or itching.
Breakfast finishes at 9:00am: Please be aware that breakfast finishes at 9:00am - any later than this and it has a knock on affect to therest of theday. If you wanted detailed feedback please make sure you are picking up at 5:50pm - we still have to clean the room and put everything awaybefore we finish our shifts.
1 parent inside at a time: We are beginning to inviteparents back into the building however please be aware this will be oneat a timeas we don’t want to overwhelmthe children.This is something they are not used to and may cause upset in thebeginning so please be patient.
Harvard Park Day Nursery LTD.
Harvard Park Day
Notes from Freedom Zone: Cool Cats - Viviana, Charlotte, Sam, Sherry, Ellie, Elvia, Hannah, Harriet and Danielle:
And just like that we have reached February - thank you for all of theSpace projects so far, please remember thedeadline in Friday 3rd February, we will then be having a show and tell thefollowing week where we will encourage thechildren to talk about whatthey have created! We will continue with our last 2 weeks of thelearning plan:
Week 5 (30th to 3rd Feb): Space - We will be exploring everythingto do with space! It is a topic thechildren gain so much from so we are spreading it acrossthenext 2 weeks. We will have roleplay by creating our own space station,looking at the planets and learning their names, introducing new vocabulary and ofcourse looking at thepossibility of aliens and maybe even creating our own!
Week 6 (6th to 10th Feb): Valentines day and Emotions - This week we will be creating our 6 weeks summariesand checking in with your child’s development. We will also be exploring the celebration of Valentines day with a range of creative activities and exploring emotions such as happiness, love and sadness to help children learn how to deal with these as well as identify them.
During the week of 13th February- This is achance for us to catch up on any outstanding observations and work, sorting or cleaning we may need to catch up on so during these weeks there will be noobservations for this week.
We will then being our next learning plan:
Week 1 (20th to 24th Feb): Traditional Stories and Pancake day on the 21st - This week we will be looking at “Once upon a time …” stories.Goldilocks and the2 bears andJack and the beanstalk will feature.For our older children we will begin to look at theway stories are structured and theyounger children will be able to roleplay thestories.We will also plan a few activities based around pancake day such as food tasting and pancake tossing in the garden.
Week 2 (27th to 3rd March): Favourite Stories -We will be continuing to explore stories and books but encouraging thechildren to pick out their favourites.This will tie in with World Book Day which is on Thursday 2nd March - dress up and bring in your favouritestory!We will also be helping thechildren to create their own stories as well.
Please upload pictures to the EyLog - thank you to Aariv, Albie, Alice, Carter and Zara’s parents who do this regularly - We would love to seemoreparents contributing to their child’s learning journals and will be checking in with you to seeif you know how to do this.
Reminders:
Coats, Hats and Gloves: As theweather is forever changing please continue to provide warm coats as well as hat and gloves even if thesun is shinning.We do not have spares on site so please provide them and writeyour child’s name in thelabel.If they are not provided, your child will not be ableto access walks around the local area.
Forest School: Forestschool will be rolling out another group so please look out for theemail.The children have enjoyed having thetimeto explore Forest School
School Readiness: Wewill also be starting our School readiness withthechildren who are due to go to reception this year. You can support us by introducing “learning time” at home.This can be anything from mark making to writing their name, mathematics to having a story together.Itsimply means setting time aside where your child hasto sit and attend to an activity of your choice. This is something we implement in our routine while at nursery and we are encouraging you to start athome too. Next month we will be encouraging you to focus on your child’s routine surroundingbed times.
Dates for you diary and reminders:
If your child is due to go to reception class this year - If you have not applied you MUST make you application ASAP. Please come and See Carol if this is you and we will help you as much as we can.We cannot apply for you, this is all down to you as parents and guardians.