CP NEWS – May/June Edition

Big well done to all our little superstars who took part in the casting opportunity held in Centre for Balamory!

 

Everyone made our special guest Vanda, feel super welcome & even made her laugh with all their cool jokes and crazy dancing!!

 

 

 

Sports Day

Unfortunately due to the weather last week we had to postpone sports day. We have however rescheduled for this week WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, sadly the weather is still not looking like it is going to be the blue skies we had hoped for but we have made the decision to carry on regardless.

Can we ask that children who are coming back to the EYC after sports day, have a spare clothes, should they need to be changed. Can we also ask that your child bring a bottle of water with them.

Transition

We pride ourselves on delivering a strong transition programme for our children who are moving on, as we believe it is pivotal in making their move from EYC to school, seamless, enjoyable and most importantly, less daunting.

This year has been no exception, our children have had an array of experiences to help promote their understanding of expectations, learn new skills, meet teachers, explore grounds, make new friends, and even take part in their very first after dinner disco!!

Here is a sneaky peak at some of the things they have been up to!!

Growing up project

Children were paired with last years primary 1’s and had the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities over a 4 week period. These activities took place across primary 1 classrooms, the primary 1 playground and the trim trail. Children met with their new teachers, Mrs. Brownlee & Mrs. McBride as well as Mrs. Readie, Mrs. Pash and Mrs. Lewis.

Lunch in the Canteen

We have visited the school canteen twice a week for the past few weeks. Here, children have been learning skills such as collecting, carrying and clearing trays, where to order  lunches, sitting safely and being responsible. We also met our new dinner ladies, Gill, Lauren and Gemma and found out how to get to our new playground from the lunch hall.

Neon Disco

Our pre-schoolers were invited along to join P1 to P3 at their NEON DISCO. This was attended by almost all of our pre-schoolers, who had a great time dancing, waving their glow sticks and being out after dinner!!

 

School Assembly

Children were taken along to a whole school assembly to experience what this will be like when they go to school. All children done amazingly well at this. The expectation to sit for extended periods of time is far greater during assembly than it is at any other time and certainly more that our children will have experienced before during activities in the EYC. Each and every one of children in attendance demonstrated wonderful manners as they sat and listened to what Mrs Readie had to say!

EYC Decant

This summer we are having renovation work done with in our EYC to create a larger space for children to receive personal care. Due to this we will be decanting from our EYC round to the Primary one classrooms for roughly 4/6 weeks from the first week of Summer.

This is something we have done before whilst our playground refurb was carried out, therefore all the relevant risk assessments, action plans and notifications have been reviewed and updated to ensure that the move does not impact the quality of care and learning experiences being delivered.

A video was created during our previous decant which parents reported as a useful visual of where the new drop off and collection points were. A copy of this will be shared to all our families via learning journals this week.

Graduation

Our graduation is set to take place on Saturday the 26th of July, we are hopeful we will have gained access to our centre by then however if we have not, please do not worry we have a plan B up our sleeve in terms of where the official ceremony will be held.

We try and keep as much as we can a surprise for our little graduates until the big day, therefore there will be a one way system put in place for arriving for their ceremony.

Once we have a better idea of whether we are going with Plan A (early years car park) or B (school car park at pitches) we will get these out to you, please know this may not be until the very last minute but be assured this information is only about where you will be entering graduation and a map of our one way system.

Summer Holidays

We know that when the school holidays start, some of our families like to take their children out of the EYC for holidays or cut down their children’s hours/days as they are home with siblings.

We  are currently in the process of creating our staff rota for Summer and ask if you do have plans for holidays or alterations you let us know no later than Friday 13th of June, this ensures we are able to deploy our staff effectively during this time.

Support Groups

Did you know we can offer additional support for social and emotional regulation.

 

Does your child have trouble expressing or managing their emotions?

Do they scream or lash out if things don’t go their way?

Do they struggle to navigate new situations without you by their side?


Our Support Group is underpinned by nurture principles facilitated by Rachael and delivered in addition to your child’s personal learning plan; an extra layer of individualised support!

If any of the above sound familiar then please take a few moments to complete the form below.

Support Group sign up

Sharing information

Did you know we have 2 public platforms on social media as well as our blog and closed X account.

We try hard to hard to create as many methods of communication as possible to ensure that everyone finds a way that suits them. We in no way expect families to keep track of all media accounts, so please pick which works best for you and follow.

