We hope you have all had a good
spring break and welcome you back to preschool for the summer terms. This is
always an exciting part of the year with lots of children now turning four and
getting ready to move on to school and, hopefully, some delightful summer
weather to draw us all outside.
Last term we said goodbye to our
Methodist Minister, David Alderman. We thanked him for all his wonderful
Story box sessions that we have enjoyed so much and gave him an apple tree to
take to his new house to remind him of us at preschool! We welcome Emma
Langley as ecumenical minister. Emma is already working at St Albans
Church and takes on David's responsibilities as well. Lots of the children have
met Emma already and we look forward to seeing her at preschool.
Parents' Evening: Wed 30th April
14th May 8-9pm Methodist Church Lounge
There will be a social evening for
parents here on Wed 30th April. This is a chance to meet staff and other parents
informally over soft drinks and nibbles. Parents will be able to look at
the children's books at leisure and talk to the key workers. We will put
out our new toys for you to play with and hope to have a PowerPoint
presentation running (can anyone lend a laptop?). The staff
have all done lots of training courses recently and there have been a
lot of changes in the way we work to support the children's learning and we
will be willing to talk to you about this.
Health and safety
KEEP YOUR SHOES ON!
Recently a lot of children have been
taking off their shoes in preschool but this is a problem for health and safety
reasons. As our premises are upstairs our access to the outside in the
case of an emergency is down the fire escape and it is only possible to go down
this safely with shoes on. We hope there never would be such an emergency but
we need to always be prepared. As you can imagine it would be impossible
to take 28 children out quickly unless they are all wearing shoes. Please
could you help reinforce the message that shoes need to be worn at all times in
preschool.
Please also note that with the
warmer weather we ask that children do not wear flip flops or similar. They are
not practical or safe for many activities including going downstairs.
Ready for the weather.
We are offering lots of
opportunity to go out. Please make sure your child is prepared for being out in
whatever weather we get – raincoat + wellies, hat +
sun block etc. Note we can not apply sunblock to your
child. It would simply take too long if we had to do everyone.
Topics
and Interests
In the last term the main interests pursued
by the children have been:-
Lazy Town;
Following some visits to Lazytown at the Hippodrome Lazy Town
has been hugely popular. We have had Sporticus and Stephanie exercising and
dancing most days and a large proportion of the children have joined in.
Garages: For some time lots of children have been
bringing in vehicles of all descriptions so we set up a garage in our
'lets pretend' area. This was so popular that it stayed
and developed for two weeks (?). In it we had bikes to ride, tools to repair
them, a computer and full range of office equipment and writing implements fro
recording the activity.
Birthdays: Inspired
by Finlay and Oliver's enthusiastic creation of a card for their Dad's birthday
this theme led to card making and lots of cake making. Lots of resources
have been used for this including sand and shells and all kinds of
delightful inedibles.
Animals: Lots of
interest here, including flying ponies, squirrels, rabbits and a full range of
farm and exotic animals. This has led to making hobby horses, having a
farm in the 'lets pretend' area, using the zoo and finding out which animals
live in which environments, going on squirrel hunts on the downs, digging for
worms and searching for bugs. Alwyn’s dog, Peggy, has
been in to visit.
The big
outdoors: We
have been out and about everyday. We have used the Downs, been to the library,
been for walks and played in our courtyard as well as our garden. Some of us
have been jogging and lots of us have examined wildlife with magnifying
glasses and fingers.
Snacktime
Thank you for all the
interesting snacks you bring in. Please look out for your child’s name on the
snack notice. We are increasingly trying to involve the children in preparing
snacks and talking about healthy options.
New toys and
equipment
We have had a spending spree and bought some exciting
new toys. The most unusual is a 'hamster wheel' for children. They have
thoroughly enjoyed climbing inside and rolling round the room! Other popular
successes have been balls and scoops for throwing and catching and soft frisbees. We
have also had some donations including a castle and a fort complete with princesses
and knights in armour.
Funding
Those of you who can claim Nursery
Education Funding, please
remember that we need to see your child’s original birth certificate and
retain a copy of it to enable us to claim on your behalf.
Please note that we are no longer subsidising time attended over the funded 12
˝ hours. This means that those who attend all 5 sessions will pay for 1 Ľ hours
per week. Existing claim forms now need to be signed for this term and new
claims completed if your child was 3 before the end of March.
Dates for 08-09
Term 1 8th Sept –
24th Oct
Term 2 10th
Nov – 19th Dec
Term 3 5th
Jan-13th Feb
Term 4 23rd
Feb -3rd Apr
Term 5 20th
Apr – 22nd May
Term 6 1st
Jun – 24th Jul