April 2021 Newsletter
Welcome back, we hope you have you all had a lovely Easter break. We have lots of fun activities planned for the summer term.
Gardening club
The children have been growing vegetables from seed in our garden, they have enjoyed watering the seeds daily and watching them grow. Our peas and carrots have started to pop up from the soil, the children will continue to care for the garden and hopefully they will get some yummy vegetables ready to eat for their snack.
Yoga – The children continue to enjoy our yoga sessions developing flexibility and control. We are also introducing little P.E classes to get the children ready for when they start school.
Core story
Our core story this summer term is ‘Please Mr Panda’ this story is about a panda sharing his doughnut’s but he would not share until the other animals would use their manners and say please. This story will help teach the children the importance of being kind to others and about using our manners.
We are also revisiting the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, this is a rhyming story to help the children learn their alphabet and continue learning through our phonic program.
Phonics
To get the children ready for school we have started phonics games to teach the children how to say letter sounds and to recognize different letters, this will give the children the confidence when they start school to understand their phonics and give them a good start to their reading and communication skills. This week we have been learning the letter ‘S’
You can extend this learning by finding things which begin with the letter ‘S’ either at home or on a walk.
Feel free to upload any photos to Baby’s Day’s for your key person to see.
Starting school
We hope you have all received your offer for your child’s chosen primary school. If you could please let us know which school your child will be attending as soon as possible so that we can make preparation’s to be able to share information with your child’s new school.
We will also be getting the children ‘school ready’ this means we will be teaching the children to become more independent for when they start school.
Activities we will be doing and you can also try at home are:
| I can use a knife and fork | I can sing familiar songs | I can put on my shoes | I can put on my coat | I can read my own name | I can write letters from my name | I can count to 10 | I can use the toilet | I say please and thank you |
Staff changes and key people
Unfortunately, Alex has decided to leave the team at Ravensthorpe to concentrate on her studies. We have a new member of staff join us this term her name is Tamsin she is qualified Level 2 in childcare Due to these staff changes your child may have moved to a different key person. To ensure that all parents are notified of any key person changes we have sent home slips to let you know who your child’s key person is. If you have any questions about this, please speak to a member of staff who will be happy to help.
Although, you may not see your child’s key person each day due to current procedures in place due to Covid they are continuing to work closely with your child and support them in all areas of their development. The children spend time in their key groups with their key person each day.
After half term we will be arranging parents’ consultation calls. We will let you know dates and times nearer the time.
Staff team
Caroline- Manager
Emma- Deputy Manager/ Setting SENCO
Kerry- Senior practitioner
Kathy- Nursery practitioner
Tamsin- Nursery assistant
Alia- Nursery Assistant
Food boxes for home area
In our home role play are we would like some different food boxes which represent what your child like to eat at home promoting different cultures and families. If you have any old clean food boxes parents could donate for our role play area this would be gratefully received.
(Please note these items will be stored for a minimum of 72hrs or cleaned thoroughly where possible before being used by the children)
List of ideas of boxes are
- cereal boxes
- Pasta boxes
- Cake boxes
- Yoghurt pots
- Ice cream tubs
- Freezer food boxes
Lunch box reminder
Please can we remind parents to bring a healthy packed lunch for their child each day, No hot food or pre-cooked food such as a rice, chicken or chips please. Tomatoes and grapes should also be cut up length ways as these can pose a choking risk to young children.
Please remember we are a nut free setting so no nuts to be packed in your child’s lunch box or any food items containing nuts please.
We are also unable to store lunch boxes in the fridge so we ask that you please provide a cool ice pack inside your child’s lunchbox to keep it cool until lunch time.
An example of a lunch box could be as shown below, a cheese sandwich, breadsticks, fruit, vegetable sticks and a yoghurt.
Thank you
Caroline, Emma and the team!
