Milngavie Early Years Centre

Hi, my name is Lisa Hamill and I am excited to have joined Milngavie Early Years Centre.

My role is Deputy Head of Centre and involves supporting and overseeing the day to day running of the nursery.

I have a range of experience which includes 2 years within East Dunbartonshire Council, 5 years within Edinburgh City Council and Glasgow private sector for 7 years.

I completed my BA Education and Social Services in 2004, and most recently I am studying my Post Graduate Diploma and Masters in Childhood Practice, due to finish in June 2023.

With my varying knowledge and experience I look forward in getting to know children, families and staff to support the nursery to new heights.

Hello everyone,

Over the past few months a few exciting changes have been taking place within our centre 😊. Each member of staff now have their own area to develop for a month at a time. These areas included, Literacy/house, Numeracy, Construction, Creative Area, Small World and Outside Area. Inviting and engaging play provocations/activities are set up daily in each area for children to access if they wish to.

We have introduced short daily group time.  This allows all children the opportunity to have small group time with their own practitioner. Most children feel more comfortable talking and interacting  within smaller groups, as a result the children have built a stronger relationship with their practitioner 😁.

The woodwork area is now up and running. Each child is given the chance to create a piece of work using our work bench and tools! I have been lucky enough to see some amazing woodwork creations that the children have made.

Josh has recently taken over Debbie’s group and has already established great relationships with those children 👍.

I have attached a few photographs of the wall areas which display the children’s work and includes the voice of the child. In the coming weeks I will use the blog to upload photographs of the play provocations/activities the children are engaging in.

Kind regards,

Krystal

We are having our Nursery Christmas Concert on Monday 13th December.  All the children have been practising their songs in the Nursery.  We would like all the children to wear a Christmas Jumper if possible.  We will be filming the concert and then putting it on the children’s Learning Journal.

If any parent would like their child to sing in the concert on Monday who do not usually attend can bring their child in at 10.25 for concert starting at 10.30 prompt.  Parents must wait outside Nursery while their child is being filmed and your child will be returned to you as soon as concert finishes.

Can you please let a member of staff know if you are planning on bringing your child to sing in the concert.

On Thursday 9th December there will be a Christmas Lunch for the children.

The Christmas Lunch will consist of

Starter : Lentil Soup

Main Course : Roast Turkey, roast potatoes, selection of vegetables with all the trimmings along with a Yorkshire pudding.

Vegetarian Main Course : Quorn fillet, roast potatoes, selection of vegetables with all the trimmings along with a Yorkshire pudding.

Pudding : Jelly

The children are all getting very excited in Nursery for Christmas we have been busy learning all our songs for our Nursery Concert on Monday 13th December.  We will be recording our concert on Monday and uploading it to the Learning Journals.  If all children could wear a Christmas Jumper that would be great.  Thank You.

I just wanted to let all parents/carers know that on Thursday 9th December there will be a Christmas Lunch.

There will be two choices for the Christmas Lunch.  They are as follows:

Lentil soup followed by Roast turkey, roast potatoes, vegetables along with all the trimmings as well as a yorkshire pudding and Jelly for pudding.

Lentil soup followed by Quorn fillet, roast potatoes, vegetables along with all the trimmings as well as a Yorkshire pudding and jelly for pudding.

There will be no sandwiches on offer.

You can let a member of staff know what you would like your child to have for lunch at drop off or your child can select themselves when they come in.

Blog Post – Christmas

Hi there I just wanted to let you all know that we have been very busy in Nursery learning our Christmas songs. I am quite sure some of you may have heard some of your children singing the songs at home. We will be filming the Nursery Christmas Concert on Monday 13^th December. If possible could all children singing in the concert please wear a Christmas Jumper, Christmas Dress or Christmas T Shirt. The video will then be uploaded to your child’s Learning Journey. I am really sorry that due to still having our COVID restrictions in place you are not able to visit the Nursery and watch your child’s concert.

We will also be having a Christmas Party which will be on Friday 17^th December unfortunately not all children in the Nursery will be able to attend due to staff ratio to children, insurance and COVID guidelines and regulations. All children who attend Milngavie Early Years Centre on Friday will be invited to come to the Christmas Party.

We are hoping Santa may come and visit us at the party. We are going to transform the Pergoda in the Nursery Playground into Santas Grotto. This means that Santa can park his sleigh behind the Nursery with the reindeer in the Orchard when he visits.

I would like to invite the children who do not attend Nursery on the Friday to come and see Santa in his Grotto. All parents of the children visiting will be required to stay for the duration of your child visiting Santa. All parents will be asked to wait outside the playground by the fence. Once your child has met Santa we will pass them back over to you.

We will ask the children and parents who do not attend on the Friday and who wish to come and see Santa to come to the Nursery at 11.30.

The week of Monday 20^th December we will be having a fun week at Nursery doing lots of nice Christmas things. On Wednesday 22^nd December we are going to have a movie day and would like to invite the children coming to Nursery to wear their pyjamas if they would like to. We thought it would be a nice idea for the children coming to our pyjama and movie day to bring an item of food into a hamper which we will donate to our local Food Bank.

I would like to thank all our parents and carers for all their support and appreciation over the last two years during this very difficult time.

Hello,

A polite reminder that Children in Need is set for Friday 19th November and we will be having a pyjama day, if children wish, they can wear a Pudsey t-shirt or ears. The pyjama day is £1 per child.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Krystal

Jen has introduced and developed our self service snack bar for all children within the Nursery. Every child is encouraged to help themselves to fruit and cereal/toast and to pour their own milk and water at the table.

Independence at snack time provides children with rich learning opportunities whilst meeting  nutritional needs. Additionally, it enables children to gain responsibility and respect by clearing away their own dishes, glasses and cutlery. Through self service snack we encourage children to explore new and familiar taste experiences where they can discover their personal likes and dislikes. Jen hopes to introduce a wider selection of morning and afternoon snacks and discuss healthy food choices with our children.   (Photographs to follow).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jen for all her hard work in developing our new self service snack bar.

Hello, I’m Krystal Anderson and I have been working with the Nursery team from the start of November. I am delighted to have been afforded the opportunity to work with Milngavie Early Learning and Childcare (ELC).

I bring with me a range of experiences from my 14 years in education and my career prior. This has included over 5 years Nursery experience and more recently 2 years in P1. I very much hope to use these skills and experiences to support Milngavie EYC in continuing excellence.

Best regards

Krystal Anderson (Teacher)