Oakdale Newsletter-September 2020
Welcome to first Newsletter for Academic year 2020-2021 |
We have been working hard over the summer holidays getting as much ready as possible to enable us all to work directly with all our new children starting in September and for those returning to us following Covid 19. We are also hoping all our existing children will help us to settle everybody into the Nursery and be able to show the children where all the resources are. We know you may be worried about the children settling and being upset but I promise we will do our best to make it so much fun they will soon be very occupied and playing with all the toys that they will be happy and settle quickly. We promise to keep you informed and call you if we have any problems. We have a new team in September due to staff moving area and the fact we are full, so we are letting you know who they all are and their roles in Oakdale. As you can see you still have the core staff at the nursery who the children are familiar with. We are still recruiting or waiting to confirm some of the roles. |
Oakdale Team– The team will be made up of the following staff: | ||
Sandra Coulson | Manager | Level 4 |
Lucy Tirone | Deputy | Level 5 (Currently doing degree) |
Paige Matthews | Practitioner | Level 2 |
Nicole Stacey | Practitioner | Level 3 |
Rachel Anderson | Practitioner | Studying level 3 |
Tabiba Haque | Practitioner | Level 3 |
Aasma Ali | Lunch Cover | Level 2 |
June Woolnough | Practitioner-cover | Unqualified |
TBC | Lunch cover | |
TBC | Cleaner | |
We are happy to welcome everyone to the team and look forward to them joining us very soon. | ||
Covid 19 – using the Nursery |
We will have to maintain our current practice for bringing and collecting children from the Nursery in September. When you arrive at the Nursery please follow the arrows on the walls etc showing you the way you need to come into and out of the school areas. You can use the first car-parking area only as the main car park is for staff only and is being used as a walking area for parents of the school and Nursery to enter and leave the School premises. When you get to the gate with the intercom button on for the Nursery please press and wait for a member of staff to come out and collect your child from this area do not come to the Nursery door. We have since the return in June discovered that the children become less upset if we meet them at the gate and take them in with us. When you are collecting your child, we will do the opposite when you press the intercom, we will then bring your child out to you at the gate. This will also give us a chance for a little handover discussion with you and if you have anything you need to ask, you can do this either at the start or end of session. |
Clothing/bags – useful tips |
Please could you ensure every item your child wears or brings into nursery is labelled with your child’s name. If you are happy to do so we have been asking for you to bring a bag that we keep in the nursery that has a name on the outside so easily recognised when we need to get spares out for your child. If we need to return wet clothing, we will bring out in a disposable bag. This helps to stop transfer and cross-contamination of germs. We also have a lot of messy play available for the children, could you all ensure your child has at least one set of spare clothes at nursery on their peg. Nappies and nappy cream can be brought in bulk to the nursery and we will inform you when we run out, so you do not need to keep bringing them in daily. |
Family Photos |
If you haven’t already done so, it would be great if we could have a family picture for each child. These pictures are being placed on our “growing together board” and we refer to this board to talk about our family members, it also is a place the children can go and look at if they need reassurance or need to see their family. |
Things from home |
Currently we will ask that you discourage children from bringing things in from home to the Nursery. If they are needed to comfort a child, or to sleep with then please give to member of staff when we collect your child at the gate. If they need a soother to sleep with then we will of course give it to them at the appropriate time. At all other times it will be stored in a named sealed plastic bag again to prevent cross contamination. We appreciate that your child may need to bring something in to support transition, but perhaps you could suggest you leave in the car or pushchair and bring back to pick them up. Talk to your child’s keyworker if you need to discuss further how we can support you. |
Sun cream and hats |
We may still need to have sun hat and sun-cream in September, if you could bring on first day and leave it with us, then again, we can always have it available. The children know where to find their hat as they go outside, and we have the sun cream in a named bag for each child here ready to use. Thank you. |
Changing bookings |
Since we opened in January, we have been contacted by numerous parents wanted to join the setting. To ensure our existing parent’s, get the sessions they may require, we would ask you to let us know immediately if you are planning on increasing or changing your sessions. From September 2020 we are currently full and may no longer have the ability to swap and offer extra sessions until September 2021. Also, if you think you will need to change or add sessions from 2021 please let us know sooner rather than later as we are accepting bookings for September 2021 now. Also if you have siblings you wish to add to our waiting list for the future it would be advisable to do that now as well to avoid disappointment later. |
Autumn Term |
This term we will be focussing on settling the children into nursery and adapting to the new routines. We will be helping children to understand the catch it, bin it, and kill it principle, and increasing their understanding of the importance of handwashing within the routines of the day. We will also be doing activities to celebrate the special days our community celebrate. The biggest will be our lead up to Christmas. Because we follow the children’s interests when planning activities for them, we will be focussing on areas that the children show an interest in this could be from a favourite book which the children have expressed a lot of interest in or an area of provision. What or wherever this leads us we will share with you. |
100-word list |
We will send out to you all a copy of the 100-word list within the Autumn term. We use this list to establish the children’s speech and language abilities so we can support the children with any sounds they are struggling with. If we feel your child may be slightly behind or struggling with certain sounds, we will contact you to sign post you to your local speech and language clinic. |
Babysdays App |
We have now ensured every child has had their starting points added onto the Babys days system. Existing children have new next steps and an updated tracker available to see on the browser. Your key person will be speaking to you about your child’s next step so you can observe at home and share milestones. If you see them achieving something new or taking part in new activities, please add it onto the system so we can celebrate with them. If you are struggling to access the system, let us know and we will try and help you. If you child wants us to see a new toy or an achievement maybe you could take a photo and upload to the Baby days so we can share it that way. This will give the children the opportunity to show us and their friends their special item without physically bringing into the setting. |
Other |
If there’s anything else you would like to speak to us about, please do not hesitate to give us a call or speak us in the setting when you drop off or pick up and we will try and help you then or the quickest way is to e-mail us. No problem is too small to bother us with, if there is something that is bothering you, then it must be important to you, so just talk to us. We feel it is so important for us to have an open dialogue with you as parents/carers and first educators of your children. We want to earn your trust and respect so we can work in a true partnership with you for the successful educational journey your child is about to undertake with us at the Nursery. We have a curriculum based around the individual child, their interests, and the learning style that they like best. We can only do this if you feel you can share this with confidence. We are really looking forward to working with you all this term and building special bonds with all our children and your family. Sandra, Lucy, and the Oakdale Team. |
