Welcome
A very warm welcome to all of our new children, families and staff who have come to join the community at Wyndford Nursery, this session. We are delighted to have you with us and know that our returning children and families will do their very best to help you as you settle in.
As always, we have a wide range first languages spoken at Wyndford Nursery which makes us very fortunate in enjoying a very diverse community. You will notice therefore that our signs and information notice around the Welcome Area are in the process of being translated into the languages of families whom, at this moment in time, we feel would benefit most.
However, to support our children as learners, you will notice that all of our signs and routines are deliberately presented as pictorial sequences. A green dot to indicate start position and red dot to indicate stop position.
Communication at Nursery
Our updated Family Information Log is available within the Welcome Area for your use. This prevents too many notices cluttering up the environment. This has been organised under the following headings based on information we are provided with to share with you-
New information added
Child Development and Learning
Back to Work
Financial Support
Training Courses
Community News
Family Health
Family Engagement
We are very privileged to continue to work with Kathryn Paterson, Scot. Govt to explore improvement methodology which is supporting positive impact of change within our nursery environment, ensuring that the quality experienced by our children is in line with the Scottish Government’s National Practice Guidance, ‘Building the Ambition’, 2014.
We have identified a group of families- representative of our nursery community- to meet with her on Tuesday 29 Aug to begin to explore possibilities for what family engagement might look like moving forward based on the question, ‘What matters to you?’ We are very grateful to the families who are willing to support this. We will, of course, share the outcome of this discussion in due course.
Children’s Learning
From now until we return after the September weekend, we are working very hard with the children to develop their understanding of the routines and expectations within the nursery environment. Part of this focuses on the language of
CHOOSE- PLAY- PUT AWAY
as well as considering how they care for each other, resources and the environment.
We are also nurturing an environment that supports conversations and time for thinking by using ‘indoor voices’. We would ask you to support this by modelling an ‘indoor voice’ when you come into the Welcome Area. That is, we would request that you do not shout. We would also ask that you do not allow your child to run around/ climb within the Welcome Area. It is not safe and can cause anxiety for new children who are settling in as well as disturbing other children who are at group time. Thank you for your support in this matter.
Community Creating the Curriculum
We are very keen to engage the community of families and wider community to help use in ensuring that the children’s curriculum is personal, relevant and connected to our immediate community.
Please take a ‘Helping Hands’ sheet from Welcome Area and use this to tell us of interests and skills which you have as parents/ carers that you would be willing to share to support the children’s learning/ support nursery improvements.
Thank you
Important Dates
1 Sept-Celebrating Eid with children
Week begin 4 Sept- RAG BAG UPLIFT- BAGS TO BE HANDED IN TO JANITOR NURSERY BY FRI 1 SEPT- THANK YOU
21 Sept- Tea Party for children who have recently moved on to P1
22 and 25 Sept- September Weekend
EARLY WARNING- INDIVIDUAL NURSERY PHOTOGRAPHS FRI 6 OCT.
Snack/Toy Fund
We would urge you to ensure that your child’s weekly Snack/ Toy Fund contribution of £3.00 is paid out of respect for all families within the nursery community.
ALL CHILDREN ENJOY SNACK AND BENEFIT FROM EXPERIENCES AND OPPORTUNITIES SUPPORTED BY THE TOYFUND. It is simply not reasonable for individual parents/ carers to exempt themselves from this and expect other families to fund this for their child. Some nurseries ask for a much larger amount per week and have gone down the route of asking Early Years to bill families directly for the snack aspect of the contribution. This would be over and above any charges you already incur for extended hours. We are reluctant to go down this route as the snack arrives from Cordia without any consultation with the children. We use the ‘Setting the Table’ practice guidance in shaping our three weekly snack menu. This is available for you to view in the Welcome Area, alongside the Lunch Menus.
Thank you for your support in this matter.
Health and Safety Housekeeping
Please ensure the following is understood-
All children must be signed in and out of building.
All children must bring their registration card to Key Person at start of each session.
All children must be taken to their Key Person at the beginning of each session-closing playroom gate behind you.
The nursery doors will open a short time before the end of each session to stem the flow of bodies within Welcome Area. The doors will open at 1130 and 1540.
Of course, if your child has an appointment, please advise their Key Person that you will be collecting them at an earlier time.
JUST A REMINDER THAT PARENTS/ CARERS COLLECTING FULL TIME CHILDREN SHOULD NOT ENTER THE PLAYROOM WHEN THEY ARRIVE TO COLLECT.THIS IS FOR REASONS OF HEALTH AND SAFETY AND TO KEEP ALL CHILDREN SAFE. YOUR CHILD’S KEY PERSON WILL BE NOTIFIED THAT FULL TIME CHILD IS LEAVING AND THEY WILL COME TO THE GATE IF THEY REQUIRE TO SHARE INFORMATION WITH YOU. SIMILARLY, SHOULD YOU WISH TO PASS INFORMATION TO THEM THEY WILL BE HAPPY TO COME TO SPEAK WITH YOU AT PLAYRROM GATE
All children must always have spare change of clothing available in named carrier bag inside blue peg bag.
Please call or text nursery by 0900/ 1300 if your child is going to be absent.
Health and Safety have advised us that NO PRAMS ARE ALLOWED WITHIN NURSERY BUILDING. THIS IS A MATTER OF FIRE SAFETY. THE JANITOR WILL STOP YOU AT THE NURSERY ENTRANCE.
SIMILARLY, WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT NO ONE SHOULD ACCESS NURSERY VIA DRIVEWAY GATE. PLEASE ONLY USE THE PEDESTRIAN ENTRANCE. THANK YOU.
Our ‘Talking and Thinking Tree’
We are really keen to keep an open and on- going conversation with our families and with the community around a range of topics which will help all of us to grow in understanding of each other as a Nursery Community.
The question we are posing for Term 1focuses on supporting our children’s learning within changing world…
‘There are known ‘knowns’. These are things we know that we know. There are known ‘unknowns’. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know.
But there are also unknown ‘unknowns’. These are things we don’t know yet that we don’t know…’
So how do we as adults prepare our children for a world of unknown ‘unknowns’? Please take a luggage label from the basket and add your thoughts to it and hang on the tree. Thank you.
Appropriate Clothing at Nursery
It is our intention to continue to increase the opportunities for children to engage in learning within the outdoor learning environment. Therefore, it is very important to remember that learning can be messy! Please refrain from sending children to nursery in special clothing or in dressing up clothes. Please ensure that children always come in appropriate clothing and suitable to the weather conditions as they will be going outside every day.
Hygiene
Similarly, a request to ensure that children’s footwear worn to nursery does not have laces as this limits the time that your child’ is accessing the outdoor learning environment. Thank you.
Please ensure that all children have a pair of soft gym shoes for use indoors. It is parent/ carer responsibility to ensure your child changes into appropriate footwear on arrival at nursery. This is important from a hygiene point of view. WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT THESE SHOULD NOT BE FLIP FLOPS, CROCS OR SLIPPERS.
ALL CHILDREN MUST HAVE A PAIR OF GYM SHOES TO CHANGE INTO BY THE END OF THEIR FIRST WEEK AT NURSERY.
Wyndford Nursery
Newsletter
September 2017
Nursery Contact Numbers-
0141 945 1366
NEW NURSERY MOBILE NUMBER-
07384 242982
**Please feel free to communicate your child’s absence by text**
