This year we will be having one Christmas party for all of our learners. The party will take place on Friday 21st December, the last day of term during the morning session.
If your child attends for a morning or full day session on this day then please bring them to nursery at their usual time. If your child attends nursery in the afternoon session on a Friday or does not attend at all on a Friday then please bring them to nursery for 9:30am and return to nursery for the Santa visit at 10:45am and take your child home after Santa.
Children who attend nursery on a Friday afternoon are welcome to come back to nursery at 12:20pm for their usual session.
We have decided to have one Nativity this year. This will take place on Tuesday 11th December at 10:30am – 11am. Unfortunately as we will have a larger amount of children in the hall this year, it will limit the amount of family members per child who can come along. A letter will be sent home asking how many tickets each family require. Two tickets will be allocated to each family initially but more may be available. The price of a ticket will be £1 per person. Children under 3 will attend for free. There will be a closing date where all letters must be returned to the nursery. We will not be asking for ticket money until we have allocated tickets to each family. Please keep in mind that the numbers will be limited for fire safety regulations. The money raised will go towards activities and experiences for the children after Christmas.
If your child attends nursery on a Tuesday morning or for a full day on a Tuesday then they will attend as usual. If they attend on a Tuesday afternoon then we ask that you bring them to nursery for 10am on the Tuesday morning. Once the Nativity has finished, staff will take all children back to nursery to get changed and we ask that the afternoon children are picked up straight after. They can then attend as normal for their afternoon session.
Just a reminder to all parents/carers that all payments for school photographs must be completed or handed in by Thursday 4th October. Thank you 🙂
We are looking for parent helpers for our autumn walk. This will take place on Tuesday 9th October at 1:15pm and Thursday 11th October at 9:15am. There is a parent helper list on the board in the foyer. Thank you in advance
Welcome Back
The Nursery team would like to welcome back all of our returning children and families and give a warm welcome to all our new starts. We are holding an Open Evening on Thursday 20th September from 7pm-8pm where you can meet all the staff and your child’s Key Worker. Unfortunately this is for parents and carers only and we ask that no children attend.
Staffing
We are delighted to announce that Mrs Sammy Parker has joined our team full-time at Menstrie. Mrs Parker will be the keyworker for the Star group. Ms Julie McCheyne has secured a post as our Learning Assistant who will be with us each day from 10:30am-1:30pm. Miss Sammi Tasker has secured a full time post and will be the keyworker for the Rainbow group. Mrs Kerry Stanners will be in Nursery Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning as the Cloud keyworker. Mrs Sue Gardiner will be the Cloud group keyworker on Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. Ms Elaine Williamson will continue to be the Moon group keyworker from Tuesday – Friday. Mrs Lucy Docherty, our trainee Early Years Educator will be shadowing Ms Williamson this year. The main point of contact for the Moon group on a Monday is Mrs Docherty. Ms Tracy Russell will continue to work each day in the nursery and will remain the keyworker for the Sun group. We also have Mrs Sarah Seville, a Nursery Teacher joining us every Wednesday for a full day and a Thursday morning. Miss Jenny McEwan will continue as the Senior Early Years Educator.
Session Times
The morning session has two door opening times: 8:30am-8:40am and again at 9:00am- 9:10am. Can we ask that parents/carers try and keep to the door opening times as staff are busy settling and engaging with the children. The door will open again at 11:30am-11:40am for pick-up.
The afternoon session starts at 12:20pm-12:30pm and has two door opening times at the end of the day: 2:50pm-3:00pm and 3:20pm-3:30pm.
If your child attends Nursery for a full day and is dropped off between 8:30am-8:40am then they must be collected at 2:50pm. If your child is dropped off between 9:00am-9:10am then your child must be collected at 3:20pm (or earlier if you prefer.)
Learners Focus
During this month we will be focusing on the meaning of ‘safe’ and ‘responsible’ with the children. This is the beginning of various workshops which will be ongoing throughout the school year and will cover the meanings of:
Lunch Boxes
Just a small reminder that if your child stays for lunch, could you please ensure that an ice-pack is in your child’s lunch box. If you choose to give your child grapes as part of their lunch could you please cut them in half as full grapes are a choking hazard. We are also unable to heat up food for your child at nursery. Thank you.
Play on Pedals
Miss Tasker is our ‘Play on Pedals’ champion this year. She will be offering the programme to pre-school children first who are unable to ride a 2 wheeled bike. This will be offered to pre-pre school children later on in the school year. This programme focuses on helping children to learn to use a balance bike and make the smooth transition to using a two wheeled pedal bike. The Nursery already have their own supply of balance bikes which we will be using with the pre-school children when we start delivering the programme. Letters have been sent out to pre-school children. We would appreciate if you could return the letters as soon as possible to Miss Tasker to enable the children to begin the programme.
E-Journals
Clackmannanshire Council have provided each Early Years Practitioner with an iPad. Your children’s learning will become available online during this term instead of using the black books for Learning Journals. Each child will have their own E-Journal which will have significant observations made from their key-worker or another member of staff within the Nursery. You will be able to view your child’s E-Journal online. Can we please ask that each parent/carer fills out their own home e-mail address on the ‘E-Journal’ sheet which can be found at the desk where they sign-in. Each time an observation is made, you will receive and e-mail informing you of this. The address is: http://Menstrie.yourlearningjournals.co.uk
Wellcomm Screening
As part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge, our main focus in Menstrie Primary is literacy and language. As part of this we will assess children’s language skills and carry out various language activities in order to close the attainment gap.
