Welcome to the first newsletter of 2011 and a Happy New Year to all our playgroup families and friends. I hope the next few months of the session will be slightly less stressful than the last. We have received good news from Glasgow City Council who have agreed to fund five more places. This gives a total of twenty for the session which puts us on a firmer footing for next year. We still have one or two spaces available for this year if you hear of anyone who is interested in a place for their child at playgroup. As most of you know the Care Commission report was disappointing in one or two sections although positive in many others. Most of the points raised have been addressed and changes put in place where necessary. It is our intention to ask for a further re-grading as soon as the rest of the Action Plan has been carried out. One of the concerns raised was the involvement of parents in the planning of playgroup and in sourcing their views. After discussion at the committee meeting in November, Val Kennedy very kindly agreed to update the parents’ questionnaire, distribute it and collate the responses. I am very grateful to Val for this and would hope that each family will be able to find time to fill it in. This will give us a clearer picture of your views and thoughts on playgroup. I am pleased to say that playgroup is entering the 21st century and acquiring a website. Raymond McHugh – Pierce’s dad has very kindly offered to help us set this up over the next few weeks. Hopefully this means that most of the information for playgroup can be put on the website and everyone will be able to keep up to date with what’s going on. That’s assuming that I can cope with updating it when necessary!! We hope that the format of the newsletter will also change and become a bit more user friendly. Watch this space as they say. We have two boys with us this week who are on Work Experience from Cleveden. In the past, these young people have worked well with the children who have enjoyed having them in playgroup. Hopefully this year will be the same. Could you please remember to fill in when you are available for duty over the next three weeks. The new rota will be on the table as usual.
Dates for January/February Tuesday 25th January – Burn’s Celebration and Ceilidh. Thursday 3rd February – Chinese New Year Celebrations Holiday Week – Playgroup closed from Tuesday 15th February till Friday 18th inclusive Easter Bazaar The Easter Bazaar will take place on Saturday 19th March. This is the only big fund-raising event of the session and we hope that everyone will be willing to get involved. For it to be a success we need a committee of about six parents. I have had one or two offers but need more people to help. If you think you are able to be part of the committee please let me know as soon as possible. There will be a short progress report issued this week for the children who have attended playgroup during the last term. Val Kennedy and Jane Smith are the parent members of the main committee and they can raise any matters or concerns of the parents at the committee meetings. Can you let me know if you change your phone numbers or e-mail addresses so that the records are kept up to date. I think that is all for now. Any problems or questions just let me know. Thanks again for all your support and help. Barbara Playgroup number – 07773859140 E mail – stjohnspg@hotmail.com