Notes from the management team - our Directors Nicki and Tracey and our Manager Poonam and Deputy Manager Jeanna:
Moving into March,we would like to welcome our new families to Harvard Park as well as Hibowho has returned to us and will be supportingHarvard Park again.Welcome back Hibo! Could we remind you that all payments should be madein advanced and can be donevia a direct debit if this is easier for you.We would like to encourage you to getposting on your child’s EyLog profiles.Our Early Year’s Educators work hard to provide you with observations,pictures and video’s of your children’s learning with us and we would like you to share their learningexperiences outside of thePre-School.If you are unsure of how you are ableto do this - please come and ask us.Thank you to everyonewho does this regularly- it really helps us.
A few reminders and notes:
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. It is important for your child to be seen heard and appreciated and you are unableto do this when you are talking or scrolling on your mobilephones.
Friday 31st March - we will be closed for Parent Consultations- please book an appointment with your keyworker to come and discuss your child’s education journey sofar.If you are a working parent and require childcare- please speak to Poonam.
If you are going to be away from the setting for any amount of time - whether it is a day or a week, please let us know.It can have a knock on affect to the routine if we are planning walksor trips and are waiting for a child who isn’t going to turn up.We understand itcan be extremely busy and rushed in themorningsbut please let us know if you are not coming in via email,phonecall or via ParentMail or theEyLog.If your child is sick - please try to give us an estimated day for your return.
Term dates and closures:
Please see your copy of the term dates:
We will be closed on Monday 3rd April for 2 weeks We will re-open on Monday 17th April. We will also be open on strike days unless you are informed otherwise. All children are expected to attend.
Birthday’s for the month of March:
Happy birthday to Hibo - we hope you have a lovely day!
Happy Mother’s day for the 19th!
Happy St Patrick’s Day for the 17th!
Happy Holi if you are celebrating!
Reminders:
Thursday 2nd March: World Book Day - We will be dressing up as our favourite book Characters to help celebrate World book day! We would like to encourage you to let your child do the same.
Thursday 30th March - Smallberry greenare on a half day however we will be open as normal and expect all children to attend if this is their session. We will be having parent consultations on Friday 31st March so we will be closed appointment.
The children have been sharing their family albums, if you haven’t already please send in photos so all children can have the opportunity to share their family photos with their friends.
If you haven’t already you could invest in a book bag to join the reading club to take your child’s favourite book home to share with them. Readingreally helps with your child’s language development and builds up their vocabulary and we have a variety ofbooks to take home and swap when finished.
Notes from your Pre-School Teachers: Jeanna, Roshelle, Lara, Lucy, Hibo and Rhea: We have been exploringtraditional stories thismonth so far and thechildren have especially enjoyed thestories of The3 littlepigs and Goldilocks and the3 bears. We have been recallingthe stories and acting them out with their friends. If your children have any favouritestories at home, please send them into pre-school where we can share them in our groups with teachers and friends. We are continuing with our learning plan which is as follows:
Week 1 (20th to 24th Feb): Traditional Stories and Pancake day on the 21st - completed.
Week 2 (27th Feb 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.
Week 3 (6th to 10th March): International Song Week - We will be exploring music from around theworld and different cultures, genres and tempo’s.Through a range of activities including making our own instruments, we will be looking at the traditional music from different countries and learning how we can move in different ways to certain types of music such as classical and electronic,noticing how they make us feel.
Week 4 (13th to 17th March): Mother’s day and St Patrick’s day - We will be creating gifts with everyoneand for our older children,looking at why we celebrate these 2 specific celebrations.Mother’s day falls on theSunday of this week and St Patrick’s day is on Friday.
Week 5 (20th to 24th): Everything Role Play - Play is still an importantpart of a child’s learning and for thenext two weeks we will be focussing on differenttypes of roleplay.In this wewill be incorporating different occupations,scenario’s and environments from everyday life.We will be setting up a café,vet’s surgeryand an airport to name a few! If there is anything about your jobyou would like to come and share with us - talk to Jeanna or Roshelle and they will be ableto setup a session for youto come in and demonstrate your skills.
Week 6 (27th to 31st March): Everything Role Play (continued). This will also be where we evaluate our last term’s targets - please remember we ask for your support with these outside of thesetting and we would greatly appreciate any evidence you have to support thelearning which happens outside of the nursery.Thank you to those parents who regularly do this- we can really seehow much thesupport helps. Pleaseupload pictures to the EyLog - thank you to Alessandro, Amelia R,Ava and Yusuf’s parentswho do this regularly - We would love to see more parents contributing to their child’s learning journals and will be checking in withyou to see if youknow how todo this.
Reminders:
Parent’s in Partnerships will be making a come back - you should have or will begiven your mother’s day afternoon tea invitations. If you haven’t please bear with us while we organise thegroups - do notfear, everyone will have an invitation.
School Readiness: We will also be starting our School readiness with the children who aredue togo to reception this year. Youcan supportus byintroducing “learning time” at home. This can be anything from mark making to writing their name, mathematicsto having a story together. It simply means setting time aside whereyour childhas to sit and attend to an activity of your choice.This issomething weimplement in our routine while at nursery and we are encouraging you to start at home too. Next month we will be encouraging you to focuson your child’sroutine surrounding bed times.
Wellington Boots or wellies: If your child comesto pre-school in welly boots , please could you also provide shoes to changeinto such as trainers in their bags.The children are finding it difficult to move around andsit down in these boots, we arehavingquite afew trips andfalls due to the wellies.
Temperatures: Please be aware of your child’s temperature or if they appear unwell. If they havehad Calpol in the night or before pre-school they should stay offfor 24 hrs aswe will be asking you to come and pickthem up if it spikes again.