NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2021

Posted on: 3rd October 2021

Dear parents,

Welcome back from the summer holidays we hope everyone had a good break and enjoyed the warm weather (when the sun decided to make an appearance!).

FIELDMICE ROOM: The topic for the 1st half of the term is: ALL AROUND US.

PSED: A big focus will be on settling in, looking at our emotions, learning and establishing The Brambles routines and rules and sharing with our friends. The story of ‘Helping’ will be shared, the children will be encouraged to tidy away after playing and the room will be organised with symbols to depict areas within the room. The story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ will be read with a focus on trying different types of bread.

C&L: Books about starting pre-school will be shared with the children to help them adjust to the change in their life. Letters will be focused on and especially the initial letter of their name. The book ‘Going on a Bear hunt’ will be shared and the children will be encouraged to act out the story, predict the ending and join in with the rhymes. The children will be asked to retell the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ and write lists for making bread. Games aiming at initial letter sounds will be played.

PD: Skills such as taking off and putting on coats and wellies will be given time to develop and then the children will be encouraged to ‘dress’ themselves. ZUMBA sessions will begin and the children will focus on team building activities, listening and responding to signals such as to when to stop, go…Different ways of moving; under, over, through and around will be looked at.

Literacy: Stories such as ‘The Gingerbread Man’, ‘The Enormous Turnip’ and ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ will be shared, the children will re-enact the story as it is being read. Other stories such as ‘Percy the park keeper’ and ‘Oliver’s vegetables’ will be shared as well. Focus will be on letter sounds and a sound bag will be developed focused on the stories – b for badger, bear, bread…

Maths: Shapes within the environment will be looked at, sorted and discussed with junk models being made. Natural objects will be collected on walks and their shapes discussed. Number lines, numbers in the café, number rhymes and songs will be focused on.

UTW: The different home the children live in will be explored along with environments and who works/lives there. The children will go for a walk observing the trees and plans around them and an interest table set up of the ‘treasures’ they find for discussion. The children will bake some bread, discussing the changes it goes through and celebrate Harvest Festival.

EA&D: The ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ song will be learnt as well as songs/rhymes around autumn, harvest and the outdoors. The children will be encouraged to make observational drawings of their interest table, paint self-portraits, make and decorate gingerbread men and make a pair of binoculars to explore their environment.

Free Play: water, sand, role-play, writing, physical activities and construction will provide other opportunities for learning. Natural objects will be used in play, the role play will be a fruit and vegetable shop with real fruits and vegetables as well as printing and painting with fruits and vegetables. Little animal homes/environments will be made using natural objects such as leaves, twigs, moss….

RISING THREE’S:

Emma’s group will be following the same topic but her learning will be adapted for the age and development of her children.

PSED: The children will be settling in and establishing routines and golden rules. Talking about outings the children have experienced with their families

C&L: Initial letter recognition, listen to sounds, reading ‘Rosie’s walk’ and ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’, sequencing and discussing their walk they took.

Literacy: mark making with different materials, stories centred on going to nursery, reading the story of ‘The gingerbread man’, ‘The little red hen’ and singing autumn songs.

PD: moving to the sticky kids CD, going on a walk to collect treasures and use their senses to observe the changing season, making a pumpkin patch.

Maths: during their play the children will be sorting, counting, sequencing, using shapes and observing numbers and shapes within their environment.

UTW: looking at the weather, parents to please bring in a photo of their home alongside a list of who lives there, looking at animal habitats and making bread.

EA&D: musical instruments, leaf rubbings, pumpkin apple printing, chalking and collage.

DORMOUSE ROOM: The topic is AUTUMN

PSED: the children will be settling in and reconnecting/making relationships with their friends/peers and the practitioners. Learning the routines and golden rules of the room.

C&L: Practitioners will be narrating the routine of the day and giving the children plenty of time to know when activities are changing and what is about to occur in their routine. Action rhymes and songs will be sung including; ‘down in the jungle’, ‘elephants have wrinkles’, and ‘Old Macdonald’. Exploration trays will be set up and practitioners will encourage conversation adding new words as appropriate.

PD: dancing and moving to music, mark making with different media, making bread, using their fine motor skills to pick the fruit in the garden or out on their walk.

Literacy: sharing and looking at books, incorporating props and puppets in the book corner, large mark making activities, treasure baskets filled with natural objects such as flowers…

Maths: sequencing groups of objects, looking at differing sizes of pots and containers – which is the biggest/smallest/longest?… – using mathematical language such as; full, empty…

UTW: treasure baskets with fruit and vegetables, looking at insects and their habitats, making a pumpkin patch, using natural resources in the small world areas such as straw, wooden logs, oats, grass, flowers, leaves…

EA&D: making mandala patterns with print pens, using different media to paint with and creating collages and woodland animals.

