Welcome back. I hope that you have all had a relaxing half term with some lovely sunny weather! There are quite a few notices below, so please take time to read them all.
- We are looking forward to spending more time outside over the next few weeks as Spring approaches. We are going to be busy planting and tidying the garden with the children during the coming half term. Gardening is an activity that they always thoroughly enjoy. If you wish to donate any spare bulbs, seeds, or small plants, the children would really enjoy planting them! We would also be grateful for some help in our garden over the next few weeks. The jobs include painting/treating the benches and replacing and filling planters. We would also like to arrange a working party to repaint the hopscotch and letter ladder in the playground. If you fancy organising a team to do these jobs or helping in any way we would be very grateful!
- As the warmer weather has arrived and you will no doubt want to spend time outside before and after Pre-school, we would like to remind you that the grassed area next to the hall and church is a Garden of Remembrance, a quiet place for contemplation and not a play area. The ashes of many local people have been placed in the garden over many years and families and friends of these people often visit. Please respect this special place.
- We will shortly be arranging our Parent Consultations. These short meetings will take place towards the end of this term. For the last couple of years, these meetings have replaced an Easter report. It is a good opportunity to chat to your child’s Key Person and to discuss Tapestry. We will send out the date/s as soon as possible.
- If your child would like to bring something in for ‘Show and tell time’, please try to make sure that it is something from a ‘Wow’ moment – an item of interest, such as a picture or booklet from a day out, or something related to our letter, colour, number and topic of the week. We have had far too many toys brought in over the first half term and items are often misplaced particularly if they are similar to our Pre-school resources. Don’t forget to label all belongings!
- We would like to extend our natural collections, so please look out for and help us to collect the following from around your home and nearby countryside – cones, pebbles, small log slices and other interesting wooden pieces, wooden pegs,
decorative dried fruits, shells etc. Natural materials stimulate children’s creativity and imagination as they can be used
in play in many ways. Natural objects with open-ended possibilities often encourage children to engage in richer play experiences. Natural materials have a sensory benefit. They have different textures, sizes, colours and smells. They provide more tactile stimulation to children to help them improve their hand/finger awareness and coordination. Natural resources are accessible. They are renewable; their creation and disposal has minimal harm to the environment. Children are learning about nature and to be resourceful. With the support of interested adults, children are learning about their local environment and strengthening their sense of place. We also plan to collect items such as old keys, padlocks etc – any resources, ideas or suggestions would be welcome! - As the front hall is constantly in use with the children and the office for staff, from this term either leave pushchairs/tricycles on the grassed area in front of the kitchen or take them home if practical to do so. If the weather is wet we will make sure that the pushchairs are covered. We cannot use the front porch as the front door is a fire exit.
- Events during this coming half term include World Book Day on Thursday 7th March 2019. We will hand out book vouchers at the beginning of the week and there will be an optional dressing up day on Friday 8th March. We will also be wearing red for Red Nose Day on Friday 15th March – donations for this cause will be collected during the week.
Hilary Coome