September – Colquhoun Park Early Years Centre

Children are leading their learning at Colquhoun Park EYC

A vote was cast and animals won. We are now 3 weeks into learning all about the animal kingdom. Here’s a snapshot of what we have been up to.

How to feed the birds

Animals that live on a farm

Natural Habitats

Animals that no longer live

If you would like to see more please take a look at our learning walls in the playroom where you can find and follow our whole journey!!

Mini Explorers

Our introduction programme to Mini Explorers kicked off. Children had the opportunity to take part in a variety of different experiences over a 2 week period such as;

Risky business – children learn to identify and manage risk.

Den building – working together children collect resources to build dens.

Bug hunt – children use visual prompts to find bugs in and around our grounds

Clay modelling – children made bugs and insects out of clay

The Animal man came to visit centre. All children were invited in to take part in this show. Children had the opportunity to learn, see and even touch the

animals. We got to see a chicken called Nando, a tortoise called Michelle, snakes, cockroaches, leaf insects, and even a tarantula!

We were all super brave and loved every minute! This experience was only made possible thanks to our families contributions to the children’s fund.

For more information on our children’s fund, how to make your contribution and what its used for please click on the link. Children Fund Letter

Stay & Play sessions

Big thank you to all the families who joined us in centre for a morning/afternoon of play. We we delighted to have you and our children are always so excited when their adult comes to visit.

Upcoming Events calendar

October 2025

Wednesday 1st – Book Bug (5pm – 5:30pm) – Bookbug sessions explore stories, song and rhyme with our children and their families.

Week commencing 13th – Ante-pre progress meetings – Parents/carers will be invited into centre using a booking system to discuss their child’s progress.

Week commencing 20th – 2yrs progress meetings – Parents/carers will be invited into centre using a booking system to discuss their child’s progress.

Saturday 25th October – Gardening Day (11am to 2pm) – Children and families throughout our school community are invited along to take part in our gardening day, helping to get our early years centre and school ready for the season ahead.

Week commencing 27th – Sponsored Broom Zoom – Children will raise money for the children’s fund by zooming round our grounds on broomsticks!

Week commencing 27th October – Introductory tours (3:15pm onwards, by appointment only). Prospective new P1 families are given the opportunity to arrange a visit to our school and take part in a tour around our building.

CPPS P1 families invite for tour

Spooky scavenger hunt 30th (5pm-6pm) – Children and families are invited to take part in our spooky scavenger hunt around school, we use our torches to search high and low for our Halloween surprises.

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

Tag: September

CP NEWS – September Edition