Education

Education PRIMARY SCHOOL

PLAY SCHOOL NOTRE ECOLE PLAYGROUP LITTLE HANDS MVC VILLAGE COLLEGE U3A

EDUCATION

Little Hands Karen 01763 260964

Melbourn Playgroup Claire Armstrong and Jennie Riggs 01763 223459 07842 151512

Notre Ecole Janet Whitton 261231

Primary School Headteacher Stephanie Wilcox 223457 U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman Tony Garrick 01223 510201 Village College Principal Simon Holmes 223400

Melbourn Playgroup and Out of School Club

It is all change for us at Melbourn Playgroup and Out of School Club. We (Claire Armstrong and Jennie Riggs) were delighted to be appointed as Joint Managers of the Playgroup, whilst Nikki Cross and Natalie Youdan were appointed as Joint Managers of MOOS (our After-School Club). We are pleased that Gill Collingbourne remains as our Business Manager. We also have a growing, amazing team of staff who support and help us.

It has been a busy start to the year settling into our new positions. We have spent time getting to know our roles and making plans to improve the setting.

On January 10th we had an Ofsted inspection and we were extremely pleased to receive an outstanding rating in all areas. This has supported our feeling that we are moving in the right direction, although we are still striving to make sure the children get the best care we can provide. This couldn’t be achieved without the fantastic team we have working for us, so we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for their hard work and dedication. Our report is available to read here: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50144148 We are pleased to announce that we have a new website and logo too. We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Kieron Baker at ‘Colossal Motion’ for creating these for us. We are really pleased with them, so please go and have a look! www.melbournplaygroup.co.uk/ We have been improving our outside area and it is looking fab. We have recently purchased some all-in-one waterproofs, courtesy of the Parish Council, so we can now learn and play in all weathers. We have some new planters in which we are hoping to give the children the opportunity to grow their own vegetables and flowers. We have already filled one with a variety of herbs such as rosemary, thyme and sage so that the children can explore the different scents and smells. We have enjoyed lots of activities this year including a visit from Wiggles the dog, a Chinese workshop where

we learned about Chinese New Year and learnt some Mandarin words and we sang our Christmas songs to the lunch club at The Hub.

We love people coming to visit us. If you feel that you have an interesting job or hobby or something you would like to share with the children please contact us.

MOOS continues to be a busy and fun environment for the children aged between 4 and 11 to come to. They enjoy lots of freely chosen, self-directed play along with various craft and creative work. They particularly enjoy loom bands and junk modelling. We use our outside space whenever the weather allows, enjoying team games as well as dance routines and imaginative play. It is always a lovely experience to see children socialising, playing and growing during their time with us at MOOS.

We are so grateful to our fantastic, caring and engaging team who work with us to ensure the club is the best it can be.

We will be running our holiday club during school holidays. Dates can be seen on our website. The holiday club is open to children at Melbourn Primary School and Playgroup and also to children from outside of Melbourn. If you are interested in booking a place at our holiday clubs or want further info please contact us – moos@melbournplaygroup.org.uk or telephone us on 01763 223459.

Bumpkins Nursery

Supporting all Local Key Workers – doing our bit for the community

Whilst we may have had a lot less children during lockdown, Bumpkins Nursery has been open all the way through for local key-working parents who need childcare.

We have missed seeing so many of our little ones during this time, but are keeping in touch with the families by email, Facebook and Instagram. We have enjoyed sharing activities and ideas to keep the little ones entertained and are full of admiration for all our families who have been juggling working from home alongside caring for their children. Feel free to take a look at our website to get some useful ideas on activities you can be doing from home: www.bumpkinsnursery.co.uk

At nursery, we have enjoyed our normal Bumpkins days and taken full advantage of this glorious weather to enjoy days out in our garden, walks down the field and picnics in the sunshine. Our rabbits and chickens have also been well cared for during this time by all the children.

We have been supported by our local food suppliers who have ensured we have had lots of fresh food for the children in our care. So, a huge thank you to the butchery department at Bury Lane and Hill View Farm Shop for keeping us fed!

To support the parents who were in lockdown we took the decision to not charge anyone during this time if they were not using our services at Bumpkins. We believe that we are all in this together and have to do everything we can to support all our local families, many of whom are facing financial difficulties.

Looking to getting back to normal times we can’t wait to see everyone again, and as Bumpkins was 20 years old at the beginning of April a celebration party is high on our To Do list, just as soon as we are able!

If you need our help we are open 7.30 am – 6.30 pm, caring for babies and pre-school children on a working farm and at our pre-school in Whaddon. www.bumpkinsnursery.co.uk 01223 208777