Week commencing 1st June

Dear Parents

 

New menus

The new menus are starting next week, but we need your help.

Some of you commented in our annual questionnaire that you would like to see more variety with our breakfast, snack and tea menu (basically all the foods that I organise!!!)

I will happily admit that I am no Delia so I need your help with suggestions of foods we can serve.

Please bear in mind that we cater for up to 43 children per meal so time and space are our real issues, particularly time.

We have kept our standard teas and snacks going for now but with your help we hope to mix up the new menus in the next few months.

 

In2sports

We had a trial session with a sports coaching company in2sports. We really enjoyed our session so have arranged for them to come every week, on Monday afternoons, and teach the Bluebells and Sunflowers.

As before these sessions will be complementary for every child who is in on Mondays.

In2sports plan each lesson and link the activities to the Early Years Foundation Stage as well as to current events, for example teaching Tennis skills when Wimbledon is on. We will attach each weeks lesson plan to the ILD’S. Each child also has a learning chart which follows their progress. These will also be included on your child’s ILD.

We are really excited to start these sessions on Monday 1^st June

 

Staff news

Sammy, our new apprentice is starting on Monday. The teams will be introducing her to you all over the next few weeks

 

Interactive Learning Diary

Don’t forget to check out all the exciting things your child has done this week, on their ILD profile.

We aim to put at least one observation up per week.

Follow the link below: http://www.interactivelearningdiary.co.uk/

 

Policy of the week

We will be displaying a different policy every week on our newsletter.

If you would like to see this or any of our policies please ask Caroline.

Our Policy this week is: Disclosing Information

 

Useful websites:

Here are the links for the Surrey Family Information Service, Free Early Education (the 15 hours funding) and Free Early Education for Two year olds.

 

www.surreycc.gov.uk/fis
www.surreycc.gov.uk/fee
www.surreycc.gov.uk/feet

 

Menus

See attached document for the weekly menu. If you would like to see a copy of our allergens menu at any time please ask!

 

This week’s activities

Each key person will be responsible for designing an activity based on their key children’s needs; however, all children who are in on that day will have the opportunity to access the activity too.

If the key person is on holiday or off, another staff member will be able to lead the activity in their place so that the children do not miss out.

For more information on the Early Years Foundation stage, the guidance we use to support our planning and practice, please visit:

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/ 

 

This week’s planned activities are also are now on the ILD’S

 

Buttercups

Monday- Mel’s group are singing the song Five Little Ducks

Tuesday – Leanne’s group will be finding objects hidden in the garden

Wednesday – Leanne’s group is playing with the animal puppets as they sing animal songs

Thursday – Mel’s group will be reading Peppa Pig books and pointing things out in them.

Friday – Charlotte’s group are painting on large sheets of paper using their hands and feet!

Charlotte is off Monday, Leanne is off Friday, Mel is off Tuesday and Nilem is off Monday

 

Bluebells

Monday – Hannah’s group is getting moving as they sing action rhymes

Tuesday- Donna’s group are developing their language skills as they sing songs together

Wednesday- Almu’s group will be reading the book “How Do I Feel?”

Thursday- Hannah’s group is filling and emptying containers to help understand about shape and size

Friday- Chloe’s group will be using the emotion dolls to talk about how they feel.

Donna is off Friday, Chloe is off Thursday, Hannah is in all week and Almu is away on Holiday

 

Sunflowers

The Sunflowers have one detailed weekly focused activity to ensure all the children have the opportunity to take part in it.

This will work alongside their weekly planned activity list which you can see in the room and on the ILD’S.

This week’s activity is writing postcards and posting them home

The children will choose who to write to and post the letters themselves

The learning intentions are:

To develop pencil control

To build muscle in their dominant hand

To start to form letters/words

To recognise/write their names

 

The letter of the week is: Cc

This week’s activities are:

Making letter C with Playdough

Playing with the Cars

Using the C stencils

Thinking of words that begin with C at Circle time

 

Jess is off Thursday and Friday and has training on Tuesday, Becci and Megan are in all week

Week commencing 25th May

Dear Parents

 

Parent news

One of our Mummies is running the Stockholm Marathon in May raising money for the Unicef Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

You can see Rachel’s story below and donate if you wish.

https://www.justgiving.com/Rachel-Goodchild1

 

Good luck to all the Mummies running Race for Life this weekend!

