Week Commencing 30th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Nativity

Please can Sunflower’s bring in their costumes for the Nativity by Monday 30^th November. If your child is off on Monday, please bring the costume in on the next day they attend nursery.  Also please sign up for which Nativity performance you would like to attend, see form on Sunflower’s door.   

 

Christmas Party

The Christmas party is next Friday!!  For children who are not normally at nursery on Fridays, parents are very welcome to bring them in, however you will need to stay with them.  The party is from 3.30 to 5pm.  Father Christmas will be visiting Babies at 3.50, Bluebells at 4.10 and Sunflowers at 4.30.  Parents of children already at nursery next Friday are very welcome to join us too!

 

Dates for the diary:

Christmas Parties - Friday 4^th December 3.30-5pm

Babies and Bluebells Carol Service - Monday 7^th December 4.15pm

Pre-Schools Nativity - Tuesday 8^th December 9.45pm or 4.15pm

There will be signup sheets for these in the rooms.

 

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 Jess.

 

Our Policy of the week: Settling in policy

 

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 on the ILD’S.

 

Buttercups

Monday – Shula’s group will be developing their cooperative play by rolling balls back and forth to each other

Tuesday – Charlotte’s group are sharing the song and story sacks together and talking about the animals in the books

Wednesday – Mel’s group will be celebrating St Andrew’s Day through making shortbread biscuits

Thursday – Shula’s group are responding to their names and following instructions in the garden to develop their understanding of sentences

Friday – Mel’s group will be making marks on Scottish flags with crayons and paint dabbers

Charlotte is off Wednesday, Nilem is off Monday, Mel is off Tuesday and Shula is in all week.

 

Bluebells

Monday – Megan’s group will be drawing pictures and talking about the different marks they have made

Tuesday – Chloe’s group are talking about Scotland and St Andrew’s Day and baking shortbread to develop their awareness of different celebrations

Wednesday – Almu’s group will be practising their hand and eye co-ordination through playing with the rackets and balls together in the garden

Thursday – Donna’s group are developing their understanding of ‘big’ and ‘little’ as they play with the small world animals

Friday – Donna’s group are using the shape flashcards and bean bags to develop their shape recognition

Donna is off Wednesday, Chloe is off Thursday, Almu is off Monday and Tuesday and Megan is 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: playing an animal guessing game.

 

The children will be listening to descriptions of a variety of animals and encouraged to guess which animal we are talking about.  The children will be developing their listening and attention and knowledge and understanding of different animals.

 

The letter of the week is: C

The children will be:

Writing the letter C with stencils

Telling us the colour of their parents car

Finding animals beginning with C

Telling stories about a castle

Talking about names beginning with C

Talking about countries

 

Leanne is on annual leave all week, Hector is off Thursday and Becci is in all week.

 

 

Settling in policy

 

Aim of policy

 

At Castle Daycare and Preschool we want every child to thrive with us. Part of making this happen is having a high quality settling in procedure that supports the child and their family as they join us.

 

Points to consider

 

Through this policy and the appointment of professional staff, we aim to make parents/carers feel comfortable in the nursery and that the staff team are friendly, approachable and attentive to their needs and the needs of their children.

 

The key person has great responsibility in helping a family settle into the setting and has the lead role in working with the family to support the settling process.

If either the key person or the family feel that the child is not settling as expected, they need to discuss this with the manager so that an action plan can be put into place to further support the child and family. This may include changing key person if thought best.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool aim to do this by:

• From the point of booking, the family become members of the nursery and should be informed of any major events, social activities and general news regarding the nursery, even if they have not yet started.
• Once a booking is confirmed the manager will contact the parent/carer 4-6 weeks prior to the start date to organise settling in visits for the child. 
• We recommend an induction period of three settling in sessions, of one hour long, should take place prior to the start date.
• We will hold an opportunity to welcome the family, address any issues or anxieties and take detailed information about the child.  The staff should be informed in advance of the settling visit to allow for the appropriate preparation and organisation.
• The settling in sessions should be led by the child’s key person.
• During the settling in sessions the key person will go through the registration form, terms and conditions and the “All about me pack” with the parents.
• The key person will give the parents information about the nursery such as; activities, policies, events and newsletters.
• The key person will answer any questions or concerns the parents have and will refer them to the manager if needed.
• The key person will ensure that they know the child’s routine, care plans and needs during these sessions so that the child can be supported and cared for as best as possible from their first session with us.

