Hello everyone,
We’ve had a lovely week at nursery hearing all about the children’s days out and family time during the holidays.
Dress Up Day
On Friday 29th October children are invited to come to nursery dressed up if they would like to. They can wear a Halloween costume, cosy pyjamas or they can of course come to nursery wearing any clothes that they want. Should your child not attend nursery on Friday, due to their attendance pattern, they may want to dress up on one of the days they are with us. Please be mindful that some children are scared of masks or face paint. Please try to dissuade your child from bringing lots of accessories as these may get lost or damaged and we don’t want crying pirates who’ve lost their parrot or sad witches with no broom stick! We’re sure that children will love dooking for apples, dancing to some music and playing games
Dressing for the Weather
We continue to maximise the time we spend outdoors- please ensure your child is always dressed appropriately for the weather including wellies, suitable outer jackets and hats and gloves where needed. All of our playrooms are well ventilated and windows remain open at all times. As winter approaches, it would be very helpful if your child has a jumper or cardigan each day too which can be removed/ put back on as required. Please remember to name all clothes, wellies, shoes and other clothing items that your child is wearing as well as all spare clothing in their nursery bag too. Many thanks for this.
Standards & Quality Report/ Netherlee SNIP
Please find attached pictorial, easy to read versions of our Standards and Quality Report 2020-21 and Netherlee School and Nursery Improvement Plan. We thank Jane Thomson, one of our Parent Council members, for all her help with the design and ensuring that key messages were shared.
Lunch
As part of our In-service Day programme staff reviewed our Healthy Eating Policy and arrangements for lunch. The children have been really enjoying eating their two course lunch with their friends at nursery. Lunch is a relaxed, unhurried, sociable time where children sit together round the table with two familiar adults on hand to help. The children choose when they want to eat, can sit with their friends and are encouraged to ‘have a go’ at trying a variety of foods. Should you wish to provide a lunch box or a snack box (if your child attends after 3pm) we recommend that sugary foods or drinks and high fat/salt foods are kept to a minimum. Any uneaten food is put back in the lunchbox so that parents and carers can see how much is being eaten. Some guidance on creating a healthy packed lunch or snacks, tips and portion sizes can be found here:
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes The Care Inspectorate recommends that cool packs are kept in lunchboxes. If providing grapes or cherry tomatoes we ask that you quarter them and finally we are a nut-free nursery as some of our children have nut allergies. Please therefore ensure that all snacks are nut-free. Thank you.
Keeping Safe
We ask that you use a cloth, nylon or canvas bag (not plastic) inside your child’s nursery backpack or for your child to carry additional items such as wellies.
Staff News
Mr Strang Roy is studying towards a Masters qualification in Philosophy with Children. As part of his studies Mr Strang Roy will be engaging groups of children in child-led discussion around different philosophical questions such as, ‘what makes me, me?’ and many more. This will help develop the children’s talking and listening skills as they have fun thinking and learning to disagree with each other. If your child starts asking interesting questions or making statements about what they are thinking, that may be why!
Virtual Nature School
Virtual Nature School is a service offered by the non-profit Living Classrooms. It came about as a direct response to the needs of families when schools and nurseries were closed in the UK in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and continues as a valuable resource to early years practitioners throughout Scotland as we make outdoor learning a natural part of practice. Miss Doran, Mrs Kaur and Miss Montgomerie engaged in a six week programme of Virtual Nature School training to promote the flourishing of children’s learning in, about, with and for nature. Recently our Virtual Nature School trained staff lead a training session with our Netherlee School P1 and P2 staff. On our In-service Day our nursery staff took part in an introductory session where we all looked up! All three Virtual Nature School staff will be leading learning over the next few weeks and this will be reflected in our Learning Links on Google Classroom.
Parent Appointments
We will be in contact next week regarding telephone Parent Appointments which will take place between 22nd and 29th November.
Thank you for your help, understanding and support with all the points above.
Have a lovely weekend and please remember to read our Learning Links on Google Classroom, when you have time.
Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)