 

Interactive Learning Diary

Don’t forget to check out all the exciting things your child has done this week, on their ILD profile.

We aim to put at least one observation up per week.

Follow the link below: http://www.interactivelearningdiary.co.uk/

 

Policy of the week

We will be displaying a different policy every week at the bottom of this newsletter.

If you would like to see this or any of our policies please ask Caroline.

Our Policy this week is:  Whistle Blowing

 

 

Useful websites:

Here are the links for the Surrey Family Information Service, Free Early Education (the 15 hours funding) and Free Early Education for Two year olds.

 

www.surreycc.gov.uk/fis
www.surreycc.gov.uk/fee
www.surreycc.gov.uk/feet

 

Menus

Tea on Thursday will be bread rolls

If you would like to see a copy of our allergens menu at any time please ask!

 

This week’s activities

Each key person will be responsible for designing an activity based on their key children’s needs; however, all children who are in on that day will have the opportunity to access the activity too.

If the key person is on holiday or off, another staff member will be able to lead the activity in their place so that the children do not miss out.

For more information on the Early Years Foundation stage, the guidance we use to support our planning and practice, please visit:

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/ 

 

This week’s planned activities are also are now on the ILD’S

 

Forest school

This week’s group made a camp with the tarpaulin.

They cooked their own bread over the fire and drank hot chocolate

The next Forest school session will be on Monday 1^st June

 

Buttercups

Tuesday – Mel’s group are exploring the toy telephones.

Wednesday – Leanne’s group is looking at the family book and naming our family members

Thursday – Charlotte’s group will be naming parts of their body and singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

Friday – Mel’s group are exploring shapes as they play with the bead mazes.

Charlotte is off Tuesday, Mel is off Wednesday, Nilem and Leanne are off Friday

 

Bluebells

Tuesday – Hannah’s group is building a tower with blocks to develop physical skills

Wednesday – Almu’s group are exploring ICT toys and how they work.

Thursday – Donna’ group will be rolling balls to their friends as they call out their names

Friday – Chloe’s group is making mini pizzas!

Donna is off Tuesday and Wednesday, Chloe is off Thursday and Almu and Hannah are in all week

 

Sunflowers

The Sunflowers have one detailed weekly focused activity to ensure all the children have the opportunity to take part in it.

This will work alongside their weekly planned activity list which you can see in the room and on the ILD’S.

This week’s activity is developing personal relationships by asking our friends questions and answering questions from our friends.

The learning intentions for this activity are:

To develop social skills

To share interests

To build relationships

To discover similarities and differences

 

The letter of the week is: B

This week we will be:

Putting the letter B stencils out

Singing Ba Ba Black Sheep

Painting with Blue paint

Blue sand in the tray

Eating Banana for snack  

 

Jess is off Friday and Megan and Becci are in all week.

 

Enjoy the Bank holiday!

 

Caroline and the South Hill Team

 

Policy of the week:

 

Whistle Blowing

 

Whistle blowing is another way of saying “staff that make a disclosure in the public interest”

 

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 protects workers who “blow the whistle” about wrong doing. It applies where a worker has reasonable belief that their disclosure tends to show one or more of the following offences or breaches:

• A criminal offence
• The breach of a legal obligation
• A miscarriage of justice
• A danger to the health and safety of any individual
• Damage to the environment
• Deliberate covering up of information tending to show any of the above.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool strongly supports measures which protect whistle-blowers from any form of victimisation. Castle Daycare and Preschool has a procedure to ensure concerns are dealt with effectively and efficiently and will do all that they can to preserve the confidentiality of workers who raise such concerns.

 

If you genuinely believe that people you work with are behaving in a way that seems wrong or have a serious concern about an aspect of service, you will be doing your duty and acting in the public interest by speaking out.

