Child Care Okehampton

Newsletter June 2015

Posted on Sunday, June 21, 2015 in Newsletters

Dear Parents / Carers

 

As I write this letter, the sun is shining and Mid Summers Day is fast approaching.   Although I love the Summer months, it is also a sad time of year as we say Goodbye to the majority of our Butterfly children as they go off to their new schools.  I would like to wish them well in their new adventure and I am sure that each and everyone will continue to do well in their learning and development.

 

Graduation Day!

On Monday the 20th July at 10.00 all the nursery leavers are invited to our Garden party, where there will be food, games and magic to be enjoyed.  Parents are invited to attend from 11.15, where after a small performance, children will receive a small token of their time with us.

 

Tapestry

For all the children that are leaving Stepping Stones, the online Tapestry will be cut off a week before their leaving date,  allowing  time for all the admin to be completed.  Parents will need to come into Nursery to receive their memory stick with their child’s data on it.  This will take a little time and a signature will be required.

 

Vacancies

The nursery is currently very busy and even though we have lost sixty nine children to school, come September, We have filled the spaces in the Butterflies and the Caterpillars we only have spaces available in the Bumble Bee Unit, with these being limited.

 

We do advise that if you wish to increase hours due to being eligible for early years funding, that you let us know as soon as possible.  Places are given on a first come, first serve basis however due to the need of needing to remain sustainable we can not keep places open in the hope that you may require it.

 

Sickness / Illness

Can we please remind parents that if your child has been given Calpol before their Nursery session, then they are clearly not well enough to attend.

Please think not only of your own child but those of others as well. Keeping ill children at home helps to reduce the risk of infection within the nursery setting.

 

Learning and Development

Hopefully by now you will realise that each week your child’s group share their learning experiences with you on our website.  This gives you an insight on what children

will be learning during their sessions and also gives you some simple ideas to encourage further learning at home.  Please take the time to have a look, we would be very interested in your views.

 

 Learning experiences can be found on our website at 

www.ssdn.info

 

Bottles, Cups and Dummies

In both the Butterfly and Caterpillar units we now have new water dispensers which children are regularly encouraged to use.  More recently we have received a new document asking us to look at the use of Bottles, Cup and Dummies.  Through new research they have highlighted concerns regarding these items and how they can effect speech, cause tooth decay and mouth deformities.

With this in mind we will now only be offering drinks in open cups or unvalved / sip cups / beakers.  if your child has a packed lunch their drinks will also be poured into these cups, as it has been noted that sports bottles can cause the same concerns.  Please find a link to  fact sheets for bottles, cups and dummies and If you would like any further guidance on this please feel free to speak to any member of staff within your group.  Bottle Cups and Dummies 

 

A New Term

Over the Summer holidays we will be updating our systems to ensure that the children’s sessions and times are correct.  Can you please confirm your session times with your Team Leaders, so that we can ensure that our ratio’s remain correct during all aspects of our day.  Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

 

People Picking Up

Can we just remind all parent’s that if someone different is picking your child up, we do need to be told.  This can be done at the beginning of the session or via a telephone call.

A name, description of the person, I.D. and a password is required during these instances.

 

The New Garden

Chris has been very busy improving our grassed area, we now have a beautiful new role play area and a fantastic Twitter House where children can sit and watch our wildlife overlooking the river.  If you have time, please take a look at these exciting new projects.

 

Books, Books and More Books

As you are aware all the children are enjoying borrowing books from the Nursery.  I would like to thank all the parents who have recently donated even more to our ever-growing shelves.

Please feel free to borrow them, reading opens up whole new worlds and imaginations and once encouraged is a past time that will long continue into adult life.

 

Once again I would like to say Good Bye and Good Luck to all of those children who are off to school and a big thank you to you all for your continuous support.  If you would like to offer any suggestions on how we can continue to improve please feel free to speak to any member of staff, who will only be too pleased to pass your comments on.

 

 

Have a good Summer!

Best Wishes

 

Clare and Chris