Newsletter September 2019
Non-funded Week!
We do have a non-funded week approaching, week commencing 21.10.19. During this week, nursery will still be open as normal, however we will not receive any funding for your child’s nursery places. Therefore if you wish for your child to still attend during this week, you will be invoiced for the sessions your child attends. We will be handing out forms shortly with all your options for this week. Please return these as soon as possible.
New planning
Our new planning system is now in place and we have just completed our first week ‘Planning in the Moment’.
We will no longer be taking long periods out of nursery to pre-plan activities and set targets for the children each week. Instead we have adopted a new system where we will be planning and assessing ‘in the moment’. We already do this type of planning in our everyday routine: we watch, we listen and then we decide how we will extend play to achieve a positive outcome; continually drawing up on previous knowledge of the child.
This response is therefore ‘planned in the moment’ and is specialised for each unique child in each particular unique moment. Each staff member will consider if they can add anything to that moment and will interact and respond accordingly, supporting the child to develop and learn new things.
We are really excited about this new adventure and hope that it will be more beneficial and developmentally challenging for each child. It is a chance for children to follow their own interests and learn through their own ideas.
We will have a group of children each week who will be our focus children and all staff will have a responsibility for interacting with these children and recording their observation, interaction and outcome. At the end of each week, parents will receive a copy of this planning sheet and will be able to add their own comments.
Before your child’s focus week, we ask that all parents fill out a parent planning form and return this before, or on the Monday of your child’s focus week; this will help us with our observations and teachings.
Parent coffee mornings
We are due to make our September entries into your child’s learning journeys in just a couple of weeks. We aim to hold parent coffee mornings shortly afterwards to allow parents a chance to view their child’s progress folder, speak to staff and explore nursery with your children. Please keep an eye out for the posters in the foyer confirming dates and times.
New room layout and Loose Parts/ Natural Objects
We really hope that everyone likes our new layout of nursery; we have already received a lot of positive feedback and the children have been really engaged all week in the new areas and activities. Our aim is to provide less ‘ready-made’ toys and to encourage children to make their own and think critically about their creations.
We are still on the lookout for more open-ended resources and natural objects, so if you have anything you think we can make use of, we would gladly accept them.
Self-registration
You may have noticed but we have made a slight change to our morning self-registration. We encourage parents to help their child find their name and choose what they would like for lunch. This way, parents are aware of what their child is eating each day and it helps us to give your child the best option at lunch time.
Lunch
We have a brand new menu for September. If you are unable to bring your child into nursery, you can check what’s on the menu by visiting the parent portal on our website. We are attempting to offer healthier options which allow children to get involved in the preparation and making of their food. We are continually encouraging independence and freedom of choice.
Snack time
We now offer a rolling snack time, whereby snack is accessible at all points of the day and we encourage children to be independent and choose their own snacks and cut/peel their fruit. Children will be closely supervised at all times.
Can parents please refrain from allowing their children to bring in their own food and sweets. We have a responsibility of monitoring the food being consumed in nursery and ensuring the safety of all our children.
Home-school Diaries
We will be placing a home-school diary into each of the child’s bags. This book will serve as an additional means of communicating between nursery and home. Please feel free to add notes or questions and we will attend to them as soon as possible. We would also like to know if anything special has happened or if your child has a special achievement you would like to share with us. All this can be added into the home-school diary.
Parent Portal
There are still a few parents who have not registered onto our parent portal. Please see the instructions below
You can access our website by typing ‘Todwick Early Years’ into your search engine or by following the link:
http://todwickearlyyears.co.uk/
All parents will need to register as a new user in order to access the protected area and view photos and parent information. All you have to do is click ‘register’ at the top of the web page. The details are then as follows:
Username: (insert your child’s full name)
Email: (enter the email address you want to use for the account)
Press register
Once you’re registered, TEY will be notified and we will then be able to accept your registration on our side .You will then receive an email from Todwick Early Years where you will find a link to set your password. The password is unique to you and will be required to access the website in future so please keep it in mind and also, keep it confidential! Once your child leaves nursery, your account will be deleted and you will no longer be able to access the parent portal.
The parent portal is updated with photos of the children and what they have been up to each week. There is also information and important dates posted on there. If you would like to access photos of your child, please return the permission slips ASAP.
Halloween party/ Fancy dress day
As Halloween falls in the half term break this year, we will not be holding our usual Halloween party’s L
However we would like to invite all children to attend nursery in their best fancy dress throughout the week (week commencing 21.10.19). This is completely optional.
Quick reminders
All about Me – Can everyone please return their child’s ‘All about me’.
School bags and Spare Clothing
Can all children please bring a bag to nursery along with spare sets of clothing.
Food and sweets – Can parents please refrain from allowing their children to bring any form of food into nursery.
Kixx & Phonics Bear – Katie and Liam will soon be in touch! Please let us know ASAP if you are interested in starting either Kixx or Phonics Bear. We will need to how many children are interested so we can pick the best days.
Healthy Foundations – We are proud to announce that we are now beginning our journey through the Healthy Foundations Quality Assurance Programme. This is an accreditation scheme which promotes and ensures healthy early years settings across Rotherham. We hope you will support us through our journey to becoming an accredited nursery in Healthy Foundations!
Kids Club – Please don’t forget that we have our Breakfast Club and Afterschool Club. All new starters will receive a FREE full week when they sign up (Breakfast Club: 7:30am start) (Afterschool Club: 6pm finish).
Facebook Page- Another reminder that we have a Facebook page where we post reminders for quick and easy access. Please search Todwick Early Years in Facebook and you should be able to find us.
Thankyou