Numeracy Trajectories
Another main focus in nursery is numeracy. At the start of this term, we will assess each child’s numeracy skills/knowledge. The data which is gathered will then be collated to form small groups of children who will participate in fun, challenging, active numeracy experiences in order to close the attainment gap. We will then assess each child at the end of the school year.
Dates for your Diary
We hope you all had a lovely summer and we look forward to welcoming our returning children and families and the new children which will be joining us this term.
The first term back is always busy.
We are delighted to welcome three new members of staff to our nursery team. Firstly we would like to welcome Mrs Samantha Parker as an Early Years Educator. She will be joining us on a full-time basis and will be the keyworker for the Star Group. We also have Ms Julie McCheyne who will be joining us in nursery as our Learning Assistant. Mrs Sarah Seville will be joining us on a Wednesday and Thursday morning as our nursery teacher. Miss Samantha Tasker who was with us part-time last year, has been successful in securing a full-time post. She will now be the keyworker for the Rainbow Group. Mrs Kerry Stanners will remain in nursery as the Cloud group key worker on Monday-Wednesday morning and Mrs Sue Gardiner will be the keyworker from Wednesday afternoon – Friday. Ms Tracy Russell will remain with the Sun Group. Ms Elaine Williamson will remain with the Moon Group alongside Mrs Lucy Docherty. Miss Jenny McEwan will remain as Senior.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the nursery on 01259 760690 option 2 or by email: CLjmcewan2@glow.sch.uk
Learners’ Interest: Growing
Our learners at Menstrie Nursery have shown an interest in ‘growing’. We had caterpillars in Nursery which have now grown in to butterflies. Our learners have been busy bringing in baby photographs of themselves and have enjoyed ‘looking after’ the baby dolls in Nursery. We would like to extend their learning further by inviting any parent who has a baby and who would feel comfortable bringing their baby into Nursery to chat with our learners.
Nursery Outing
If you are a parent helper for our Nursery outing to Almond Valley on Friday 22nd June, could we ask that you join Miss McEwan in Nursery for a discussion relating to our risk assessment. We will all be reading and singing the risk assessment at this time and Miss McEwan will answer any questions which you may have.
Times and dates are as follows:
Transition
Our learners have been busy with transition to Primary One. They have been in to the playground for a visit with Buddies and staff, they have been to visit a Primary One classroom, they have all met their individual buddies and they have been to visit the Primary One area.
Sports Day
Our Sports Day will be taking place on Tuesday 5th June at 10:30am and on Thursday 7th June at 1:45pm in the school field. If your child attends both days then they are welcome to join in with both.
Teddy Bears Picnic
Our Teddy Bears Picnic will be taking place in Nursery on 26th June. All pre-school children are invited and we ask that they bring a bear with them (please put their name on the bear). The morning picnic will be 10am-11am and afternoon will be 1:30pm-2:30pm. An invitation will be sent home to pre-school children who do not attend on a Tuesday.
Magician
On Wednesday 27th June Gary Dunn, a magician will be in Nursery for both the morning and afternoon session. An invite to children who do not attend on this day has been sent home. We would like to thank the Gala Committee for paying for this for our learners.
Nursery Graduation
Our Nursery Graduation for our pre-school children will take place on Thursday 28th June at 1:45pm in the school hall. All pre-school children are invited to attend. There will be a Graduation Ceremony followed by some refreshments afterwards.
Dates for the Diary
Staff
We would like to welcome Mrs Sue Gardiner and Mrs Helen Thomson to our nursery team. Mrs Gardiner will be in nursery all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Mrs Thomson will be in nursery on a Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday, Friday.
Nursery Outing
We will be going on our annual nursery outing to Almond Valley on Friday 22nd June. We are currently sorting out ratios of children:adults and will display our parent helper list on the board in the foyer soon. If you have not returned your child’s permission slip and £5 please do so by Friday 27th April.
Health Week
As part of Health Week before the Easter holidays, the children had taster sessions of different activities. We would like to thank John Miller who provided sessions of Krav Maga for the children, Greg Marshalsey who ran a children’s bootcamp, Jen Stenhouse who taught the children dance and Gordon Pirrie who helped make pizza with the children and discussed healthy foods. We had a visit from Waitrose who supplied healthy foods for the children to try and Active Start taught the children Bollywood dance.
Wee Scones Café
Just a reminder that the Sun Groups café will take place on Tuesday 8th May at 1:45pm-2:30pm and Thursday 10th May at 10:30am-11:15am. Children are in the process of making invitations which will be sent home soon.
Achievements
We would love to hear about any achievements your child has at home or at clubs which they attend. Please inform your child’s keyworker of any which you would like to share.
Learners Interests
Through observing the children’s interests we have decided to focus on growing. We will be planting seeds and growing vegetables soon. There has been an interest in babies since returning from the Easter holidays so could we ask that each child brings in a baby photo of themselves.
e-Journals
Just a reminder that parents/carers can add photographs to their child’s gallery on their e-Journal.
Dates for the Diary
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