Nursery Class Bulletin
Friday 17th March 2023
Hello everyone,
Here we are approaching the end of term 2 and, as ever, the nursery has been a busy and fun-filled place. Apologies that this bulletin is overdue, I hope you've been able to keep up to date via our weekly Head Teacher's bulletin, our new display at the front door and through our nursery blog and Twitter. If you are not receiving our Head Teacher's bulletin, please contact our school office as this is where you will find key dates and information.
Welcome New Starts
In recent weeks, we have welcomed the last few members of our nursery class as they have turned 3 and it has been a joy getting to know them. If you are one of our new families, we extend a warm welcome to you on behalf of the whole Maidenhill Nursey Class community and we look forward to working with you over the next couple of years.
Staffing
Last month, we said a sad farewell to Tracy, one of our Fox Group key workers. Although she is very sorely missed by staff, children and parents alike, we wish her ever success in her new post - which we know she will be equally wonderful at! At the end of this term, we will be joined by Jade who was recently successful at interview to cover this post till June.
Toileting
Our Spring holiday is fast approaching and I strongly encourage those who are still in nappies or toilet training to take full advantage of this fortnight. Two weeks of no nappies, regular visits to the loo and following your child around with a mop may not sound like the restful holiday you had in mind but it will allow your child to make great progress in this important journey. Remember that you can contact your Health Visitor if you require additional support with this. I have also linked a couple of documents with further guidance below.
On Tuesday 28th March at 10.30am, the nursery will be hosting an informal drop in session for parents to support one another in their toilet training journeys. If you would be happy to share your success stories, particularly anyone who learned after their 3rd birthday, please let me know - your input would be greatly appreciated.
Parent Consultations
This month, we held our preschool parent consultations. These conversations were a great chance for us to share children's progress and next steps, and for us to learn a little more about your child's learning and development at home. If you missed your appointment and would like to re-book, please email the school office and we will be in touch with a phone call appointment.
Stay and Play
This Wednesday, we began another round of Stay and Play sessions. Thank you to those who have made it along already and for joining in on the play as you always do. I know these sessions are very special to our children.
If you have not yet signed up for a session, you can do this at drop off or pick up. We are able to host one adult per family and I share my usual reminder that; during Stay and Play sessions our staff team will be very busy leading experiences and supporting children and therefore will not be able to engage in discussions about individual children's needs or progress. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with us via the school office.
Stay and Play Dates:
Wednesday 15th March, 10.30am – 11.30am
Thursday 16th March, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Friday 17th March, 4pm – 5pm
Monday 20th March, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Tuesday 21st March, 10.30am – 11.30am
Wednesday 22nd March, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Thursday 23rd March, 4pm – 5pm
Friday 24th March 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Monday 27th March, 4pm - 5pm
Tuesday 28th March, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Wednesday 29th March, 10.30am – 11.30am
Thursday 30th March, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Friday 31st March, 4pm - 5pm
Parent Forum
Our next parent forum dates will be Thursday 30th March at 10.30am and Wednesday 10th May at 10.30am.
These meetings are open to all nursery parents/carers and during these meetings myself and Mr McDonald seek to gather parent voice on various nursery matters.
Vision Screening
Preschool vision screening will take place all day on Tuesday 18th April and in the afternoon of Friday 28th April. If your preschool child does not attend on either of these days and you wish for them to have the screening done at nursery, please contact me directly to arrange a suitable time that they could drop in on either of those dates. Anyone who is not screened in nursery will be contacted by the vision screening team and invited to another appointment.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Eilidh
Eilidh Lawson
Principal Teacher
Maidenhill Primary School and Nursery Class
Friday 23rd December 2022
Hello everyone,
Here we are at the end of our first term, I can hardly believe it. It's a wonderful but jam-packed time of year and I hope that you and your family will get time for not only fun and festivities but also a chance to rest and relax.
Thank you for your kind feedback on my last bulletin, I'm very glad to hear you found it worthwhile. In my last post, I shared that the nursery is once again able to invite in parent helpers and the response we received was absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much to all who have been able to contribute a little extra to our nursery in many different ways. As Tesco quite rightly say, 'every little helps' (other supermarkets are available!) To share a few examples, we've had parents and grandparents: reading stories to children, helping us to feed all our performers between our nativity shows, singing songs with children, leading winter dance workshops, supporting us today with our busy Christmas party (including a special red-suited someone who really saved the day!) and some lovely donations of new toys and materials. These gestures of support benefit all of our little learners so, on behalf of us all, thank you!
On the theme of parental involvement, it was great to see so many able to attend our Walk and Talk sessions this month. The children were tasked with looking for numbers in the environment and they reported back that they had found some on houses and signs but also that the Maidenhill Christmas lights are 'magical', which I have to agree with. If you were able to attend, I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with your child and their key workers together.
Moving on to our main event of the month, if not the year, our nativity performances! Their performances were a joy to watch and we are extremely proud of all of the children, irrespective of how they got on on the day. Through our rehearsals, every child pushed themselves and developed skills and targets which are specific to them. If any of your children go on to be West End stars, you must remind them that it all started here!