 

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Charlotte Hampshire

Deputy Manager

Week Commencing 23rd November

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Children in Need

Thank you to everyone who donated last week towards children in need. We had a great week raising money for a good cause. We raised a total of £252.00!!!

I have attached the answers to the guess the baby name activity for you all to see who is who. We will let the person know who got the most right tomorrow J

 

Dates for the diary:

Christmas Parties - Friday 4^th December 3.30-5pm

Babies and Bluebells Carol Service - Monday 7^th December 4.15pm

Pre-Schools Nativity - Tuesday 8^th December 9.45pm or 4.15pm

There will be signup sheets for these in the rooms.

 

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 Jess.

 

Our Policy of the week: Key person policy

 

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 on the ILD’S.

 

Buttercups

Monday – Charlotte’s group will be discovering a variety of textures and appearances while exploring the treasure basket

Tuesday – Charlotte’s group are being supported to develop an awareness of their feelings while using the emotion dolls

Wednesday– Shula’s group will be practicing washing their hands and face supporting independence

Thursday – Shula’s group is reading textured books promoting reading skills and encouraging the children to develop an interest in books

Friday – Mel’s group will be encouraged to follow simple instructions while exploring the role play resources

Charlotte is off Wednesday, Nilem is off Monday, Shula is in all week and Mel is on holiday all week.

 

Bluebells

Monday – Chloe’s group will be playing creative games with friends while exploring the role play animals and ice promoting imaginative skills

Tuesday – Donna’s group is talking about different emotions they know and recognise while exploring the emotion dolls

Wednesday – Chloe’s group are playing the animal sound game promoting attention and listening skills

Thursday – Almu’s group will be reading ‘The Gruffalo’ in small groups, they will be encouraged to repeat familiar sentences within the story supporting reading and language

Friday – Megan’s group are investigating the garden area, they will be asked to find and recognise what they can find in their community

Donna is off Friday, Chloe is off Thursday, Almu and Megan 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: using the atlas and globe to explore the world

The children will be exploring the atlas book and the globe to find countries they know. They will be encouraged to talk about where they live and where they have been. The activity will be extended and the children will colour in their own map of the world and mark where they live.

 

 

The letter of the week is: B

The children will be:

Playing Brown Bear

Linking words to the letter B

Having banana for snack

Bouncing balls

Looking at the letter B bottle

Using blue paint

Drawing boats

Setting the easel up with B stencils

Leanne is off Monday, Hector is off Thursday and Becci is in all week

 

Key person policy

 

Aim of 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 nursery.
• 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 nursery.
• 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.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool 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 nursery.
• 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 parent request 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 a parent requests another key person or the child has a strong attachment to another staff member.

 

Being a key buddy

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,

 

Jess Smith

Manager, SENCO

Week Commencing 16th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Children in Need

Thank you to everyone who has donated this week towards children in need. We have had a great week raising money for a good cause.

If you would still like to take part in guessing the baby name activity, please may you hand this back in to us by Friday afternoon.

 

Dates for the diary:

Christmas Parties - Friday 4^th December 3.30-5pm

Babies and Bluebells Carol Service - Monday 7^th December 4.15pm

Pre-Schools Nativity - Tuesday 8^th December 9.45pm or 4.15pm

There will be signup sheets for these in the rooms

 

Illness

We are still having children with high temperatures and colds.

There has been no further cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth, however we have had one more case of Impetigo.

If your child gets Hand, Foot and Mouth they can return to nursery once the spots/blisters have scabbed over and they meet our well child policy (below).

If your child gets Impetigo they will need to be off nursery for 48 hours after they have started antibiotics.

