We are delighted to have received our Rights Respecting Schools SILVER award.
Click here to see our submission and read our report here.
All posts by Mrs Brown
Being Me!
In Glenwood, we celebrate what is special and unique about each and every person. We are all loved and included just for being who we are!
We had a special Being Me! celebration and invited all our families. We performed some of our favourite songs using Makaton signs. Our songs included our Rights song as we learn all about the rights of all children.
Together with our families we decorated wooden hearts to celebrate what is special and unique about us and to share some of things that are important to us.
Creating Stories
Our children love to be creative. Look at the wonderful stories they composed. They shared their stories with the adult who wrote down their words. The children then drew beautiful illustrations and wrote their name as the author.
Curriculum Evening November 2023
Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our recent Curriculum Evening. We showcased how we demonstrate our values in all we do.
We received lots of lovely feedback.
“What a wonderful, educational and welcoming nursery! The staff are friendly and professional. We are so grateful that our children get to come here. Thank you all.”
“Very interesting and informative- I hadn’t realised that there was so much thought and planning going in to the children’s day here.”
Amazing resources. So many fantastic experiences with great variety. Staff are always so helpful and supportive. Thank you for all you do. “
“very interesting to see the spaces and activities. Clear to see how much you consider the children’s views and opinions. Staff very enthusiastic as always. Thank you.”
If you were unable to attend, you can access some information about this here.
Happy Diwali!
Happy Diwali to our families and friends celebrating this week.
Diwali is the five-day Festival of Lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.
Diwali is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, and for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations.
One of the ways people celebrate Diwali is by decorating their homes with colourful rangoli designs, lighting diyas or displaying lights around the house.
We have been learning about Diwali through stories, research and activities.
We painted colourful rangoli designs to decorate our nursery.
We created clay diya lights and painted these in bright colours.
Happy Diwali!
Children as decision makers
We noticed one of our books was torn so we repaired it with sticky tape. Lots of our books were looking tatty so Mrs Brown asked us what books we would like for the nursery.
“I like this kind.”(held up a flap book from the book corner)
“I like dinosaur books.”
“I have a Yeti story in my house. I’d like that for nursery.”
“I like monster and dragon books. I am not scared by them!”
“I like this book.” (held up Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson)
Adult- “I love Julia Donaldson books…. Do you think we need some more by that author?”
“Yes! We were looking for the Snail and the Whale in nursery but we couldn’t find it.”
“Yes, look at all those ones we could get.” (Looked at inside cover of the book to point to other titles by the same author)
“I like the Gruffalo and the Gingerbread man. I have them in my house.”
“I like the Worrysaurus.”
Here are some of the books we bought, just as requested by the children, along with some others to reflect our nursery values. We look forward to more books being delivered soon, including the ever popular Julia Donaldson titles and some traditional tales.
Mini Kickers
We welcomed Tommy Millar (Football Development Co-ordinator) and Kerry Comerford (Active Schools Co-ordinator) along to Glenwood for some mini kicker taster sessions. We are looking forward to next week’s session!
Our Potato Harvest
We harvested some of the potatoes we have been growing in our garden.
We boiled them to make some yummy mashed potato and used the leftovers to make potato scones for snack. So tasty!
Why not try our recipe at home-
450g floury potatoes, peeled and cooked
1/2tsp salt
50g butter
100g flour
1. Mash potatoes,add salt, butter and flour to give a stiff mixture.
2. Turn out onto floured surface, knead gently and roll out to a thickness of 1cm.
3. Cut into triangles and cook on a hot greased griddle for 4-5 minutes on each side.
I wonder what we will make next….
Digital Schools Award
We are delighted to have recently achieved our Digital Schools Award.
Digital Schools Awards is a national awards scheme to promote, recognise and encourage a whole school approach to the use of digital technology in schools and ELC centres.
Some of the feedback we received included-
“….children are actively encouraged to learn independently as well as collaboratively using digital technologies.”
“Different digital resources are utilised very effectively … targeting and challenging the learning for the children.”
“Glenwood Family Centre clearly demonstrates that it has a strong digital presence throughout the school.”
