CP News – Page 2 – Colquhoun Park Early Years Centre

September 5, 2024September 6, 2024

CP NEWS – September Edition

Our new year is well underway, children are spending time this week selecting their EYC theme, and group name.

Children have been using their right to be heard to choose their favourite ideas. We used a voting system which resulted in stories and characters being this years winner!

Standards & Quality Report 2023-2024

Our Standards & Quality Report outlines the progress we made throughout the year of 2023-24. The quality report measures progress against priorities set within our 2023-24 centre improvement plan.

CP EYC Standards Quality Report 2023-24

We use our evaluation of progress within the report to inform priorities for improvement for the following academic year.

Centre Improvement Plan 2024-25

As a staff team we look closely at the service we offer, critically evaluating the experience and opportunity we provide to our littlest learners and their families. We use quality assurance frameworks and tools to monitor our progress throughout the year and create opportunity for our children and families to have their say on the service we provide and how we can continue to build on the progress we have made.

This year we have identified 3 areas in which we feel deserve priority for improvement.

Outdoor Environment & Opportunities. Create and environment outdoors that is rich with learning opportunities which ignite curiosity, creativity & Independence.

Develop Systems & Frameworks for Operation linking to Wider, Local & National Policy. Use current guidance & legislation, and logistical knowledge of our centre to develop robust systems for self-evaluation and governance.

Curriculum Planning & Tracking. Introduce all children, families and staff to the UNCRC (United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child), fostering and environment which raises awareness and understanding whilst promoting the rights of the child.

To read in full, click on the link below

Colquhoun Park EYC – Centre Improvement Plan 2024/25

Family Engagement – Interactive Sessions

We will be running our first interactive sessions in centre next week on the 9th & 10th of September 2024. This session will be based on Literacy & Numeracy – How to support development at home. We appreciate these dates may not suit everyone and additional dates may be added if there is a demand.

Use the link below to secure your space or to inform us of your interest by selecting the can’t make these dates option.

Family Engagement – Events 2024-25

As promised we have created a family events calendar for the year ahead. We are hopeful that we will not have to alter any of these dates/times indicated, however if we do we will endeavour to give as much notice as possible.

Family Engagement Calendar 2024-25

Polite Reminders

All children’s clothes should be labelled with their name, this helps us make sure they make it home at the end of the day.
The car park at the side of the EYC should not be used for drop off or collection of children unless a prior arrangement has been made.

To all our families who put their names forward in support of our parents forum. We are delighted to announce that upon speaking with the school we have been invited to join forces creating a school community council made up of both members of the Early Years & School Committee.

Some of the existing committee members have written an open letter to you all sharing information on what is involved. We are also hopeful to have some representatives available at our Curriculum Evening 10th October 2024 to discuss this further.

Letter from CP Parent Council

August 2, 2024

CP NEWS – August Edition

We would like to start off this month’s CP NEWS by congratulating all our Colquhoun Park EYC Graduates of 2024! We hope you all enjoyed your special day and we wish you all the love and luck in the world for your new big primary 1 adventure!

Graduation 2024

If you haven’t already, can we ask that all our leavers take a few minutes to complete our questionnaire. The information provided by our families will help shape the provision we provide moving forward.

CPEYC Leavers Questionnaire 2024

We would also like to say a huge CP Family welcome to all the children and families who will be joining us this year!

We always feel extremely lucky and privileged to be part of a child’s journey through the early years & we are massively grateful to the families who choose us to do so. We look forward to getting to know you all.

REMINDER

Centre will be closed on Monday 12th of August and Tuesday the 13th of August for staff training.

EXTENDED YEAR Calendar 24-25

Changes this Year

Bags & Personal belongings – We will be issuing every child with a drawstring bag. We ask that this bag is filled with the essentials only and left in the EYC. As the amount of children we have in centre grows, so does to the size of their rucksacks! We would like to create a clutter free environment in which children can independently access their peg to hang/collect their jackets etc. We will begin to issue these next week and would like for everyone to be using them on return after the in-service.

Lost Property – A lost property bin will be situated under our shelter in the centre playground. Items that are not collected will be used as spares or donated to charity. To prevent this happening to your child’s clothing we would ask that you name their belongings, this enables us to ensure its safe return home.

Forest Programme – We are hoping to reintroduce our Forest programme in centre whereby children will work in small groups over a 6 week period exploring, creating, and expanding their knowledge/skills within the forest environment.

Further information to follow in due course.

Online Notifications

Over the past few weeks we have trialled using our online journal system to inform parents of any accidents or incidents which have taken place in centre.

The feedback we have received regarding this has been extremely positive therefore, moving forward all incidents/accidents will be logged in real time using this system and an email will be sent directly to the parents for signature (approval).

Children’s End of Term Reports

There has been a slight delay in collating end of term reports, we are working on getting these out to families as soon as possible.

Sharing/updating information

Everyone should now have information on your child’s key group and staff member responsible for securing your child’s progress. It is important to us that we are always responding to our children’s needs, supporting their development not only cognitively but socially and emotionally also. Therefore, over the coming weeks we will be asking all our families to review their child’s care plan. This process is extremely important in ensuring that your child’s information is up to date and the we are a team are continuously getting it right for your child and their family.