 

• If you are concerned about staff members or a working practice you are requested to speak to your Manager.

 

• The Manager will investigate the complaint and you will be informed of the outcome of the investigation. The Nursery will deal with a concern within ten days of receiving the concern.

 

• If it is the Manager you have a concern about, or the Manager has not dealt with any issues satisfactorily, you need to inform the Operations Manager, who will then undertake an investigation.

 

Operations Manager, Natalie Chrystie: 07789 26 82 41 or 01293 772561

 

• If the matter is still not dealt with in a satisfactory way or the issue is very serious you can contact the Ofsted whistle blowing number:

0300123 3156

 

• Depending on the outcome of the investigation other agencies such as Ofsted or Surrey Safeguarding Children Board may need to be contacted.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool will respond to any concerns raised and will make every effort to not reveal the whistle-blower’s identity, if they so wish. However during the investigation it may be necessary to make the origin of the complaint known to the person or persons the allegations concern. All concerns raised within the investigation process will be assessed to determine if the confidentiality extends to withholding the name of the complainant.

 

Whistle-blowers should understand that their identity may be revealed by inference.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool accepts that the deciding to report a concern can be very difficult and uncomfortable. If a member of staff makes an allegation in good faith, but it is not confirmed by the investigation, no action will be taken against him/her. If however a member of staff makes an allegation frivolously, maliciously of for personal gain, disciplinary action may be taken against them.

 

This may be a stressful time for the whistle blower so Castle Daycare and Preschool would recommend that support groups such as the Samaritans on: 08457 90 90 90 may be able to give impartial support.

week commencing 18th May

Dear Parents and Carers

 

Graduation date

Sorry the Sunflowers Graduation date was incorrect in last week’s email.

The Graduation is on Thursday 16^th July

 

Grandparents Stay and Play

A big thank you to all of those Grandparents who came to the session on Tuesday.

The children really loved having you in.

 

Extra sessions and siblings

It is getting to our very busy time of year so we may not be able to offer as many extra sessions as we normally can. Please still ask though, as long as we have space we will still do ad hoc sessions.

Also looking ahead to later in the year and next year, if you have a younger child who you would like to register or you would like your child to increase days please talk to us soon as we are looking very busy and we don’t want anyone to miss out.

 

As we are so busy we have taken on a new apprentice Sammy who will start with us in June. Alba is also coming back as bank staff over the summer.

You may remember Alba as she used to work at our Markenfield Road setting and covered with us last year.

 

Interactive learning Diary

Don’t forget to check out all the exciting things your child has done this week, on their ILD profile.

We aim to put at least one observation up per week.

Follow the link below: http://www.interactivelearningdiary.co.uk/

 

Useful websites:

Here are the links for the Surrey Family Information Service, Free Early Education (the 15 hours funding) and Free Early Education for Two year olds.

 

www.surreycc.gov.uk/fis
www.surreycc.gov.uk/fee
www.surreycc.gov.uk/feet

 

Menus

There are no planned changes to this week’s menu.

See attached document for the weekly menu. If you would like to see a copy of our allergens menu at any time please ask!

 

This week’s activities

Each key person will be responsible for designing an activity based on their key children’s needs; however, all children who are in on that day will have the opportunity to access the activity too.

If the key person is on holiday or off, another staff member will be able to lead the activity in their place so that the children do not miss out.

For more information on the Early Years Foundation stage, the guidance we use to support our planning and practice, please visit:

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/ 

 

This week’s planned activities are also are now on the ILD’S

 

Buttercups

Monday – Leanne’s group are having a tea party with the teddies

Tuesday – Charlotte’s group will be choosing their own books to read with the staff.

Wednesday – Leanne’s group is developing independence skills as they choose their own fruits at snack time.

Thursday – Mel’s group are exploring the toy cars and garage

Friday – Mel’s group will be looking at shapes as they play with the shape sorters.

Charlotte is off Monday, Mel is off Tuesday, Leanne and Nilem are off Friday.