I know it can be hard to arrange for your child to be away from nursery and we don’t do it to make your lives difficult!

We ask children to stay away from nursery so we can minimise the spread to other children and we hate making those phone calls, but we have to do what we think is right. All rooms have continue to sterilize all toys and equipment being used each day.

 

Menus

Our new menu’s start next week. I have attached them all for you to see.

We will be starting with week 1 on Monday.

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

 

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 Jess.

 

Our Policy of the week: Special Needs procedure for previously unidentified needs

 

 

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

Our new menu’s start next week. I have attached them all for you to see.

We will be starting with week 1 on Monday.

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 on the ILD’S.

 

Buttercups

Monday – Charlotte’s group will be investigating textures, weights and appearances of objects

Tuesday – Charlotte’s group is exploring media and marks while printing using their hands, rollers and stampers

Wednesday– Mel’s group will be encouraged to take part in simple role play games using the kitchen and role play food

Thursday – Shula’s group is singing number songs supporting their awareness of numbers

Friday – Mel’s group will be using craft pieces and glue to create a sea picture promoting fine motor skills

Charlotte is off Wednesday, Mel is off Tuesday, Nilem is off Monday and Shula is in all week

 

Bluebells

Monday – Megan’s group are using the emotion dolls to see what emotions they can recognise

Tuesday – Donna’s group will be creating pictures in small groups and talking about what we have drawn supporting language skills

Wednesday – Donna’s group are practicing putting on their coats and shoes encouraging independence skills

Thursday – Almu’s group will be playing ‘Simon Says’ supporting listening and understanding

Friday – Chloe’s group are grouping and matching coloured compare bears promoting counting skills

Donna is off Friday, Chloe is off Thursday, Almu is on training on Tuesday and Megan is 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: reading the ‘Gruffalo’ story

 

The children will be sitting in small groups and will be asked to listen to the ‘Gruffalo’ story. The children will be encouraged to remember and say the next word/line in the story. The children will then discuss all the characters in the story.

The activity will be extended and the children will be asked to create a picture of the Gruffalo, and then will be supported to write the word Gruffalo.

 

The letter of the week is: A

The children will be:

Looking at different animals

Linking words to the letter A

Looking at the letter A bottle

Singing the alphabet song

Asking the children what names begin with A?

Setting the easel up with A stencils

Leanne is off Monday, Hector is off Thursday and Becci is in all week

 

Special Needs procedure for previously unidentified needs

 

Aim of policy

 

To highlight how we support children and their families if we feel they may have an unidentified special need.

 

Points to consider

 

The children in our care are very young and whilst we want to support them fully, we do not wish to label children. When identifying Special Needs the practitioner must remain respectful and sensitive to the needs of the child and family and must adhere to additional policies such as confidentially policy.

 

Castle Daycare and Preschool aims to achieve this by:

 

If any member of staff reasonably believes that the development progress and/or behaviour of a child arises as a result of a special need, then that member of staff will:

 

• Inform the Nursery Manager and SENCO about their concern providing examples of lack of development progress and/or behaviour which give rise to their concern. 

 

The nursery manager and/or special needs co-ordinator will:

 

• Ensure that the child is observed.
• Following a period of observation, and where appropriate, raise the concern about the child’s development progress/behaviour with parents to agree an appropriate course of action.  This may involve referral to appropriate external agencies.
• If a special/special educational need is identified, the procedure relating to special needs admissions will be employed.

 

If the parent/carer does not agree a special need exists, then the Nursery Manager and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator will ensure:

 

• The staff team continue to observe the child and record observations.
• Refer the position of the parent/carer to the area manager.
• After an appropriate period re-state the concern with the parent/carer with a view to agreeing an appropriate course of action.

 

 

 

If the parent/carer continues to ignore the concern being expressed, Castle Daycare and Preschool will:

 

• Write to the parent/carer requesting referral to an external professional agency to support special needs assessment.

 

• If not agreed, consideration will be given to referring the issue to the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board in accordance with the Castle Daycare and Preschool child protection policy.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Jess Smith

Manager, SENCO