January 2019 Newsletter
Dear parents and carers,
Welcome back! We hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas holiday. Last term the children worked hard to learn all the songs they sang at our Christmas get-together on party day. We hope all those who attended enjoyed the performance!
Staff training last term focused on safeguarding and equality, diversity and British values.
We have had some extra adult help recently. Sofia Elliott is currently joining us on Friday mornings as work experience for her Health and Social Care qualification. Helen Yeardley volunteered last term on a few dates to get experience with young children as she is hoping to adopt a child.
This term we will be talking to the children about cold, ice and snow, animals in winter and polar lands. Many of our seasonal activities will reflect these themes, as well as the current interests of the children.
We are trying to target using less plastic at Pre-school and would appreciate parents bringing in a container each Wednesday to take baking home.
From week beginning 14th January you will be given the opportunity to meet with your child’s key person to chat about your child’s progress or any concerns you may have. Key people will be approaching parents to arrange this.
A quick reminder for Forest Fun children on Fridays! Please arrive promptly at 9.15. With our coldest weather now here extra layers will be required, as well as warm waterproof clothing, including boots with two pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves if possible and a comfortable hat. The children have a much more enjoyable time when they are warm and comfortable! We do have some spare waterproof suits that can be borrowed if required. If it is very cold or wet we are welcome to shelter at Hope Primary school.
On Monday afternoons we will continue to spend much of our time outside so please remember suitable outdoor clothing, particularly boots! Please also send gloves every day for outdoor play.
We break up for half term holiday on Friday 15th February, returning on Monday 25th February.
From,
Judith, Debbie, Jess and Shannon.
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June 2017 Newsletter
Dear parents and carers,
Welcome back!
This term the children will be having fun with sports and numbers. We will be celebrating Wakes Week with art activities, including a display for church and a group well dressing. At Forest Fun we will be focusing on listening and speaking skills. We will also be thinking about “Moving on” and changes, with so many of our children going to schools in September: Hope, Edale and Hathersage to be precise! School visits will be taking place for most of the term in preparation for a smooth transition. New starters will be attending a Pre-school session.
I have also arranged for us to visit to Edale to meet with Mrs. Garmeson and Edale Infants class. We will travel by train, play on Edale playing field and have a picnic together. This will take place on Monday 3rd July. We would like a few extra adults to come with us, if anyone is interested? More details to follow…
CAR BOOT SALE Please support us at the Pre-school car boot sale on Sunday 18th July. We still need some more volunteers to help us run it. Your children will directly benefit from any funds raised! Perhaps you would like to have your own stall; your pitch money will be shared by Pre-school and Hope Sports Club. If you come along to enjoy the car boot, we would appreciate a donation in our collection buckets!
FOREST FUN Please still send your children in long trousers and boots/strong walking shoes on Forest Fun days. It is quite muddy at times and the nettles and brambles are getting quite enormous! A waterproof coat is also a necessity, just in case! They will need a sun hat most weeks and sun cream ready applied.
If you would like to bring your child to a Forest Fun/Mud Kitchen “taster” session please let Judith know. Taster sessions are available on 30th June or 7th July as long as an adult can accompany your child. It’s the perfect opportunity to see what we do!
SUN SAFETY Please make sure your child has sun cream on and brings a hat each day to Preschool. We will be spending more time outdoors in fine weather. There is spare cream available in the children’s box if you forget.
HOPE WAKES WEEK is from 24th June to 2nd July. On Monday 26th June there is a picnic on the sports field. Preschool staff will be organising sporty activities for younger children to come and take part in. Please come and join us and bring a picnic (approx. 6pm onwards).
On Friday 30th July Hope Primary School will be holding their annual sports afternoon. You are welcome to go along with your child to watch the fun. Pre-school children are usually invited to join in some races at the end!
The carnival is on Saturday 1st July. In recent years, Pre-school parents have organised a float for Pre-school children. Please let us know if you are interested in joining with other parents to do this.
30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE If you are intending to claim the extended 30 hours free childcare from September 2017 you need to apply online the term before you wish to receive it. Access the following website: childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk
Our PARTY DAY and leavers “goodbye gathering” will be on Thursday 20th July.
PLEASE NOTE: We will be closing for the summer holidays at 12.15 and not holding an afternoon session on this day. All children are invited to attend, including ones not usually present on Thursdays. We will be performing our Goodbye Celebration for the pleasure of parents/carers at the end of session. Exact times and details to follow! Please let us know if your child will not be able to attend party day.
Best wishes,
Judith, Debbie, Jess, Shannon and Don
Dear Parents,
It’s just a few days more now until we will be welcoming all children back to Pre-school, beginning on Wednesday 2nd September.