 

Bluebells

Monday – Donna’s group will be washing their own hands before meals

Tuesday -  Hannah will be reading and discussing stories with the whole group

Wednesday – Chloe’s group are playing with the dressing up clothes together

Thursday – Almu’s group is getting wet as they explore the water trays

Friday – Chloe’s group will be exploring the shape sorters

Donna is off Friday, Chloe is off Thursday, Hannah is off Friday, Almu and Rose are in all week.

It’s Rose’s last day before maternity leave on Friday.

 

Sunflowers  

The Sunflowers have one detailed weekly focused activity to ensure all the children have the opportunity to take part in it.

This will work alongside their weekly planned activity list which you can see in the room and on the ILD’S.

This week’s activity is: Making Playdough caterpillars

 

The learning intentions for this activity are:

To add and subtract

To measure

To look at size

To use comparing and contrasting language

To further develop counting skills

 

The letter of the week is: A

 

Our activities are:

Using the A stencils

Cutting apples for snack

Colouring alligator pictures

Looking for ants in the garden

Jess is off Friday and on training on Tuesday, Becci and Megan are in all week and Alison does 9.30-2.30 Monday to Friday

 

Policy of the week

Suspected abuse by an Early Years Worker

 

Any suspicion or allegation of child abuse by an early year’s worker must be reported to the Manager so that a referral can be made.

 

If circumstances are such that this is not a viable course of action, (for example – if it is the Manager that has been accused) then the matter should be immediately referred to the Operations Manager to refer to OFSTED/Surrey Safeguarding Children Board, following the flow chart.

 

The member of staff making the allegation will be required to give details of the alleged abuse.

 

The member of staff who has had the allegation made against them will be immediately suspended whilst a full investigation takes place.

 

If there is an allegation against a staff member the Manager or DCPO must inform the Surrey County Council Local Authority Child Protection Designated Officer (LADO) on 0300 2001 006.

 

Ofsted will be informed of any allegations of serious abuse or harm by any person living, working or looking after children at the premises; we must also notify Ofsted of the action taken in respect of the allegations. These notifications must be made as soon as is reasonability practical but within at least 14 days of the allegations being made. If the nursery fails to do this an offence will have been committed.

 

See Appendices 1 for the following:

 

Risk Assessment for the Suspension of staff following a concern

Summary of Child Protection Allegation/Concern to be placed on Personnel File/kept by the Agency

Week commencing 11th May

Dear Parents

 

Grandparent’s Stay and Play

We are having a Grandparents Stay and Play session on Tuesday 12^th May from 9.30-11.30

Grandparents are welcome to drop in and stay for the whole session or just what they can do.

If your child is not in on a Tuesday their grandparents can still bring them along.

Please sign up for this session in your child’s room.

 

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 24^th June the farm are visiting in the afternoon

15^th June – Father’s Week

Thursday 17^th July – Sunflowers Graduation

Thursday 10^th September – Parents Evening

Saturday 5^th September – Our 20^th Anniversary party!

 

Interactive learning Diary

Don’t forget to check out all the exciting things your child has done this week, on their ILD profile.

We aim to put at least one observation up per week.

Follow the link below: http://www.interactivelearningdiary.co.uk/

 

Useful websites:

Here are the links for the Surrey Family Information Service, Free Early Education (the 15 hours funding) and Free Early Education for Two year olds.

 

www.surreycc.gov.uk/fis
www.surreycc.gov.uk/fee
www.surreycc.gov.uk/feet

 

Menus

There are no planned changes to this week’s menu.

See attached document for the weekly menu. If you would like to see a copy of our allergens menu at any time please ask!

 

This week’s activities

Each key person will be responsible for designing an activity based on their key children’s needs; however, all children who are in on that day will have the opportunity to access the activity too.

If the key person is on holiday or off, another staff member will be able to lead the activity in their place so that the children do not miss out.