“Both the website and Twitter are current, vibrant and lively and help to convey all the wonderful learning and teaching that is going on in there.”
“Digital technology is an integral part of every day for the children and this allows them to be inquisitive and to challenge themselves regularly.”
“It is apparent that Glenwood Family Centre has a clear vision of where their digital journey will take them in the future and the staff are all on board to make this happen.”
Eco Schools….Our 7th Green Flag!
We are delighted to have received our 7th Eco Schools Green Flag. This is a wonderful achievement and has been down to the hard work and commitment of the children, staff and wider community of Glenwood. 
Read the wonderful feedback here.
GOOD HAND WASHING
Please support your child to learn good hand washing habits. Children should be supported and encouraged to wash hands regularly throughout the day including before eating, after toileting, before leaving the house and after returning home.
In Glenwood, we support the children to wash their hands with soap and water before they enter the playrooms and before they leave at the end of their session. They wash hands before snack and lunch and after toileting. They wash hands after playing outdoors. We keep the use of hand gel to a minimum, only using this when no sinks are available, such as when entering or leaving the building at the main door or while in the woods.
For more details and a helpful video-
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/
Money, Money, Money
We have been learning about money and exploring coins in lots of our play experiences.
Chinese New Year
We marked the start of the Chinese New Year and the year of the Tiger with some wonderful celebrations.
It was fantastic to engage with some of our families to help us learn all about the Chinese New Year celebrations; A huge thank you to Gerald’s mum for sharing how this is celebrated in their home using Google Meet and also to Mrs Wilson’s daughter who shared her experiences having lived in Hong Kong for some time.
The children have been learning about some of the ways families may celebrate Chinese New Year and taking part in art experiences, Chinese mark making, dragon dancing and tasting Chinese food to name a few opportunities on offer.
Icy Days, Icy Play
When we returned after the Christmas break, we noticed some of the containers left outdoors were full of ice. We thought of how the ice had formed and how to get the ice out.
Indoors, we decided to explore ice in different ways. We froze some water and used pipettes and coloured water to investigate the melting ice.
The Human Body
The children in the Orchard room have been learning about the human body. The children had been talking about their bodies and taking turns to share their knowledge on the different parts of their bodies. We began by getting one of our peers to lie down on paper so we could draw around them. This would be the shape for our body. We then took turns to say what we had on our faces and draw it into our paper body.
“Eyes.”
“Nose.”
“ Ears.”
“ We wear clothes on our bodies.”
From this activity we moved on to have a look at what was inside our bodies. We used a doll to explore this area.
“We have a heart.”
“What helps us to think?”
“Our brain.”
The children decided they would like to build a skeleton using our body jigsaw puzzle.
“We need a head.”
“The body is next.”
“ The hips go onto the body.”
We can’t wait to expand on this topic and do more activities about our body.
Diwali
Recently, the children had the opportunity to learn about and celebrate Diwali. The children were able to choose from different experiences throughout the nursery.
The children in the Orchard room got to create their own fireworks in the shaving foam and there was lots of discussion . 
“Oh look red, that is my favourite colour.”
“ I like how the colour is splashed all over.”
“I love fireworks.”
In the Orchard room the children also go to try and make Chapatis. The children did very well following the recipe and listening to what we needed to do. The children were very patient in waiting for their turn.
“We need to pour until it says 100.”
“ I love baking.”
“These taste good ….. I love them.”
The children in the Willow room, participated in a variety of Diwali experiences as they learned about The Festival Of Light. They listened to the story of Rama and Sita with great interest. The children were keen to ask and answer questions about the story. We discussed ways that we can be kind to each other and how our behaviour can affect others. The children were given time to discuss and share their own experiences.
“I can be kind by helping to tidy the playroom.”
“I can share with my friends.”
Some of the children designed Divas made from clay. The children demonstrated good concentration and followed the instructions well.
They also had the opportunity to design Rangoli Patterns.
“Wow look what I made!”
“ Can I take this home to show my mummy.”
Introducing lunches
As of Wednesday 11th August, Glenwood began providing a lunchtime meal to ALL children regardless of their provision.
