Milngavie Early Years Centre

Hello Everyone!

My name is Julie.

I have worked in the nursery for 23 years and love helping the children learn through playing and having fun. Every day is different and I still enjoy learning new things from our children and families.

I love snuggling up on the sofa and reading lots of fun stories, especially the ‘Gruffalo’. My favourite nursery song is Aiken Drum which we sing a lot!

My favourite colour is turquoise because it reminds me of the sea which I really like to swim in when I’m on holiday.

I like cuddles!!!

I have 2 big boys called Kyle and Luke who came to our nursery when they were little. Xx

The last few months have set unprecedented challenges for us all. Through lockdown and the phasing process our priorities have been: maintaining relationships with our community; continuity of learning and support for our families; working to ensure provision of key experiences such as graduation and transition; supporting the needs of vulnerable children and families; and staff wellbeing.

The Milngavie EYC staff team have responded to these challenges in a number of ways. Please see below a link to our Parent/ Carer survey (we ask that the views of children are also included in your responses).  The purpose of this survey is to gauge the effectiveness of our actions over the last few months. Your feedback is important to us and will be used to plan future activities and make improvements.

Please take a few moments to complete our survey. Thankyou.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKR0h8B6yEexHrp31jr3mYChUMjFKS01aTDM3S1FBNlhTWEtPVjROTDlJTy4u

This week I am participating in a course, run by Claire Warden, designed to give parents and Nursery Practitioners new ideas for outdoor play with their children.  It is based on Claire’s Talking Tub approach to learning where children are asked to explore ideas from photos and objects found in a talking tub and then go and investigate themselves.  It is great fun and really deepens children’s (and adults’) understanding of the natural world.  All the resources used in her investigations are easily found at home.

It has been funded by the Scottish Government and is free.  This week the topic is The Joy of Flying and this morning’s film investigates dandelion seeds and parachutes.  The 20 minute sessions are broadcast on a youtube channel at 10am each morning this week and can be watched live.  The link for a recording of  this morning’s session is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev_H2GF-9Oc&list=PLoMq7fqatKUpcEjuhwZ48AOU6XEcdg4k1

If you would like to fully participate in this weekly course, there is a private Facebook page for East Dunbartonshire where you can upload any photos or videos of the fun you have trying the activities.  The address for this is  https://www.facebook.com/groups/vns.east.dunbartonshire

Alternatively you might want to put your photos on your learning journal!

I am excited to be part of this course – Claire Warden is a real outdoor play guru and her ideas are always really exciting.  When I get back to nursery we will continue to participate in this daily outdoor learning, and will be able show you what we do on our Learning Journals.

I realise that not everyone will be in a position to commit to a whole week of daily activities, but it may give some fun ideas for trying on walks  when out and about or when playing in the garden (if the weather gets a bit drier!)

This morning’s doesn’t really get going till 5 minutes in, so fast forward or just bear with it – the joys of youtube technology!   I really hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

We are enjoying preparing for the start of the new nursery session. We have decided to buy some new stickers for our children’s toilets and would like to consult with the children on what the new theme should be.

At Milngavie Early Years Centre children’s views are really important. We want our children to feel a sense of ownership of the centre. By being consulted our children feel listened to and respected, and learn that what they have to say has value.

Please explain to your child that the nursery is buying new stickers for the children’s toilets and that we would like them to help us to choose a theme.

From our children’s interests last session we have made a short-list: flowers, dinosaurs, sea-life (see photos).

Please ask your child if they would like to see DINOSAURS, FLOWERS, SEA-LIFE or a COMBINATION of all 3 themes in the children’s toilets and leave a comment indicating their choice.

Thankyou 🙂

Today is the last day of term – though it doesn’t feel much like it!  On behalf of all the staff at Milngavie EYC, I would like to wish all our lovely children and families, a very happy summer break.  Hopefully the sun will shine on us and the R numbers will continue to fall.

Thanks to everyone who has returned their graduation cloak and hat.  If you haven’t managed to do so, we can remind you at the start of the next term.  Thanks to Matthew Revie, who reminded me to tell you that if your child is leaving nursery, you can download their  Learning Journal to your computer as a pdf, so you still have all their pictures and achievements to look back on as they grow.  There is a button on the Learning Journal underneath your wee one’s profile picture which says “Convert to PDF”.  Follow the instructions and you can then save it and keep it.  You can do this until August, when we archive our files for children going to P1, or who have moved to another nursery.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming our ante-pre-school children back in August.  Allocations of places have had to be re-done and parents will be sent notification in the next few weeks.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!  STAY SAFE AND WELL!