Facebook

Colquhoun Park Early Years – Private Account (@CParkNursery) / X

Children’s fund

At Colquhoun EYC we kindly ask that parents contribute £2 a week to our Children’s fund. The children’s fund helps to fund a number of opportunities and resources for the children such as:

  • Daily healthy Snacks
  • Baking/Cooking ingredients
  • Party food for special occasions
  • Parties/Celebrations
  • Birthday cards
  • Graduation gifts
  • Christmas presents/treats for the children
  • Special visitors/entertainers
  • Outings throughout the year
  • Public transport for local outings
  • Sun Protection – Cream/Hats
  • Spare Clothes/Wipes/Nappies
  • Fun days

Payments can be made by cheque or cash in an envelope marked with your child’s name or directly into our bank account via bacs.

Colquhoun Park Primary School Nursery Account

Account Number: 50167214

Sort Code: 82-69-07

We keep a record of all payments. This can be paid weekly, monthly or termly. Payments received for 24/25.

Thank you very much.

Total due for Session 24/25 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

We have been asked by many parents the balance of their children’s fund and thought it would be easier to send a little reminder out to all. Thank you kindly for continually supporting the Centre.

The Children’s Fund allows us to be able to provide the children with many additional activities and experiences throughout the year.

As we approach the end of the year, we are hoping to provide many experiences for the children e.g., outings, Graduation celebrations, and a Summer fun for all.

This could not be possible without your continued support.

Thank you again,

Team Colquhoun x

CP NEWS – March/April Edition

CONGRATULATIONS to Rachael who after an intense interview process has now successfully secured her place as Colquhoun Park EYC’s permanent Senior Early Years Worker.

We are all so happy for you, you worked your socks off for it!!

WELCOME to Clare who we are delighted to say has taken up our Housekeeper post in centre. Clare is already well known to our team and the families within our Colquhoun Park Community as her children have all attend our EYC and have went on in their CP journey. Its great to have Clare as part of our team and we already know she is going to be fabulous!!

 

Children’s Rights 

We have been learning all about our rights in the EYC! Some of the children from Primary 7 came to visit and introduced us to the school and EYC’s Rights Respecting Racoon – Rocky.

Special thank you to the P7 designer of Rocky, who dressed up and came for a meet and greet with our children. We are currently in the process of organising a family session for all our adults to meet Rocky and find out all about what we have been learning!

 

Transition to School 

Over the past few weeks school and early years staff have come together to carve out this year’s transition programme for our pre-school children.

Last year we introduced transitional opportunities and experiences which promoted the development of skill sets specific to primary school and also, the understanding of expectations, we tried our best to remove what some of the children describe as the ‘scary’ unknown. This year we will continue to create opportunities for children to have lunch in the dining hall, play in the school playground, take part in assemblies, visit the classrooms etc. however we recognise the importance of not only transitioning physically but also emotionally from the EYC to school. We intend to, this year, heavily focus on building strong relationships with all our children and families with our wonderful school staff to ensure that everyone has someone they feel safe and secure and ready to grow, prior to the new school intake in August.

Most of the enhanced transition will happen during the typical EYC day, therefore there will be no need for families to make adaptations to their schedules to accommodate.

We are however rolling out a new initiative this year called the ‘Growing up’ Liaison Project. This would require all pre-school children to be in the EYC over a 4 week period every Wednesday from 1:20pm – 2:20pm commencing after the Spring break. Click on link below for full break

Growing Up at CPPS overview 2025

 

Upcoming closure dates

Friday 18th & Monday 21st April – Public Holiday

Monday 5th May & Tuesday 6th May – Public Holiday & In-service

Friday 23rd May & Monday 26th May – Public Holiday

Family time/holidays

We understand that many of our families like to take their children out of centre when their siblings are out of school. We ask that if this will be the case for the Spring break that you please contact centre in advance. This enables us to ensure all our staff are deployed effectively.

Changes to Funding

The following email and link was sent out to families of children who are due to attend as 3yr olds in our 2025-26 term (current 2yr olds). We ask if you did not receive this and/or have not already contacted centre that you do so as priority to ensure your place remains secure.

Dear Parent/Carer,

Please find attached communication about the changes to the early learning and childcare funding start date in East Dunbartonshire .

You will see there are options to confirm your position. Please contact your chosen early years centre to confirm your decision by midday on Friday 28th March .

Parents-Carers – Changes to ELC Funding

Family Engagement Opportunities

Spring themed Stay & Play sessions – Monday 14th April 2025 – 10am to 11am or Tuesday 15th April 2025 – 2pm to 3pm

Family Gardening Day – Saturday 26th April 2025 – 10:30am to 1:30pm

Spring Scavenger Hunt – Thursday 1st May 2025 – 5pm to 6pm 

Pre-school Progress Meetings – week commencing 12th May 2025 (further details and booking information to follow)

Sponsored Bunny Hop

You should by now have received your child’s sponsor sheet for the EYC’s sponsored bunny hop.

