Milngavie Early Years Centre

Eric Avenier, one of our Nursery Dads, has an amazing talent for creating wonderful things out of wood.  Not content with building us a beautiful wee playhouse in the playground, he then set his sights on creating a huge sandpit for us in the garden.  It has raised sides and a special base and Eric has built a frame with a fitted tarpaulin, designed to keep the rain and any animals out of our sand.  Eric finished it over the weekend and today we helped put bags and bags of sand in to fill it up.  Our wee Andy said, “It’s just like a beach!” It is a really great addition to our outdoor area and we know the children are going to have hours of fun there.  Merci Beaucoup Eric!

We are continuing our Scottish theme in nursery this week in the run up to our Burns Day celebration on Friday.

This morning we listened to the Burns poem – Tae a Mouse and talked about how Robert Burns loved animals.  Our word of the week is “Sleekit” and we learned that this can mean silky, smooth or it can also mean “sly”.  We decided the mouse had a silky furry coat and that was why he called it, “sleekit”.  We also watched an animation of The Sorry Tale of Tam O’Shanter,  which was accompanied by Sir Malcolm Arnold’s music.  The children thought the music was quite scary but enjoyed the dancing witches.  We were all sad when poor Meg lost her tail but very relieved that they had escaped Cutty Sark and her friends.  If you want to watch it at home – here’s the link.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvRD8R1DMCQ

Our Outside-In initiative – where parents can sign in their child at the gate of our outdoor area, is starting to become popular.  Our children love being able to play from the outset and our twinkly fairy lights make the area much more inviting on dark mornings.  Outside – In is a great way to avoid the cloakroom crush at busy times and is an easier option for parents who are in a hurry.  The member of staff on the gate will note down who is coming back for your child and note their lunch preference (if they stay for lunch).

On Tuesday at 10.30 we are having our final session of Families Connect Group.  We are looking forward to seeing the members of our group.  If you missed this and would have liked to participate, please keep an eye on the blog for details of up-coming Family Learning Activities.

On Thursday our pre-school children have SFA Football coaching sessions in the infant gym with Coach Ryan.

On Friday we are trying a bit of haggis, neeps and tatties for snack, with oatcakes, cheese and Scottish Jam.  If your wee one has something tartan to wear, it would be lovely if they would wear it to nursery on Friday. (If you don’t own anything tartan, there is absolutely no pressure- it is completely optional!)  We’ll be doing a bit of Scottish Dancing and singing and trying the fabulous Fling the Welly game in our playground.   We are going to take lots of photos of our special Scottish day to send to our French friends at the Ecole Maternelle Sainte Therese in Brittany.  Susan and Mr Snappy are also joining us with some wonderful Scottish music and songs- I am sure Robert Burns would thoroughly approve of our birthday celebrations on his behalf.

Maureen has asked me to pass on her thanks for all the lovely messages and gifts she received on her retirement.  She was very touched by all the very kind comments she received on the blog and on facebook.  Maureen started her retirement by having an operation at the QEU.  She got home at the weekend.  She has just become a granny for the second time – to  a beautiful wee baby girl who arrived yesterday, a wee bit early.  What a start to retirement – our Mo never does anything by halves!!!!

Dates for the Diary

Our school’s half term holiday takes place in February.  School is closed 7th – 13th February.  Our Nursery will be closed on Friday 7th  and Wednesday 12th February for Staff Inservice Days.  OUR NURSERY WILL BE CLOSED ON THE INSERVICE DAYS.  Holiday cover will be available in our nursery for the 10th and 11th of February.  To purchase a place, please pick up a form in the Nursery Office.   Nursery opens again on Thursday 13th February.

On our trip into town, we walked round George Square to find the famous statue of Robert Burns.  Unfortunately, workmen were putting down some grass round it and we couldn’t go right up to it, but we all had a good look – from a distance.  We are learning a wee poem about Robert Burns for Burns Day.

“Rabbie Burns was born in Ayr,

But noo he stauns in Geordie’s Square,

If you want to see him there,

Tak the train and pay yer fare!”

Statue of Robert Burns in George Square.

All ready for exploring the galleries!

We finished with a story from Caroline in a very chilled, laid back story room.