If parents feel they can contribute at all to any of the topics please speak to a member of staff.

CHILDREN:

Please can the children each have a bag on their peg containing spare clothes which are weather appropriate. This bag can stay on their peg for the week or until it requires replenishing. If you find any ‘Brambles’ clothes at home please can they be brought back as our stocks are very low. We have wet weather clothing and wellies for all the children when we experience wet play ensuring the children have dry coats to wear home.

STAFF:

We are delighted to announce that Laura had a baby boy, Louie, in the summer and we look forward to her return in 2022.

We are delighted to welcome Linda – who I am sure many of you will have met – to our team. She will be working with Emma in the Field mice Room on a Monday, with the rising 3’s, and in the Dormice Room on a Friday with the under 3’s.

Myha – a student from Penwith College – has returned this term to gain experience for her Level 3 childcare qualification and will be with us on Wednesday’s and Friday’s. We are due to have another student – Natasha – start next week gaining expereince towards her qualification as well.

EVENTS:

We are planning to hold parents evenings at the end of November where parents can book a slot to speak to their child/ren’s key person to discuss their progress, ask any questions or raise any concerns – these dates to be confirmed.

Our Nativity for the pre-school children only will take place in December. Dates to be set after half-term.

ZUMBA:

The zumba sessions have been going really well. The pre-school children have an hour with Jo on a Wednesday morning on the school field and then the oldest 12 of the next school year have half an hour. Once the weather turns wet we will be back in the sports hall and all the children from the DR will experience the session. As it is on the school field, which is open, we do not fancy chasing the little ones who once they see an open space think ‘whehey’ and run!!!

FACEBOOK:

Many of you will be aware we have a closed Facebook page where we post updates and reminders for parents. Sometimes photos of the children involved in events or engaged in activities may be posted. If you are not a member please send a request to join and if you do not use Facebook please let Debbie know so the reminders can be emailed or sent to your phone.

TERM DATES:

06.09.2021-22.10.2021 first half of the term 25.10.2021-29.10.2021 October half-term holiday club

01.11.2021 We will be closed for FEAST Monday.

02.11.2021-17.12.2021 second half of the autumn term.

20.12.2021-23.12.2021 and 29.12.2021-30.12.2021 Christmas holiday club

Spring term commences Tuesday 4th January 2022.

Holiday forms are attached – please ensure they are returned by Friday 8th October 2021.

FUNDING:

The government fund 15/30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year therefore this year funding will stop on the 22nd July unless you have hours banked to take you through summer club. Please speak to Debbie if you have any questions on banked hours or wish to know how many hours you have banked. Unfunded children may still attend during holiday club but the hours will be charged at £4.50/hour.

DROP OFF AND PICK UP:

Thank you for your continued support during these times and we are hoping our current procedure for this is convenient for all. On arrival please ring the relevant doorbell (they are located to the left of the main door and now have signage above) unless staff are already showing children in. On collection of your child you are welcome to come into the setting to aid with the collection of bags, coats and lunch boxes and be able to talk to the practitioners if necessary.

When exiting through the gate into the carpark please ensure the gate has closed behind you to ensure the safety of our children.

Please avoid parking outside of our exit gate as it is not a designated car parking space and causes obstructions for parents leaving.

LUNCH AND SNACKS:

We are now providing snacks for the children and the FR children are loving the café where they can help themselves, self-serving their snack and drink.

Hot lunches are going well and the children are clearing their plates. We have had children ask their parents to stay for longer so they too can have a school lunch. Hot lunches are £2.00 and £2.50 with a pudding and Kate emails out the menu a week prior. When we have established the foods the children love we will set a rolling 3 week menu. This will be emailed out to all.

Please remember to QUARTER GRAPES and cut large blueberries etc in half to avoid large circle shaped foods and small oesophagus’s (food pipes) when preparing lunches.. We will continue to provide milk or water as a drink.

MATHS FOCUS:

Again this term we are focusing on maths. Maths is an important learning skill for all children and we use it at some level during our thought processes throughout the day. It is not just about numeracy but also understanding and using shapes and measures, developing spatial awareness as well as problem solving. It helps children create, describe and recognise patterns which is an essential skill for early problem solving.

LANGUAGE:

Due to the pandemic there is a concern around children’s speech and language therefore we will ensure our rooms and environments are language rich with lots of visuals as well as the children hearing lots of language and being encouraged to engage in conversation, stories and song.

We hope everyone is keeping safe and well during these times and if there is anything we can do to help please speak to a member of staff.

Kind regards – The Brambles Nursery team.