Welcome back!  It’s the start of a new year and we are looking forward to seeing all our wee ones and their families this week.  Our last years pre-schoolers are having their big first day in Primary 1 today and we wish every single one of them a very happy day, at the start of their new big adventure.

We are looking forward to welcoming our wee ones back and meeting our new children and their families over the course of the next week or two.  It is a really exciting time, and believe it or not – despite the years that we have been doing this – staff are a wee bit nervous too.

We have all had a lovely summer and are happier and heavier due to the lovely presents we received at the end of term.  Many thanks they were very, very much appreciated!

Staff have spent the last two days on in-service training and getting our nursery ready for a new year.  We had amazing training from Professor Dutton.

Professor Dutton gave a very interesting talk about Cerebral Visual Impairment and talked about the way the brain makes us see our world.  Dr Watkins talked about how we can tackle anxiety in children and provide the best learning environment for children.  Both emphasised the beneficial effects of an uncluttered and calm environment on children’s brains so we have really taken this on board and have made some changes to the nursery.  The walls are to be neutral, with far less distracting displays. This is a bit of a departure for us, as we used to love bright colours but we are looking forward to seeing the effects on the children.

This week we have no formal planning for learning this week – we are settling in and helping everyone feel comfortable.

Fingers crossed for some better weather so we can go and explore outside!