Castle Nursery South Hill: W/c 12th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

Nursery News:

Parent Surveys

This year’s surveys have been sent out to you all regarding the care and service you receive at our nursery. We would really appreciate your input, so that we can review what we are doing and develop our nursery further. These surveys are not being read as they come in, and will be analysed and sent to our nursery after the 23rd of November. If there is anything important you want to share or discuss imminently, please see the nursery manager about it directly.

If you have not received a survey, it may be because you have ‘opted out’ of Survey Monkey surveys in the past. If you want to be involved in the survey and have not received one, please let me know and I will arrange a link to be sent to you to complete it.

Family books

All the rooms are going to be creating new family books, please can we ask you to bring in a few photos so we can make one for every child. Feel free to email them across and I can print them off for you. We aim to have this complete by the end of November. Thank you in advance.

Autumn/Winter Menus

The Autumn/Winter menus have been moved back to go live from the week of the 19^th November. If you have any questions about the new menus please let us know.

Nativity and Carol Service

It has reached that time of the year again where we are starting to organise the Christmas productions! Buttercups and Bluebells will be holding two carol service’s on Monday 10^th December at 3.00 and 4.30. The Sunflowers will be performing their nativity on Tuesday 11^th December at 9.45 and 4.15. We thought we’d give you plenty of notice so you can make arrangements with work. Each room will have a certain amount of seats for each performance so if there is a performance time you need please let your room know as soon as possible as usually the later performances fill up quickly. Tickets will be limited to two per family. There will be a waiting list for extra tickets if spaces are not filled. This will be on a first come first served basis.

Children in Need

Next week we are raising money for Children In Need. To help raise money for this year’s Children In Need we will be having cake sales at nursery, having dressing up days all week, a colouring competition and a fun parent game for you to get involved with. You will all be given our parent game and child’s colouring competition as a paper copy from your child’s room, but I have attached them to this week’s newsletter in case that’s easier for you J All donations will go to this year’s Children In Need. With our donations we can make a real difference to the lives of children all across the UK.

Dates for your diaries

w/c 12^th November – Children in Need

6^th December – Babies and Bluebells Christmas Parties

7^th December – Pre-schools Christmas Party

10^th December – Babies and Bluebells Carol Service – 3.00 and 4.30

11^th December – Pre-School Nativity Play – 9.45 and 4.15

This week’s activities and event-

In2 sports – During this week’s in2 sports the children were building their balancing skills while balancing different items on their bodies. They then joined in with, the fun animal game, where they moved around the garden in different ways.

Nature club – At this week’s Nature club we explored our environment in the rain getting very wet and muddy. We even made magic mud paint to paint the fallen branches and leaves.

Forest School – This week during Forest School the children collected their own resources to build a fire! They then warmed up water and enjoyed yummy hot chocolate around the fire.

Next 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 on the ILD’S.

Buttercups

Topic of the month: Bonfire Night

Monday – Hannah’s group will be exploring their reflections in mirrors, they will be asked to find their body parts and with pens draw on the mirrors shapes and lines where they are.

Tuesday – Leanne’s group are developing their self-care skills by getting their own coats and shoes from their pegs and shoe box for garden time.

Wednesday – Sammy’s group will be using the light box to explore shape and filling containers with different shaped objects.

Thursday – Jamie’s group are table painting, creating marks and patterns representing fireworks.

Friday – Jamie’s group are building on their interest in books by choosing their own stories to read.

Jamie is off Monday, Leanne is off Wednesday, Sammy is off Thursday and Hannah is in all week.

Bluebells

Topic of the month: Music

Monday – Megan’s group are feeding, dressing and washing the roleplay babies building on their health-care skills.

Tuesday – Ruby/Carla’s group are exploring the roleplay area developing their imaginative play.

Wednesday – Ruby’s group will be reading the story “Dear Zoo”, throughout the story the children will be able to unwrap different animals to match with the story.

Thursday – Donna’s group will be developing their relationships by working together to make pizza’s for their friends for tea.

Friday – Chloe’s group are building an interest in ICT resources while taking pictures of hidden dolls around the garden!