Yesterday we took our first group of pre-school children on a trip to the Gallery of Modern Art in Queen Street.  We set off on the 9.20 train and travelled into Glasgow,  full of excitement and anticipation!  When we arrived at the Gallery, we were met by a lovely lady called Caroline, who was our workshop leader.  She took us into the building and told us that the building was very old and that it had once been a library and before that, a big mansion house.  We began our tour by first looking up at the lovely glass dome in the ceiling.  The landings in the hall were the same shape.  Caroline asked us if we knew what the shape was – Archie told her it was an oval.  Not all of us knew that shape.  On the first floor landing there was a sculpture made of lovely wood by Tim Stead, which we were allowed to go in to.  It looked like the inside of a whale – we all fitted inside it.  We saw lots of different types of art and sculptures made of lots of different materials.  Caroline even showed us a film of a piece of art made from lots of different explosions.  She said we maybe shouldn’t try this one  in nursery but she showed us paintings and sculptures that we might like to experiment with in our art area.  We saw an amazing sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi and Caroline gave us a huge piece of paper and oil pastels to draw it.  We worked really hard and made an amazing drawing to take home. We saw clay sculptures and made art with foam shapes on the floor.  At the end of our trip we climbed up to the very top of the building – up above the dome – and had a special story about Barbar the Elephant’s experiments with colour and painting.  We learned lots about art using all different materials and had a great time.  At the end of our workshop Caroline gave us some leaflets about Saturday morning art classes for 3-5 year olds at GoMA.  They are available in the nursery hall if anyone is interested.

On the train and ready to go

We’ve arrived!

Inside the whale!

Our visit to the Gallery of Modern Art arranged for 12th February has had to be re-arranged as the 12th is an in-service day.

We have now managed to book another date -Wednesday 18th March 2020,  9.10am- 12noon  The lists for the trips are on the laundry door in the nursery hall.  If your pre-school child is going to be able to come, please could you sign them up so we can make a final list for the trip.

Many thanks!

We now have dates for our 3 trips to the Gallery of Modern Art.  Unfortunately they were only able to offer us Wednesday mornings, so the dates for the second and third trips are on 12th and 26th February leaving nursery at 9.05am and returning by 12 noon.  The cost for the workshop is £1.50 per child.  There is no cost for the train as under 5’s travel free. We have drawn up lists for both these dates.  If you would like your child to come along, please sign the permission box on the list in the nursery hall on the laundry door.  The trip is open to all our pre-school children, even if they do not normally attend on a Wednesday morning, as long as they come along with a parent/carer.

We would be very grateful if you would consider coming along as a parent helper on the trip.  Because our children are little, we prefer to have as high a ratio of adults to children as possible.  There is no restriction on the number of helpers we can take as we are travelling in by train.  It is going to be a fun morning out and we are so looking forward to going.

Please can you check the lists and if your child cannot make the trip, score out their name.  Many thanks for your help with this.

It’s Monday again and we are having another Scottishy week in Milngavie ELCC.  Last week we had great fun making our own tartans in the art area and we looked at maps and thistles on the new interactive whiteboard.  We also watched a wee presentation on Robert Burns, and this week we are doing a bit of timetravelling – going back in time to 1763 to see what a 4 year old Robert Burns would have been doing on a January morning.  We are going to be learning some lovely Scottish songs this week – 3 Craws, Ye Canny Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus, Donald Where’s yer Troosers, Ally Bally and other Scottish gems.

On Wednesday we are taking a group of 15 of our pre-school children to George Square on the train.  We are going to visit the statue of Robert Burns and then we are going for a special workshop in the Gallery of Modern Art.  This is the first group of pre-schoolers who will be making this trip over the next few weeks.

In the workshop, our children will go on an exciting journey of discovery in the gallery. They will explore and recognise different materials, colours and shapes in GoMA’s artworks. They will then be encouraged to express their findings and develop their communication skills.    You will get an email and letter to let you know when your child is going. We would love it if you would like to come along too as a parent helper.  Just let us know if you would be able to do this.

Our wee ante-pre schoolers will be going on a trip too – a walk to see the Corby Ha’ – Milngavie’s oldest house – which just happens to have the same look and layout as Burn’s Cottage.

On Thursday our pre-school football sessions start.  If you have paid your £10 to a member of staff for your child’s sessions, please could you let us know who you are, as we have managed to mislay the post it note which told us who has paid.  Many thanks!!!

We’re all ready for another action packed, happy nursery week!!!

If your wee one is returning to Nursery next year, you need to re-register them with East Dunbartonshire Council. Application is on-line – https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-learning/early-learning-and-childcare/early-learning-and-childcare-provision

Even if your child has started in the last couple of months, you need to re-register for 2020/21.

Applications for the academic year 2020/21 run throughout January 2020 and close on
the 28th of February 2020. Applications are completed online on the Council website.
Parents and carers can speak directly to Caroline for advice and information.
Any late applications received after the closing date will be processed after the main
allocations process.  If you make a late application you have less chance of getting the hours you apply for.

Please note: at the point of online application, applicants will be required to upload proof of
residency, Council Tax bill, recent utility bill and child’s birth certificate.  If you have no access to a scanner to do this, you can bring  your proof documents in to our school office and our admin staff will upload them for you.

This morning our fish, Goldie and Bubbles, were looking very sad indeed.  The tank was all green and slimy and it was more than time for a clean out.  Our volunteers this morning were excellent – they scubbed all the slimy pebbles and looked after our fishy friends until the tank was sparkling clean and it was time for them to go home again. The girls were wonderful helpers! They even fed the fish afterwards- we have never seen the fish looking so happy!