This means children attending in the mornings will have a lunch before the end of their session, children attending in the afternoon will have a lunch when they arrive in the afternoon and children attending full days will be provided with a lunch instead of bringing a their own packed lunch.
We will continue to provide a small snack mid morning and mid afternoon in addition to this. All meals and snacks are developed in line with guidance to ensure they are well balanced and nutritious and the menus are available in advance. Note: After any holiday the 1st day back will always be the Monday menu and then the normal days will follow.
NURSERY SCHOOL LUNCH MENU – Aug 21- Oct 21
Our experience of providing snacks for children shows that children will often be encouraged by the social aspect of our meal/ snack times to try new foods in nursery which they may be reluctant to try at home so we hope the introduction of a lunch will be similarly successful.
For pupils wishing to access our vegetarian menu the lifestyles form must be completed.
If your child has food allergies/ intolerances, a medically prescribed meal request form must be completed.
Please contact the nursery for further advice regarding the required forms if you are unsure about anything.
If you do choose to provide a packed lunch for your child this should be a healthy lunch with an ice pack to keep the food cool. Sugary and salty snacks are not permitted.
Please note- we are a nut free zone so NO NUTS. We also have a person with significant allergies and so kiwi, grapefruit, pineapple and avocado are not permitted. (Please check the content of drinks etc for hidden ingredients)
Terrific Triangles
Working with Starcatchers, we developed a creative project on triangles. Children and parents brought lots of lovely triangles from home (thank you).
Child: “The triangles are all different sizes. Oh, Look at them, they are all my favourite. I made some at home, here they are.”
Then …….
…we made more at Glenwood using lots of different materials to decorate.
…we cut slots into our triangles. We tried scissors and then saws.
…we found we could make 3D shapes by connecting them together and we could make lots of different shapes.
…we took some outside and made a traffic jam with lots of cars.
…we were thinking about our community and neighbours and being ‘intergenerational’. So we made some into bunting and delivered it to our friends with a card. We wrote:
“We are thinking of you and hope our triangles make you happy”.
Parent: “I really liked the idea of the triangles and having something to work with my child at home and bring in. It made me feel more connected to the nursery at this time when we can’t come in”.
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Through play opportunities children can experience a range of resources that support their ICT knowledge and understanding.
CHOOSING ICT TOYS
In Glenwood, the children can choose ICT from a choosing book. The children chose a voice recordable game which supports children’s numeracy and literacy skills.
TORCHES
During their learning the children were interested in the shapes and patterns made by the light and shadows outdoors in the sunshine. To re-create shadows indoors light from a torch was projected onto a hanging sheet. The children used their bodies and open-ended resources to explore shadows, identify shapes or people from behind the sheet.
BEE-BOT
The children programmed a small robot to move forward, backwards, left and right movements to move around the floor. A programmable toy can support literacy and numeracy skills.
REMOTE CONTROL TOYS
Using remote-control toys children learn about cause-and-effect. As they play as they work out which buttons make the car go in each direction. The children set up an obstacle course with ramps to drive up and down, or tunnels for them to drive through. This is a great way to develop a child’s hand-eye co-ordination. Some of our remote control toys are operated by the iPad.
INTERACTIVE BOARD
An interactive smart board allows images from a computer screen to be displayed onto a classroom board where the children can interact with the images directly on the screen using a tool or even a finger.
IPADS/TABLETS
Ipads are available as part of the nursery’s continuous provision and children are encouraged to use them to record their achievements and share it with others using the ipads.
IMAGINARY PLAY
During their imaginary role-play children are provided with old ICT equipment. Children are observed in the home corner using the ICT in real life situations i.e. an office, a train or even a trip to space.
EXPLORING ICT AND HOW IT WORKS
Taking apart old pieces of everyday ICT equipment to look at what is inside and how it works is a popular activity. Children explore the inside of old clocks, computer boards, telephones and CD players.
Needing some support during these times? ParentClub can help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A763iBg9OQ0
Parentclub.scot offers lots of tips, advice and resources to help you manage the challenges of parenting during coronavirus over on
https://bit.ly/ParentClubCoronavirus