Donna is off Friday, Chloe is off Monday and Tuesday, Megan is off Thursday and Friday, Ruby is off Thursday and Carla is in all week.

Sunflowers

In the Sunflower room each Key Person plans and implements their own Key Group activity, but the room works on the same area and aspect to ensure the activity is individual to each Key Group and therefore meets the specific Key Group’s individual needs.

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

Becci’s group are building on their listening and attention skills by creating their own mask from a story of their choice. When the mask is made they will read the story together and act out parts using their mask as props.

Ines’s group are promoting their listening skills by reading the story “The Gingerbread Man”. They will be listening for key words and refrains so they can act out different parts of the story as they listen.

Topic of the month: Autumn

The letter of the week is: x

The children will be:

Talk about the letter X

Writing the letter X

Playing with cardboard boxes

Finding the letter X in our friends names

Reading the Gingerbread Man and talking about the fox

The Number of the week is: 7 seven

The children will be:

Counting to number 7 on our fingers

Grouping together 7 objects of the same colour

Writing the number 7 on white boards

The shape of the week is: Circle and Oval

The children will be:

Talking about the differences in the two shapes

Looking at the shapes and discussing their similarities

To confidently identify between circles and ovals

Becci if off Wednesday, Ines is off Tuesday and Eva is in all week.

Jenni and Ottilia are in all week.

I am in all day on Monday, I will be at a Managers meeting on Tuesday, I will be working early shifts Wednesday and Thursday and on holiday on Friday. If you have any queries when I am not here please speak to your child’s Room Leader or Jamie.

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: www.interactivelearningdiary.co.uk

Facebook

Castle Nursery and Preschool Facebook page promotes the company, engages with parents and team members across our nurseries.

If you would be interested in following this page, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/Castle-Nursery-and-Preschool-790319011138020/. We will be regularly adding events and photos to the page.

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!

Useful websites

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

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

www.surreycc.gov.uk/eypp

Our Policy of the Week:

Admissions procedure and policy for children with special needs and/or disabilities

Aim of the policy

To make clear how we follow admissions of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

Points to consider

The setting is expected to make reasonable adjustments in order to cater for and accommodate students. If the needs of the child are deemed as beyond reasonable, this may be a reason for non-admission.

Prior to a place being offered, all children and their respective needs will be considered. Our ability to provide appropriate facilities for the welfare of the child will be taken into consideration. Also refer to our inclusion policies.

Parents will be able to see what we offer all children including those with SEND on The Local Council’s Local Offer website.

The local offer puts all the information in one place, about health and social services, education, leisure activities and support groups available in the area for children and young people aged 0–25, with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It also explains the additional or different provision provided for children who have SEND. The local offer enables parents, carers, children, young people and practitioners/professionals to see clearly which service(s) and support across education, health and social care, are available locally for all children and young people from birth to 25 years with SEND, and how and when they can be accessed.

Childcare and Learning Group will aim to do this by:

The setting manager will:

· In consultation with the parent/carer of the child jointly assess the extent of the additional support requirement to meet the special need/ abilities of the child.

· Work in partnership with the parents to best support not only the child but the family.

· Where external agencies are already engaged in the care and development of that child, the setting manager will consult with those agencies on the extent of the additional support requirement and the appropriateness of the setting to meet those requirements.

· When the setting manager does not feel able to conclude her/his assessment of the setting’s ability to meet the needs of that child, the manager will, with support from appropriate professionals, obtain additional professional advice/guidance from the appropriate agencies.

· When a child with special educational needs and/or disabilities is admitted, the setting manager and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will:

· Agree a schedule of additional support with the parent/carer of the child to be signed and dated by the manager and the parent/carer.

· Allocate a suitably experienced key person.

· Review on a regular basis (subject to the extent of the additional support requirement but at least monthly) the setting’s performance in meeting the needs of the child.

· When a child with special educational needs and/or disabilities is not admitted, the setting manager will:

· Inform the parents of the decision and provide valid reasons as to why the setting is unable to meet the additional support requirements of the child.

Kind Regards,

Jess, Jamie and the South Hill Team

Castle Nursery & Pre-School

Childcare and Learning Ltd

14 South Hill | Guildford | Surrey | GU1 3SY