Dear
Parents and Carers,
Nursery
News:
Staff
news
Donna
will be taking part in schemas training on Wednesday morning.
Sammy
is completing DSL training on Monday.
Dates
for your diaries
14th
March – Parents evening
This
week’s activities and event-
Forest
School – This
week the children collected lots of different things and added water to make a
magic position. They finished off by having lots of free time to explore the
forest.
Music
and Movement –
During Music and Movement this week the children have enjoyed exploring a
sensory tunnel full of lights, going on an under the sea adventure to find a
corral cave and creating their own streamers to move and dance with.
Nature
Club – This
week it was the new groups turn for Jamie’s Nature Club, they had lots of fun
exploring there new nature club area. They then went on a hunt to find ice and
talked about freezing and melting!
French
– This
week in French the children learnt about their feelings. During the class the
children continued to build their colour awareness.
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:
This
week’s planned activities are also on the ILD’S.
Buttercups
Monday
– Jamie’s group will be creating number marks in cornflour gloop.
Tuesday
– Leanne’s group is exploring media while discovering paint and water together.
Wednesday
– Sammy’s group will be using the doll’s house, cars and small world people to
act out experiences.
Thursday
– Hannah’s group is choosing their own books and taking it turns to read them
with their friends.
Friday
– Jamie’s group are playing ball games in small groups building relationships.
Jamie
is off Monday, Leanne is off Wednesday, Sammy is off Thursday and on training
Monday and Hannah is in all week.
Bluebells
Monday
– Megan’s group are playing ‘Bucket Maths’ in the garden building number
confidence and shape awareness.
Tuesday
– Ruby’s group will be building their own den and creating their own campfire
using paper!
Wednesday
– Donna’s group are discovering the small world toys building their awareness
of the world around them.
Thursday
– Carla’s group is exploring paint and flower heads making different marks and
discovering media.
Friday
– Chloe’s are going for walk into the town centre, they will buy their
own snack at a local coffee shop.
Donna
is off Friday and on training Wednesday morning, Chloe is off Monday and
Tuesday, Megan is off Thursday and Friday, Ruby is off and Wednesday 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 is building their shape awareness while recognising and collecting
different shaped objects from around the room. They will also be playing group
games in the garden building relationships.
Ines’s
group are exploring musical instruments while practicing rhyming skills. They
will also be creating their own shakers using yoghurt pots.
Eva’s
group will be building their language skills while talking about their likes
and dislikes with their friends.
Topic
of the month:
Winter
The
letter of the week is: Ee
The
children will be:
Talking
about the letter e
Naming
things that begin with the letter e
Exploring
the letter e alphabet shaker
Writing
the letter e in the sand tray
The
Number of the week is: 5
The
children will be:
Counting
to number 5
Exploring
number puzzles
Jumping
5 times
Writing
the number 5 in the air
The
shape of the week is: Pentagon
The
children will be:
Counting
the sides and corners of the pentagon shape
Finding
pentagons around the room
Comparing
pentagons and hexagons
Becci
is off Thursday, Ines is off Tuesday and Eva is in all week.
Ottilia and Jenni are in all week.
I work all day on a Monday, early
shifts Tuesdays and Thursdays, late shifts on Wednesdays and a middle shift on
Fridays.
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).
Our Policy of the Week:
Key person
policy
Aim of the policy
To demonstrate how the key person role is
used throughout the setting.
Points to consider
As part of the vision and values of our
setting, we greatly value the strong positive relationships we build with the
children in our care and their families. Children’s emotional wellbeing is an
essential foundation for their health, happiness and ability to learn.
A key person:
·
Welcomes parents and children and introduces
them to other staff members, other parents and children.
·
Works closely with the parents and child.
·
Builds and maintains attachment
relationships.
·
Informs parents of their child’s time at
setting.
·
Keeps parents informed of any setting events.
·
Discusses and reassures fears, worries or
problems from both parents and children.
·
Supports the child’s transitions.
·
Continually builds a close relationship with
the parents and children during their time at setting.
·
Ensures that their key children’s needs and
interests are met through appropriate activities.
·
Keeps records on each of their key children
and uses these to enhance their learning and development.
Childcare and Learning
Group aims to do this by:
·
Having a key person for each child before
they come in to settle.
·
The key person will do the settling in visits
and will cascade information about the child to relevant team members.
·
The key person will spend time with the child
supporting their welfare, learning and emotional and physical development.
·
Ongoing training will be provided for staff
to enable them to carry out the key person role.
·
Arrangements will be in place to balance out
the number of children assigned to each key person and to accommodate shift
patterns and where possible a key person buddy maybe allocated to ensure the
children are supported whilst their key person is absent from the setting.
·
Staff will be inducted into becoming a key
person as part of their induction and will be supported throughout by the
manager and room leaders.
·
Sufficient time will be given for key people
to complete records, however these records will be designed to minimise any
time away from the children
Key people are chosen by a best fit judgement
or by looking at the session the child attends and staff shift patterns. By
fitting shift patterns to the days the child attends means the child and key
person can spend as much time together as possible.
The key person may be changed if the child
has a strong attachment to another staff member, subject to capacity in the
preferred team member’s workload and other key relationships already in place.
Key buddies
A key person buddy is someone who supports
the key people in the room.
They are not a key person themselves but they
will have the skills needed to be a key person.
The key person buddy will observe the
children and complete activities in the absence of the key person.
They may also plan activities but these will
be for the whole room rather than a key group.
Whilst the key person is off the key buddy
will be responsible for that key group.
It is the responsibility of both the key
person and key buddy to communicate so that everyone knows what they need to
do.
As well as planned holidays the key buddy may
also need to cover unexpected absences such as sick leave. As these can be
sudden it is important that the key buddy has a good overview of each key group
in their room and knows where the key person keeps any notes or tick sheets
they may need.
Kind Regards,
Castle
Nursery & Pre-School
Childcare
and Learning Ltd
14 South Hill | Guildford | Surrey |
GU1 3SY
Tel: 01483 533344 | Fax:
01293 772971 | Email: southhill@castledaycare.co.uk | Web: www.castledaycare.co.uk | Blog: www.castlenursery-southhill.blogspot
