Welocme to Hannah

Dear Parents/Carers,

We would like you all to join us in welcoming Hannah to Cosmic Club. Hannah is a new member of bank staff who you may have already seen at Cosmic Club. Hannah is looking forward to undertaking the Play work NVQ. Hannah is a professional dancer, she enjoys art, and is able to play a selection of musical instruments. She is very energetic and has lots of ideas for activities and the play environment.

We hope you are seeing lots of positive changes at Cosmic Club, and that the children are enjoying themselves!

 

Louise and the team at Cosmic Club

Easter Tea

We hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine which we have had recently, Spring is here!

 

We would like to remind you of our activity plans for next week's Easter Celebrations.

Easter Teas:

Babies and Nursery Room will be holding an Easter Tea on Monday 14th April, Pre-school will be holding an Easter Tea on Thursday 17th April. We would like to invite our parents along to these events, your children do not have to be booked in. The children will enjoy an Easter Party Tea, whilst our parents will have the chance to socialise with the staff members and with one another. There are attendance lists up in each room, please ask the girls for more details.

We hope you can make it!

Friday 14th March

Art folders:

May we please encourage our parents to check their children's art folders regularly for any art work to be taken home to avoid them building up.

Peg pictures:

Can we remind parents to encourage their children to find their peg pictures when they arrive at Nursery. This not only provides the children with a sense of belonging but also allows the staff to find their bags and coats quickly.

Labelling clothing:

Can we please remind parents to label their children's clothing as our 'lost property' boxes are overflowing and we would like to return the items of clothing to the rightful owners!

Easter half-term schedule for pre-school:

We have put together an Easter half-term schedule for our pre-school children. The first week of which focuses on the season of Spring with activities planned to engage the children in environmental processes such as, life cycles. We plan to take the children out on a nature walk and encourage them to identify with the wild life around us.  We also have plans to involve the children in the planting of seeds which we will observe as they change and grow throughout Spring.

The second week focuses on the build up to Easter, including a traditional Easter Bonnet Parade! We'll also be doing some Easter cooking activities, and arts and crafts.

These schedules have been e-mailed out, but we have printed off some paper copies so please ask if you would like one.

If you would like to book your child in for an extra session in order for them to participate with any of the half-term activities, then please speak to Louise or Kelly.

Open Evening:

We have scheduled our next termly Open Evening for Wednesday 30th April. Open Evenings provide a great opportunity for you to catch up with your child's Key Person and share progress of learning and development. Parent Partnership is important to us here at Clover Court, and we very much value your input into the planning of 'next steps' for your child. Shared Input forms will be e-mailed out to all parents, please ensure that these are returned before Open Evening. If you do not receive e-mails from us, then please ask your child's Key Person for a paper copy.

Time slots have been put up in each room (Babies, Nursery and Pre-school). These will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. Can we please remind you all that these are 10 minute timeslots, if you feel that this is not a sufficient amount of time, then please speak to your child's Key Person about arranging a separate time.

If your child attends pre-school, we will also be having an Open Evening on Tuesday 29th April to allow for our high volume of Key children. We will put timeslots up for this evening also, so you will have a choice between the two, again first-come, first-served.

Kelly. C (Pre-school Practitioner):

We would like to let you all know that Kelly. C is expecting her first child. She is having a baby boy who is due on the 19th July. She will be going on maternity leave on the 20th June.

Jessica:

We would like to introduce our new member of bank staff to the Clover Court team. Jessica has a Level 2 qualification in child care, and is now working towards her NVQ Level 3. She has lots of experience in working with children aged 0-5 in day care settings, and also has her own little boy.

Food:

We have recently updated our menus for lunch and tea, these are displayed within the nursery, but please ask if you would like a copy to keep at home so as to avoid any clashes in mealtimes.
We now source our meat from the local butchers, and our groceries from Cheesmans who independently source from Covent Garden Market, in order to provide the children with more high quality food.

Tasha:

We are pleased to say that Tasha (pre-school) has been promoted to Supervisor over at Cosmic Club (our after school and holiday club). You will however still see Tasha around in pre-school in the mornings before she goes off on the afternoon school run. Tasha will be keeping her school leavers with regards to being a Key Person, but otherwise, your child's Key Person will now be April who recently joined our Pre-school team (please see previous blog). Tasha will be sending out letters to provide more confirmation on this.

Blog Update Monday 17^th February:

New Staff members:

Renee:

You may have noticed that we have a new member of staff within the nursery room, her name is Renee. Renee has a good knowledge of the role of a Nursery Practitioner; liaising with parents, planning activities and supporting children’s learning and development. She is looking forward to gaining a qualification in childcare in the near future.

April:

We are pleased to announce that we also have a new member of staff joining our pre-school team on 3^rd March. April has lots of experience in childcare, and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge with her new team. She has a level 4 qualification in childcare, and has experience of working with all age groups from babies to pre-school age.

Sam:

Week commencing the 17^th March, Sam (from the baby room) will be returning to us on a full time basis.

Millie:

We have also recruited an apprentice who is due to start with us on 24^th February. She’ll be spending time in all of the rooms, as part of her apprenticeship, learning about all age groups from babies to nursery, to pre-school and Cosmic Club – after school provision.

Millie has previously been on placement here, spending most of her time within the pre-school environment.

Toilet Training Bags:

The nursery room have recently introduced ‘Toilet Training Bags’ to support children through this crucial stage of development. These can be borrowed from the setting and returned on a weekly basis. Please ask the staff members in the Nursery Room should you require more details.

