January 2012 newsletter

Firstly Happy New Year to all from the Staff and Management Committee. Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and an enjoyable break.

Many thanks for all the gifts that the staff received for Christmas.

Nursery Education Forms – All parents of children claiming Nursery Education Funding this term are required to sign their forms by Friday 13 January.  Will you be sure to see Hazel or Sandie week beginning 9 January to sign the declaration?  If forms are not completed by this date Pre-school are in their legal rights to charge the parent for the Spring Terms fees.

Youth Centres future secured – we received the welcome news, as we began our Christmas break, that Warwickshire County Council has given a local Management Team the go ahead to manage the centre as from September 2012. This secures Pre-schools future at the Centre for the years to come.  Some people may have heard that there are plans for Pre-school to move onto a site on Coten End School grounds – this is our plan for the future but to stay financially independent from the school we are in the process of raising funds to buy a suitable building.

Victorian Evening – back in November, you will remember, we held a tombola at the Warwick Victorian Evening, we successfully sold all the tickets within an 1 ½ hours and raised £203. Thank you to all those parents that supported this by either providing items for the tombola or buying tickets on the evening.

Christmas Fayre – just as we broke up for the festive break we held a Christmas Fayre. This was a great success and again thank you to parents that either supported the event or provided items for the different games that took place. We raised £800.

Haven Fun & Fitness Campaign – annually Pre-school register for this campaign, which enables us to receive free sports equipment that all the children benefit from.  All we ask of our parents is to log onto the web page below and show your support by going to Pre-schools page. It takes 2 minutes of you time but benefits the children immensely.   The closing date to show your support is 27 April 2012. Please remember to reply to the e mail that is sent to confirm your registration.  In anticipation of your help thank you.

www.havenfunfitness.com

Pre-school post code is CV34 4NU

Naming of personal items – please can we remind parents that all items of outer clothing should be labelled with your child’s full name.  This saves the wrong item going home with the wrong child or being put on the wrong child.  Also drinks bottles should be clearly labelled.  If toys are to be bought into Pre-school can these also be labelled clearly to save children getting upset. 

Encouraging independence – it is the aim of Pre-school to encourage all children to be as independent as possible in every day actions. With this in mind, can we encourage parents to encourage children to have a go at putting their coats on and off, taking shoes on and off.  Obviously the younger children will require a little help but a good place to start to encourage this, is by letting them have a go at taking the items off first.  Within Pre-school encourage your child to find their own peg and hang their own coats up in the morning, all pegs are clearly labelled to enable children to do this.

Topics to be covered this half term – Caterpillars will be covering numbers, colours and shapes. To help your child progress in this topic look out for shapes, colours and numbers whilst out and about shopping or out for a walk and talk about what you see.  Butterflies will be looking at all types of transport.  If you have got photographs of unusual types of transport, could we please borrow them to show the children during circle time.  Butterflies during circle time will continue with sound and letter work; rhythm and rhyme; sound bingo and clapping rhythms.  

Both groups will be encouraging all children to say Please and Thank you throughout the session when appropriate.

After half term Butterflies will be discussing People who help us. If you have a family member or friend who works in the Emergency Services and is willing to come and talk to the children please have a chat with your Key Worker.

Entering Butterflies and Caterpillars -Can we please remind parents to bring your child right into the room so they are in safely away from the door.  Parents are requested not to hold conversations with either staff on the entrance door – leading to the road – or the member of Butterfly staff on the main hall door. This is simply for safety reasons, if you need to speak to the person on either door please feel free to wait or pass a message via another member of staff, this member of staff can call you after they have finished their door duty.

Early Learning tips –
·       Before children show an interest in writing their own name (which may not happen until school) encourage children to mark make on paper, with pens, pencils and paints.
·       If your child shows an interest in writing their name, start with the capital letter and then follow with lower case.
·       Try and encourage children to start at the top left hand corner. This isn’t natural for children so a little encouragement and patience will be required.
·       Spend time during the day looking at books and enjoy reading them together.
·       When talking about letters and sounds use the sound of the letter. (if unsure please speak to a member of staff).
·       Count everyday objects – such as how many cars are at the traffic lights or how many plates do we need on the table tonight.
·       Encourage independence in everyday actions
·       Sing nursery rhymes whilst in the bath or at bed time.
·       The biggest and most important thing to remember is that all children develop at different rates – Pre-school is here to encourage the skills children have and to develop them further with the parents help.
·       If at any time you would like to know what activities you could do at home to help your child’s development please speak to your Key Worker.

Books – If you would like to borrow books from Pre-school, there is a selection available on the table in reception.  All we ask is you sign when you take the book and sign when you return the book. There is no charge for late returns!  Please let the children look at the books with you and on their own – this will encourage enjoyment of reading and promote good language skills later in life.

Please note: A copy of this newsletter is always on display in the letter folder in the reception, can also be found on our web page and now on face book.
 
Dates for your Calendar
Tuesday 17 January – Butterflies to visit Coten End School. We will spend some time in the Learning Zone and then we will be playing in 
Receptions Playground.  We will leave Pre-school at 9.15am and return by 11.50 am.  We will require parental help for this activity to take place. Parents do not require CRB checks to be able to offer their time.  Please see Hazel if you are able to help.

Friday 10 February - Break up for half term

Monday 20 February - Return to Pre-school.

Week beginning 12 March – Caterpillar Key Worker meetings

Week beginning 19 March – Butterfly Key Worker meetings

Saturday 24 March – Family Bingo Night – details to follow

Friday 30 March – Easter Bonnet Parade.

Friday 30 March – Break up for Easter holidays

Monday 16 April – Return to Pre-school

Saturday 28 April – Fashion Show – details to follow

Regards

The Pre-school Team.