Parent Forum

We mentioned in our previous newsletter that we would be keen to set up and establish a parent forum within centre.

If this is something you would be interested in or would like more information on please click on the link below.

Parent Forum

July 4, 2024July 4, 2024

CP NEWS – July Edition

Family Engagement & Events Feedback

Thank you to each and everyone of our families who took the time to complete our family engagement and events feedback form. We were completely overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback received and also extremely grateful for the constructive suggestions we were given on how we can improve moving forward.

Below are areas suggested for improvement by our families and our plan on how we intend to do so in the future.

What you said ….

Making sure children have jumpers/jackets/water bottles as appropriate on sports day.

What we done/will do…

As our numbers increase on whole centre events we may need to recruit some additional adult support from our families. Water stations are taken down to sports day however, if your would prefer your child bring a water bottle please speak to staff and we will ensure your child has it. Unfortunately, we are not always as lucky with the weather as we hope for, therefore being prepared with children’s jackets/jumpers on standby (instead of last minute dash) is absolutely something we will ensure is done next year – clothing being named will support us in this.

What you said…

More options of stay and play.

What we done/will do…

We are hopeful to run a variety of opportunities for you to come to centre and play with your children we will offer this in a variety of different ways, including scavenger hunts, bookbug sessions, set activities, free play, themed days etc.

What you said….

As much notice as possible to accommodate working hours.

What we done/will do…

We are working towards creating a family events calendar which will list all planned events for families over the 2024/2025 term. These will include, sports day, graduation, stay and play, interactive sessions, bookbug etc.

What you said…

There was a lot of different requests for donations throughout the year which can be stressful.

What we done/will do…

As a centre we receive no source of income for extra curricular expense, such as outings, family sessions, spare clothes, sun creams, celebrations or gifts. We rely solely on the weekly contributions made by our families to our children’s fund. We recognise that we have not been communicating this as well as we could have, and letters with information surrounding our children’s fund have now been sent out to families (end of May). We are hopeful moving forwards this will eradicate our need to request for additional donations.

What you said…

Parent voice – what do parents see as a priority for fundraised money, what shared learning experiences they’d like to participate in, etc.

What we done/will do….

We completely agree, we would love for our parents to be more involved in the daily running of our centre, creating opportunity for their voice to be heard. We are hopeful this year may be the year that the early years centre establish its very own parents forum.

If this is something you would be willing to contribute your time to, please let us know by emailing kady.tamburrini@eastdunbarton.gov.uk with your note of interest.

Enabling Environments – Learning Through Play

We have been working hard over the past year to enhance the learning experience we offer our children both indoors and out. We have considered out curricular delivery process and used Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles to track progress, making adjustments as we go. Recently we have used enabling environment audits as a tool to ensure that the environment we offer for our children continuously cultivates curiosity, creativity and independence for all.

Over the coming weeks we will work alongside our children to redefine our playrooms into an environment that arouses excitement and wonder for our littlest learner. Staff will participate in, in house training, aimed at refreshing and enhancing their knowledge on scaffolding children’s learning by enhancing and extending children’s play. Staff will work together to resource the environment in a way which offers a fresh and invigorating experience, accessible to all children, promoting a sense of autonomy over their learning.

Using a mixture of both child and adult led learning opportunity, we aim to make learning fun, exciting and accessible to all.

We believe the real learning takes place, when children don’t know they are learning at all.

The best way for our children to learn is through PLAY!!!

Centre closure dates 2024-25

Click on the link to access centre closure dates for 2024-25. Voting days do not effect the centre therefore we will remain open as normal.

EXTENDED YEAR Calendar 24-25

Centre Outings

We are planning on taking small groups of children out to the local soft play over a 5 week period starting next week (8th July 2024). We will aim to ensure that each child has had the opportunity to attend, by arranging our outings for a different day each week. Each child should have now completed an EV3 form, if not we will need this to be return prior to your child attending. Additional information will be sent home informing families of your child’s outing day/date and arrangements no later than Friday 5th of July. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please do not hesitate in speaking to a member of our team.

Staffing

We would like to welcome Amy & Zoe to our team.

Amy & Zoe joined our team this week after successfully securing permanent posts in centre, both ladies are experienced early years workers who worked within East Dunbartonshire Local Authority Centres prior to coming to Colquhoun Park.

Amy will be working full time in centre (35hrs) between the hours of 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Zoe will be working part time in centre (30hrs) 12pm to 6pm Monday to Friday.

Amy & Zoe will be spending the next few weeks getting to know children, families, centre staff and routines.

Please be sure to give them a hello when you see them!

Amy

Zoe

Children’s Reports

Final keyworker reports will be sent out for all our children on Wednesday 31st July 2024.

Keyworkers for 2024/25

We are in the process of matching your child with their keyworker for next year, information will be sent out over the next week informing families who your child has been paired with for 2024/25.