Newsletter August 2021
Staff changes/news
Amy will be beginning her maternity leave on the 3rd September we will all miss her very much but we are also so excited to meet her little baba too!
We will be welcoming Diane at Bright Stars on the 31st of August 2021. Diane will be covering Amy’s maternity cover. She has been in the stars company for a long time, she is currently covering another maternity leave at one of our other settings. She has lots of experience and is so lovely. Please join us in making her feel welcome!
As you are not going to see all staff members due to the pandemic, we will be getting to know 1 member of staff in each monthly newsletter. This month’s member of staff is: Emma – who works in our preschool room.
Just to settle your minds, nearly all our staff have had the first vaccine and 6 members of staff are fully vaccinated now. Please continue to socially distance from each other when queuing up to drop off and pick up.
Covid government guidance
For the safety of all our children, staff and parents, we are still encouraging drop off and pickups at the entrance as usual and the use of face masks too if you want to wear them. Thank you for adhering to this.
If you forget your face mask, not to worry – we have lots of disposable ones you can take so please help yourself.
Term dates
Last day for school leavers all year round will be 31st August.
Autumn term begins on the 6th of September 2021.
Happy Birthday
Who is celebrating their birthday this month?
Joshua- on the 2nd
Harris -on the 5th
Harmony – on the 18th
Lauren- our lovely apprentices is 18 on the 20th
Alice- on the 23rd
Neitans- on the 25th
Brodie- on the 28th
Isaac- on the 31st
If you would like to buy a birthday cake, please ask a member of staff for a form so we can order one in the shopping.
Well done to our stars!
Every week, we award a child in baby room, pre-school, and forest school a star of the week. A member of staff also gets one! These are all our stars of the week for July (a massive well done everyone!)
Baby room: Freya, Ahyan & Lochlan
Pre-school: Eliott G, Isaac, Pariza, & Eliott L.
Forest: Emijila& Ava
Staff: Sophie, Aminah, Safia & Kimmy.
School leavers
For children going to school this year;
We want to congratulate to all on your placements this year and we will be working with your children on being school ready. We would like to share some ideas of how can you prepare your child for school:
- Drawing and colouring activates such as drawing pictures of their families this helps with being able to hold a pencil comfortably.
- Singing songs including numbers or counting songs to support them with counting from 1 to 10.
- Reading books that talk about going to school, talk to your child about what will happen at school and how exciting it will be meeting new friends.
- Can your child go to the toilet independently and wash their hands.
Gentle reminders for school leavers
Thankyou for all attending our graduation party, we hope the children had fun as much as we did. Well done everyone for remembering your tops. We wish you all the best for starting your adventures to big school. We know you are all going to do so well and have lots of fun. We would love to see some photos of children in their uniforms so please send them through.
Have you contacted your school to see if there are any open days/events you can attend? Keep an eye on your emails, if we get any transition/booklets from your school, we will forward it on to you. Please visit us if you are passing, we would love to see your little one is in their school uniform.
Gentle reminder
Please take note…
Please can we remind you that if your child receives 30-hour funding you will need to reconfirm your code every 3 months. If this is not done, then you could lose your funding.
We love to display your family photos in the room so the children can see them. Please can you email us a photo and we can print it for you to display in the room. The children love finding their photos and this gives them a sense of home when they are unsettled too.
I know we are all loving the warm sunshine recently but please ensure when you are picking up and dropping off that you are dressed appropriately at the door such as wearing a top. Thank you.
We cannot swap your child’s session to another day due to staffing, ratios and our numbers in the room. Also, we could not manage if everyone did this so as a rule, we do not allow swapping of sessions. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Please ensure you are providing a well-balanced packed lunch, if you need any ideas then just ask. We also ask if you could ensure all fruit especially grapes are cut in half length ways as this can be a choking hazard. Thank you.
Please ensure on pickup and collection that you ring the doorbell, so do not assume the person in the office has seen you or is ringing down to the room to let them know they are here. Sometimes we are in meetings and cannot alert the room. Please look for eye contact from Kristy or Amy and if we give you a wave, then take that as a sign that we know you are here, and we are ringing the room. If we do not answer /look at you, please ring the bell. This will speed up the process too.
Our policy states that if your child needs Calpol before they arrive, they should not be in the setting as this indicates they are not well enough to be here. So, if you need to give your child Calpol, please keep them at home until they are well enough to return.
Now the weather is warming up please apply sunscreen to your child before you bring them in and bring a bottle and sun hat into keep here too (labelled). Also, please refrain from putting your child in open-toe sandals so the can stay as safe as possible. If you would like your child to participate in Forest School however, they will need trainers so just pop a pair in their bag if you do not want them on all day.
If your child has antibiotics, our policy states that they need to stay until 24 hours after the first dose. This is in case they have a reaction. Thank you for understanding.
Getting to know us
Hi I’m Emma,
I work in the pre-school room and i have been working at Bright Stars for 15 years. I have worked for all age groups. I enjoy doing small group times and watching the children grow and develop before they go school. In my spare time I love spending time with my sis-year old daughter Isabel, we like to go shopping, parks and finding somewhere to eat cake.
Dates for your diary
Remember to pop these into your diary so not to forget!
Wednesday 4th August 2021- International owl awarness day, we will be doing some lovely activities in each room.
Tuesday 10th August 2021- World Lion day.(we would love if you could dress up as a lion).
Tuesday 10 August 2021- Islamic New year(Muharram)
Tuesday 24rth August 2021- Summer Paralympics begins, and we will be planning some activities around this.
Sunflowers
Keep them growing!
Keep sending photos in of your sunflower. How are they getting on ? Has anyone got a flower on theirs yet? Have a look ta our ones outside the entrance door, they are very tall now!
Baby day changes! Important notice!
All parents/carers should have received a letter regarding changes to the new EYFS and how this will affect the baby days app. If you have not received this letter – please check your emails as this is where it was sent. Any issues please contact us at [email protected] or ask to speak to Kirsty/Amy to send you another one and/or another login to access the app – this is especially important!
We are excited about the changes to the EYFS as this means will be able to create and plan lots more exciting opportunities and experiences with your little ones. We are asking all parents to please make sure you have access to the app as one of the changes requires accessibility to the quick message option, this will now be the way in which we will send you lovely wow moments, photos and keep you updated with your child’s learning and experiences.
We appreciate that some parents/carers may find not seeing as many wow moments or photos of their child difficult but this is just so we can really provide much more meaningful experiences for your child to support their learning in the best way possible, the changes require less evidence and more practice in which we think is going to be extremely beneficial.
If you have any questions, then please just ask but keep an eye on your messages on the app – this is how we will be communicating with you all.
Forest school with Josh
What has Josh got planned for this month?
- Lots of free play
- Planting and watering our allotment
- Sensory hunt and team work
- Story time
- Fairy garden play
- New summer club
Core stories
Our core stories this month are:
Babies: Room on the broom.
Pre-school: There’s an alien in your book!
We read these for the whole month of August and base activities around it. Why not read the stories at home if you have them or ask your child about them?
Suitable shoes
No wellies for indoor use please…
We like children to have something on their feet all day, but wellies are not good for a child to wearing inside all day for various reasons – their feet can get hot, and it can be uncomfortable. We really discourage children wearing wellies inside so if you want to bring your child to the setting in them, please make sure there are suitable shoes for them to get changed into. We will be challenging this at the door.
WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A LOVELY SUMMER BREAK AND WE CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN UP TO WHEN YOU COME BACK IN SEPTEMBER!
