Although we don’t break during the holiday we do enter into a new academic year, where we say good bye and good luck to our little learners who have moved on to school and a big hello and welcome to the new children and families that have joined us!
We have big plans for this year, so we would like to take the time whilst writing this newsletter to breakdown some of the things we have planned and give you some important dates for your diary. Please click on the links below to find out more.
FAMILY EVENT CALENDAR 2025 (Aug-Dec)
Centre Improvement Plan
Areas identified for improvement this year are.
Priority 1 is an EDC wide priority for early years. This is the introduction of the Up, Up & Away framework. Over this year we intend to introduce the the Up, Up & Away document to children, families and staff promoting a universal approach to inclusion in centre. We will roll out the initial implementation process, evaluate impact of early understanding and delivery. Collate information to inform plans for future implementation process.
Priority 2 – Curriculum Planning & Tracking – Children’s Rights – We aim to ensure all children, families and staff are educated about the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), fostering an environment where children’s rights are respected and upheld, which in turn will enhance child wellbeing and the overall effectiveness of the early years centre.
Children’s Fund
At Colquhoun EYC we ask parents/carers to contribute to our children’s fund.
The Children’s fund is put towards a variety of things for the children in our care, such as;
- Baking cooking ingredients
- Birthday gift
- Graduation
- Winter Wonderland
- Christmas/Graduation gifts
- Special visitors
- Outings/transport/fun days
- Sun cream / Wipes
- Resources for Centre
At Colquhoun we kindly as that parents contribute £2 per week to our children’s fund. Payments can be made by directly into our bank account or cash – please reference your child’s name when making payment this enables us to keep an accurate record of all payments made.
| Total due for Session 25/26 | Weekly Payment
(50 payments per year) |
Termly Payment (Term 1)
August – December |
Termly Payment (Term 2)
January – March |
Termly Payment (Term 3)
April – July |
|
100.00 |
£2.00 |
£42.00 |
£24.00 |
£34.00 |
Above is an example of how payments may look across the terms or for the year based on days.
Bank details
Virgin Money
Colquhoun Park Primary Nursery Account
Account no: 50167214
Sort code: 82 69 07
Supporting and promoting children’s choice in centre
At the beginning of August we sent out a poll to our families regarding the ordering of lunches. This was done in response to feedback we had received from families who believed ordering via forms the week previous was too far in advance, and at times could become problematic if any issues with technology should arise. We also received feedback from internal quality review which recommended we create more opportunity for children’s choice and independence prior to and during lunch periods.
26 of our families participated in our poll with the results below as follows.
| Yes. This is a great idea. Children should pick daily what they would like. | 19 | |
| No. I would prefer to choose using Microsoft Forms and pick my child’s lunch choice weekly. | 7 |
We posted on our journal system to advise that this was taking place, and links were sent out to all, which included menus, matrix and a request; if any of our families were unable to find suitable options for their child, they contact centre to request a specialised menu. Since Thursday menus have been posted on our socials, both facebook and X. This is something we intend to continue on a Friday evening to inform of the choices that will be available for the week ahead. Each morning at drop off we have been asking the children, in the presence of their parents what they would like for lunch.
We are currently in the process of making a visual aid for this, and plan to have a lunch time ordering table in situ at both drop off and collection times. This will be where choices are made. We have tried to take into consideration that 27% of those who responded to our poll were in favour of the weekly forms, therefore any parents who may have concerns over children choosing, with support from staff, are invited to support their child themselves at these times.
Over the next couple of weeks whilst visual aids are being created, we will continue to verbally ask parents at drop off/collection what their child may want for lunch.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time with questions, concerns, suggestions or feedback on anything we may have covered, we value your input…… it’s how we ensure we continue to get it right for our children and their families.
Team Colquhoun x