Onto introducing a couple of new faces who you may have spotted this week, Tina and Lynne have joined us as Play Workers and we are very glad to have them. You can see their photographs on our Staff page.
Finally, the whole staff team wish to say a huge thank you for your generous gifts and beautiful messages written in our Christmas cards. Every one of us considers ourselves very lucky to be working with your children and it goes without saying that no gifts or cards are required but your kindness has been really touching and has sent us off on our holidays with a skip in our step and a smile of our faces.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone. Be safe and we can't wait to see you again in 2023!
Eilidh
Eilidh Lawson
Principal Teacher
Maidenhill Primary School and Nursery Class
Tuesday 22nd November 2022
Hello everyone,
Thanks to those who made it along to our parent forum last week. Parent voice is incredibly valuable in any setting and we greatly appreciate your contributions and support. One item that was discussed was how to most effectively communicate with parents and families. Although everyone agreed that the headteacher's weekly bulletin is a reliable source for key updates and information, it was felt that a nursery class specific bulletin may be worthwhile - particularly for those who do not have older children in the school. Going forward, I will be sharing a nursery bulletin here on our website roughly once a fortnight, depending on the news and information we have to share. For insight on recent experiences and learning in the nursery class, keep an eye on our Twitter and blog.
Parent Partnerships
Volunteering - recently, more and more parents have been getting in touch offering support in the nursery class which has been very gratefully received. At present, we have a parent helper who has been reading stories with children and next week we have a talented dad bringing in his guitar for some songs and music games which we are really looking forward to. There are many ways that parents can become involved in nursery life in meaningful ways. Below are some ideas:
Reading stories and leading games
Leading experiences with specialist skills such as baking, woodwork and music
Supporting at mealtimes, helping to establish a nurturing and quality experience
At another nursery I recently saw a beautiful display which was created by parents volunteers - perhaps someone would be interested in helping us develop our Family Room
Lost property support - our school parent council generously sort through school lost property and share photos of items with parents and donate unclaimed items - this would certainly be something we would be grateful of support with
Donations - similarly, we have recently had some wonderful donations which have really sparked interest in the children. These have included a super comfy beanbag, a beautiful dolls house and a fantastic toy car garage. Smaller items which we would gladly accept and put to good use include:
spare clothes for changes - including shoes, pants, socks, even hats and gloves for outdoor play
books - fiction and non fiction
loose parts - such as conkers, buttons, corks, marbles etc.
role play items such as cups and saucers, pots and pans etc.
Dates
Industrial Action - You'll have seen in our last headteacher's bulletin the latest arrangements for the industrial action planned for Thursday 24th November. Our nursery class will remain open, but only from 9am-3pm. All children allocated to attend on a Thursday are welcome to attend between these hours. Drop-off will be between 9am and 9.30am and pick-up will be between 2.30pm and 3pm. We anticipate drop off and pick up being particularly busy and we ask for you cooperation and patience on this day in particular. As normal, please email or phone the school office if your child will not be attending on this day.
Nativity - Our nursery nativity, 'A Bundle of Joy' will be on Friday 16th December. In the last week, we have begun to sing some of the songs and Maria has begun rehearsing a few lines with the children. To ensure all families are able to buy 2 tickets, we will do 2 performances (11am and 2pm). You should have received information from the school office about how to purchase tickets.
All nursery children are invited to perform in the nativity. Those who do not usually attend on a Friday will be invited in for the performances. We ask that these children are dropped off at 10.30am and collected at 12noon for the 1st performance, then dropped off again at 1.30pm and collected at 3pm for the 2nd performance. Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate these children between performances. Understandably, this may be too much coming and going for some families. Please let me know if your child will only be joining us for 1 performance by emailing me via the school office.
Walk and Talks - Positive feedback was shared at the parent forum about our previous 'Walk and Talks' where staff and parents would literally 'walk and talk' around the local area. Parents said they found this to be a good opportunity to chat less formally to their child's key workers as well as a chance to get to know other nursery parents. In the interest of killing a few birds with the one stone, I would like to bring the children along on these walks - creating an opportunity for interactions between parents, key workers and children - as well as a local area excursion experience for the children with ample parent helpers! If your child does not attend nursery on the date of your next Walk and Talk, you are very welcome to bring them along. Next time, we will arrange them on a different day of the week. Please let me know if you will be attending a Walk and Talk by emailing me via the school office. Don't worry if you can't make it along, your child will still have the opportunity to attend.
Monday 5th December at 2pm - Bunny Group
Monday 12th December at 2pm - Squirrel Group
Monday 19th December at 2pm - Fox Group
Parent Forum - at our last meeting we agreed to vary the day of the week that our parent forum would meet. These meetings are open to all parents who wish to participate in discussions around nursery class improvement and better supporting our pupils, families and wider community. Our next meeting will be Monday 9th January at 10.30am. Please email me via the school office if you wish to attend this meeting.
Enjoy the rest of your week everyone,
Eilidh
Eilidh Lawson
Principal Teacher
Maidenhill Primary School and Nursery Class