Newsletter

Autumn 1 - newsletter September 2009

Welcome to everyone at the start of a new academic year. A very special term here at nursery as we welcome both familiar faces and new families. The theme this half term is "My friends". (The areas of learning and development we are focusing on in the new few weeks are found in the focused activities section. Please ensure to complete a progress comment sheet, these comments are valuable to us in that they help us with planning 'next steps' of your child's learning (these comments go into their record file). If you would like to look at your child's file and/or discuss their development do speak to your child's key person to arrange this. We return on the 10th September and on the Thursday and Friday we will be doing a variety of activities to help the children settle back into the nursery routine.

Week 1 Week beginning: Mon 14th Sept.	Cuddly friends: This week the children will be encouraged to bring in their favorite cuddly toys and we hope to have a "teddy bear's" picnic. We will be using the toys to encourage the children to develop their imagination and getting them to create toy animal pictures using various shapes. We are hoping the weather will allow us to go outside and play different games round the theme of their cuddly toys.
Week 2 Week beginning: Mon 21st Sept.	Nursery friends: This week we will be painting portraits of each other. We will also practice measuring different parts of our bodies by drawing around them, cutting them out and putting them in size order.
Week 3 Week beginning: Mon 28th Sept.	Friends far away: This week we will be introducing the children to Army Julia from South Africa and Ramesh Hasda from India, whom we sponsor here at nursery. The children will get the opportunity to try some foods from different countries and will get to find out about different festivals celebrated in other countries.
Week 4 Week beginning: Mon 5th Oct.	Friends locally: This week we will be thinking about friends here in Whaley Bridge. We are hoping to organise a trip into town, with a stop at Footsteps. We may also get the opportunity to go to story time at the library on Monday afternoon. When we are back at nursery the children will be encouraged to do pictures of the town, using different shapes for the buildings etc.
Week 5 Week beginning: Mon 12th Oct.	Friends who help us: We are going to be very busy this week with a visit to the fire station, a visit from our local police officer and a visit from Jayne, our local lollipop lady, who will all be telling us about what they do to help us and keep us safe. The children will have plenty to think about and use imaginatively in their play, whether it be paintings or dressing up in our role play area.
Week 6 Week beginning: Mon 19th Oct.	Jesus is our friend: This week the children will be thinking about how Jesus loves us whatever we are doing and we will be taking and looking at photos of them doing a variety of activities. As a follow on from our worship time, we will ask the children to draw or paint a picture of their "please" and "thank you" prayers.

We close for half term at the end of the session on Friday 23rd October (for those who stop for lunch this will be 1pm).

Please note

• Please sign your child out as you leave and please remember to close the door and gate using the bolts - thank you.
• Due to the EYFS welfare regulations we need you to have an updated contract for your child. This was attached to your paper newsletter, if you haven't already filled one in, please return it as soon as possible.
• As from this term we will be requesting payment of fees at the beginning of each half term (except where this causes difficulty, if so continue to pay weekly).
• If your child no longer requires their place at nursery, we now require half a terms notice in writing.
• We have now introduced "wrap around care" to enable children to attend nursery for a full day. However on a Friday only, children attending the morning session will be given the opportunity to stay until 1pm (please note there are only 8 places per day for wrap around care and children need to be 2yrs and above).
• As part of our Swine Flu Policy we will be encouraging the children to wash their hands on arrival, before starting to play. A copy of the full SFP is on the parent information board.
• If you have any suggestions, comments or requests for prayer please speak to a member of staff or use our suggestion/prayer box on the windowsill.