Our Bunny hop will take place throughout the week of the 7th & 14th where children and staff alike will be getting their hop on! All money raised will go towards your child’s treat fund.

Bunny Hop Sponsorship form

Quality Assurance

We would like to ensure we are continuously giving families the opportunity to have their voice heard, empowering our families to be actively involved in influencing our practice and evaluating the service we provide.

In centre we use a variety of frameworks and toolkits to support our quality assurance checks two of which are “How good is our early learning and childcare” and the “Care Inspectorate Quality Indicators”.

We are currently evaluating Quality Indicator

2.1: Quality of the setting for care, play and learning.

Over the coming weeks we may use a variety of different media to try and encourage your input into our evaluation process. We understand that everyone is busy, so we are trying to be creative in ensuring we come up with time efficient methods to gather your thoughts.

EYC Parent Forum 

Now our permanent management team within the EYC has been assigned. We would like to move forward with the establishing of our Parent forum.

Thank you to our families who have already signed up for this on our previous request, we will be in touch shortly.

For those of you who would like more information or to sign up to our forum please use the link below.

Parent Forum Sign up / Information request

 

CP NEWS – January/February Edition

Welcome back, the winter break seems like a distant memory and yet we have barely blinked, and here we are in FEBRUARY!!

2025 has already had us sharing some very sad news about the passing of the wonderful Ann Marie who was our go to women in the kitchen for many years.

Ann Marie was well known in our school community for her wicked sense of humour and unfaltering love of all our children. She will be sorely missed by many.

On behalf of our EYC we would like to thank Ann Marie for all the love, care, attention and big smile, that she always met our children with.

Sending lots love and strength to Ann Marie’s family and everyone who was lucky enough to know her.

 

We do however, also have some extremely good news to share, as not ONE but TWO of our staff team got engaged!!We would like to congratulate both Kirsty & Rebecca on their engagements. There is no doubt in our minds you will both make the most beautiful brides.

 

Family Engagement

We have 3 upcoming opportunities for our families to come into centre and take part in Valentines themed activities.

Tuesday 11th February 2025 – Stay & Play – 10am to 11am 

Thursday 13th February 2025 – Stay & Play – 2pm to 3pm

Tuesday 18th February 2025 – Bookbug – 10am to 11am

Please remember all these sessions can be attended by alternative family members such as Gran/Granda, Aunty/Uncle etc. All we ask is that if they are not already known to us in centre that you email us a photo, this allows us to effectively carry out security checks prior to them entering the building.

If you would like to attend please complete the link below. If there are multiple sessions on offer we ask that you state clearly the day and time you wish to attend.

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT – REGISTRATION

Primary School Transition

We have been sent dates from our feeder schools on transition visits that will be taking place for your pre-school child.

Colquhoun Park Primary

Westerton Primary –  P1 Induction Dates 2025

Inservice Day – EYC Closure

Our centre will be closed on Wednesday 19th of February for in-service day training. These days are essential for our staff members continuous personal development, ensuring that we can continue to provide the best possible care and experience for our little learners.

February mid-term

If you are planning on keeping your child off during the February mid-term can we ask that you drop us an email to let us know, this allows to to ensure that our staff are deployed effectively.

EYC car park

We would like to remind everyone that the car park at the side of the EYC is for staff use only. There has been a few near misses over the past couple of weeks one of which resulted in a member of staff having to reverse back out onto Canniesburn road during rush hour traffic to avoid collision.

We kindly ask that all our families use the car park at the pitches when dropping their child at either school or EYC.

2025/26 Allocations

Notifications and information has been sent out to all our families regarding application process for the year ahead. If you haven’t already done so, or if you are unsure about anything please click on the link below to find out more.

https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/services/a-z-of-services/primary-secondary-and-early-years-education/early-years/early-years-how-to-apply/

Registration Forms/Care Plans

We are currently reviewing our registration forms and care plans. We will be looking to recruit some of our families to review the new format for these prior to sending them out in July for completion. We will require these form to be completed by all children intending to return for our 2025/26 session.

If you would like to be part of our reviewing process, please let us know.

Social Media Engagement 

We would like to ensure that we are using the correct platform to share our information. We have received feedback from some families that prior to joining us that they have found it difficult to get a feel for our centre as the majority of learning experience and opportunity offered for our little learners is shared on private accounts.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at this more closely and would be keen to get some input. I will be circulating a questionnaire and would urge everyone to take a moment to complete.

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