For more information on the Early Years Foundation stage, the guidance we use to support our planning and practice, please visit:

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/ 

 

This week’s planned activities are also are now on the ILD’S

 

Forest School

There was no forest school due to the Bank holiday

 

Buttercups

Monday – Leanne’s group is exploring number puzzles

Tuesday– Leanne’s group will be looking at the touch and feel books

Wednesday – Mel’s group are building motor control as they roll and throw balls.

Thursday – Charlotte’s group is finding objects in the treasure baskets

Friday – Charlotte’s group will be practising putting on their own shoes and coats

Charlotte is off Monday, Nilem and Leanne are off Friday and Mel is off Tuesday

 

Bluebells

Monday – Chloe’s group are sharing the books they have brought in from home.

Tuesday – Donna’s group are using the unfix cubes to count to 5

Wednesday – Hannah’s group will be exploring the musical instruments

Thursday – Almu’s group are using big and little cups to fill and pour sand.

Friday – Hannah’s group is using pencils and crayons to colour their own pictures.

Donna is off Friday, Hannah and Almu are in all week, Chloe is off Wednesday and Rose is on annual leave all week. Her last day before maternity leave is Friday 22^nd May 

 

Sunflowers

The Sunflowers have one detailed weekly focused activity to ensure all the children have the opportunity to take part in it.

This will work alongside their weekly planned activity list which you can see in the room and on the ILD’S.

This week’s activity is making cards for Grandparents.  The children will also be talking about past events and things they enjoy doing with their Grandparents.

 

The letter of the week is: Z

We will be:

Using the letter Z stencils on the literacy table

Doing our zips on our coats up by ourselves

Drawing zebras at the mark making table

Thinking of different words that begin with Z.

 

Jess is off Friday, Becci and Megan are in all week.

Alison works Monday – Thursday 9.30-3.30

 

 

Policy of the week

What will happen if a staff member is accused of abuse?

 

If a staff member is accused of abuse, they will be informed of this by the Manager or Operations Manager.

 

They may be suspended on full pay; the manager will discuss this with them.

 

A formal investigation will take place and the accused staff member will be given the opportunity to have their say.

 

Staff will be notified at least two working days before the investigation meeting takes place.

 

In the meantime the Manager or Operations Manager will investigate the allegations made.

 

The accused staff member will be allowed to bring a union representative (if they are part of a union) or a fellow member of staff to the meeting. This person will not be allowed to speak during the meeting but will act as a witness that the proceedings were fair and unbiased.

 

We understand this will be a very difficult time, whatever the outcome so Castle Daycare and Preschool recommend that support is sought from support groups such as the Samaritans on: 08457 90 90 90

 

It is important to know that the Nursery has a legal duty to inform the Disclosure and Baring Service DBS if you are dismissed due to the allegations made against you, If you leave before the investigation process has finished the Nursery must still inform the DBS of any information.

 

In the event of a disqualification you will not be employed in connection with the setting.

If the Nursery becomes aware at any time of any information that may lead to disqualification, the nursery will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of the children.

 

Please be aware that if you live or work in the same household as someone who has been disqualified, this will mean you may also become disqualified and lose your position at the nursery.

 

The nursery must also inform Ofsted of any significant event which may affect the suitability of people working or coming into the premises.

 

The Nursery must give Ofsted the following information on any person working (including the people that they live with) or living on the premises:

• Details of the order, determination, conviction or other ground for disqualification from registration under regulations made under section 75 of the Childcare Act 2006
• The date of the order, determination or conviction, or the date when the other ground for disqualification arose:
• A body or court which made the order, determination or conviction, and the sentence (if any) imposed and:
• A certified copy of the relevant order (in relation to an order or conviction)

 

This information must be sent to Ofsted within 14 days of the date that the setting became aware of the information or ought reasonably to have become aware of it if the nursery had made reasonable enquires.

 

You have a duty to inform your manager if anything may affect your DBS status, this includes living with someone who has been disqualified. You must do this as soon as you become aware of the situation. You will also be asked at each appraisal and supervision about the status of your DBS.

 

For more information on the DBS please go to

https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview

 

If you have any questions or comments about this policy please let us know.