I hope you’ve all received and read the information that has been emailed out to all parents, regarding making the setting as safe as possible for the children, staff and parents.
We have a number of measures in place to ensure everyone’s safety, which seemed to work very well in the half term leading up to the summer holidays. These measures are detailed in our Covid-19 Policy for Re-opening.
It was lovely to give our Pre-school leavers the send-off they deserved before they start at their prospective Primary schools next week. Good luck to them all!
The Pre-school team met yesterday to finalise plans for re-opening next Wednesday.
Protective measures at the setting:
Pre-school children who show any symptoms of Covid-19, or have family members with symptoms, must not attend Pre-school. A test should be ordered and the family must isolate until a result is known. Please inform Pre-school as soon as possible of the result. We will engage with NHS Track and Trace if and when necessary. Parents must also be prepared to do so.
If any children attend and develop symptoms whilst at our setting they will be isolated with a staff member and must be collected and taken home to isolate at home as soon as possible. Parents will need to order a test. The isolation period for someone with symptoms is now “at least 10 days”. It is still 14 days for someone not showing symptoms.
One parent/family “bubble” member only will drop off and pick up each child from Pre-school, to avoid unnecessary grouping outside the gates. Please observe social distancing and wait outside the gates until you are asked to enter the yard. Parents of returning children, already familiar with Pre-school, will not enter the building and will say goodbye to their child in the yard. Please only send necessary items in, such as coat, shoes/boots, hat, lunch, changing things, etc. each day. Children will carry their bag/s in and hang them on their named peg.
All parents will be allocated a staggered drop off and pick up time which will be 10, 15 or 20 past the hour. These will be sent out by text message before Wednesday 2nd September, along with a reminder of which sessions your child is booked in for.
It is advisable and in line with government guidelines that the number of settings each child attends at the moment should be kept to a minimum. We are aware that some of our children already attend one other local setting. We would prefer that our new starters should only be attending Hope Pre-school at present. This advice is for the safety of all members of our Pre-school community.
The setting will be cleaned thoroughly at the end of each session and shared areas- the kitchen, cloakroom and toilets, will be cleaned between each groups’ use.
Pre-school will have exclusive use of our main room. There will be two other groups using the hall, kitchen and toilets at times when Pre-school is not open.
The resources/toys we use each week will be specially selected for ease of cleaning. We will spend more time outdoors in the yard, weather permitting!
Children will wash hands often during the day- including on arrival at the setting- and we will use the “catch it, bin it, kill it” approach to snotty noses and sneezes! Please also encourage these approaches at home.
Whilst in setting the children will be sensitively encouraged to minimise unnecessary contact and to give people “some space.” We will sit children apart from each other during group times and will not hold hands for circle games. We do intend, however, to have lots of fun!
Parents of new children will be allowed to enter the setting as necessary for their child’s settling-in period. New parents will need to wear a face covering inside the building, sanitise hands on entry and socially distance as much as possible from all but their own child whilst in the setting. Time spent inside the setting will need to be kept to a minimum and pick up will be from the yard area, as with other parents.
Changes to Activities
We will resume going out on Monday afternoons to close locations, e.g. the church yard, and Friday mornings for Forest Fun. The children will be taught to use the walking rope so that hand holding is not necessary. The team will ensure that the children socially distance from anyone we might meet while out.
Baking on Wednesdays will not resume until we all feel it is safe to do so. The children will practise craft skills instead which we hope will be just as enjoyable, and as valuable in developing hand muscles and creative processes.
On Tuesday afternoons we plan to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activities suitable to the children’s stage of development. This could involve building and testing little boats, using different materials to make towers or making a pop-up card.
Staffing Arrangements
As Jess will not be returning to work at Pre-school and due to family commitments for Judith we have changed our staff rota slightly. Staff will generally be in for the following sessions. (Judith will however be there on Wednesday 2nd September to welcome everyone back to Pre-school.)
Judith: Monday morning, Tuesday full day, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
Debbie: Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Shannon: Monday full day, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Friday morning.
Heather: Monday full day, Tuesday morning and Thursday full day.
Sue, our wonderful volunteer, will be with us on most Tuesday mornings!
Due to the changes in staff working days and some of the children’s sessions, it is appropriate that some children will be issued with a new key person. This is to maximise the time children and key person will spend with each other in setting.
New children will be allocated their key person within their first few sessions when we can see who they have bonded with.
Don’t forget that children who are staying for a full day will need to bring a packed lunch and drink. Snack (generally fruit and a drink of milk or water) will be provided during the morning as usual.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.
We look forward to seeing you all again soon!
Best wishes,
Judith, Debbie, Shannon, Heather and Sue.