Chatter Packs:

The Nursery Room also have a Chatter Packs system in place which enables children and parents to borrow books from the setting. This system works really well within pre-school, but seems to have faded within the Nursery Room. Please feel free to provide the Nursery Room staff with feedback on this system, why you tend not to make use of it; books/stories inappropriate for the age group, positioning of the book rack etc?

Reminders:

Signing in/out:

Can we please remind our parents/carers to sign their children in/out of the setting as part of our procedure for safeguarding the children. If you are unsure of where the register is for each room, then please ask a member of staff who will be more than happy to help.

Dropping off before 8am:

Again, can we please remind our parents/carers, not to drop their children off at nursery/pre-school before 8 o’clock unless booked in beforehand. Our staffing changes from week to week based on how many children are booked in throughout the day in order to maintain the ratio of children/adults.

We appreciate your cooperation with this.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

 

Happy New Year

Blog update: Friday 10^th January

Happy New Year:

We would firstly like to welcome you all into the New Year! We hope you all had a lovely Christmas break!

Thank you very much for all of our Christmas cards and gifts.

Open Evening:

Can we please remind parents/carers that our next Open Evening is on Thursday 30^th January Timeslot tables are up in each room; please allocate yourselves with your child’s Key Person. If you cannot make the Open Evening but would still like to catch up with your child’s Key Person then please speak to them to arrange a suitable date/time.

ICT Area:

We are currently focusing on developing an Information and Communication Technology Area within the Nursery Rooms to support the children with their interests and learning within this area of development.

Could we please ask parents/carers to support us in resourcing this area by having a look at home or at work for any old unused equipment that you would be able to donate to us. For example; computer monitors, keyboards, mouse, cameras, telephones, mobile phones etc.

We would like to thank you in advance for your support with this.

Taylor’s Travels:

Some exciting news about Taylor within the nursery room she has decided to go off and explore Thailand. We will be very sad to see Taylor go but wish her much happiness for the future. Taylor's last day will be the 30th January. Cat will be taking over all of her key children; please do not hesitate to talk to Lucy the team leader within the room if you have any questions.

Peg pictures within the nursery room:

Please can we remind you to find your child’s peg picture together when you arrive at nursery in the morning? We are finding lots of parents do not do this and it proves difficult to know every child’s bag and coat. Also we would like you to remove the picture at the end of your child’s day to the board.

Blog update Friday 6th December

Blog update Friday 6^th December:

Open Evening:

Please be informed that we have scheduled our next Open Evening for Thursday the 30^th January. The evening will provide you with an opportunity to speak with your child’s Key Person and to have a look through your child’s individual Learning Journal, sharing progress made and any concerns regarding learning and development. Key Persons will have summarised each child’s development within the current term (Winter), and with your input, will devise ‘Next Steps’ for learning and development for the Spring term (January to April).

Timeslots for the evening have been put up in each room, please write your name down next to the timeslot that you would prefer. Please be reminded, that these are 10 minute timeslots, should you feel that this is not an adequate length of time to meet with your Key Person, then please speak to them about arranging a separate occasion.

Emergency Closure:

We would just like to bring your attention to one of our policies which may be relevant in the next couple of months, concerning the procedure that we are to follow in the case of heavy snowfall.

If as parents/carers you wake up to heavy snowfall, please follow these instructions:

·         Please visit our blog page at www.cranbrooknurseryclover.blogspot.co.uk, where we will endeavor to post relevant information of any closures.

·         Alternatively please telephone the setting after 8am (01293 887533).

Should we experience severe weather during the day whilst the nursery is open, we may ask parents/carers to collect their children earlier, for this reason it is vital that we have up to date contact numbers.

Our reasons for closure would be for the safety of parents/carers/children and staff members and to minimize the need for travel.

There is a copy of this policy on our Parents Notice Board just inside the door, please feel free to take a copy for your reference.

Christmas Card Letter Box:

There is a Christmas Card Post Box situated within the entrance hall, please use this to post cards for Baby Room and Nursery Room only. Pre-school will have their own Post Box which will be placed on the signing in/out table at the top of the entrance hall.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

Christmas 2013

Blog update w/c 25^th November:

Tatty Bumpkin:

Just to let you know that Tatty Bumpkin will now take place on a Thursday morning at 9.30.

Tatty Bumpkin is a yoga class for young children involving the use of music and props.

Tatty Bumpkin will provide one half hour session for nursery children, and one half hour session for pre-schoolers.

This extra curricula activity is of no extra cost to the parents, if your child/children are here on a Thursday during the sessions, and they would like to join in, then they may.

Christmas:

Firstly we would like to confirm our Christmas opening hours for you; we are open up until Christmas Eve, and then we are closed from Christmas Day (25^th), and then we are open again on Thursday 2^nd of January.

On Christmas Eve, we will be open from 7.30 – 16.00.

Our Christmas activity schedule will be e-mailed out to you this week, or feel free to request a paper copy if you’d rather.

Monday 16^th December – Parents and Carers have been invited to celebrate with Babies and Nursery staff with some mulled wine and mince pies.

Tuesday 17^th December – Father Christmas will be visiting us in his grotto, to deliver Christmas presents to all the girls and boys. The children will also enjoy a Christmas lunch.

Wednesday 18^th December – Parents and Carers have been invited to watch their children take part in our Christmas production of the ‘twelve days of Christmas.’

Thursday 19^th December – as above.

Friday 20^th December – same as Monday.

Monday 23^rd December – we will be having a Christmas Jumper Day!

Tuesday 24^th December (Christmas Eve) – we will be celebrating the night before Christmas by wearing our pyjamas for the day.

 

Louise and the team at Clover Court