Milngavie Early Years Centre

Good morning- its a lovely, bright winter’s day and great to be back in nursery.  Last week we started to look at all things Scottish and have been immersing ourselves in Scottish culture, with tartan, highland coos, bagpipes, Nessie and of course, Robert Burns.  We are continuing our Scottish theme this week and will be learning some great Scottish songs and rhymes, as well as trying out a few Highland Games and Scottish dancing at gym.  If you have a favourite Scottish song or poem you think we should be learning, please let us know.  Next week we are going to have fun looking at Chinese new year and even trying some noodles and rice for nursery snack.

On Monday this week we have our SFA Football coaching sessions. On Wednesday we will be visiting the gym for our Highland games and dancing experience.  On Friday, a small group of our Pre-school children have been asked to the official opening of the new playpark in the village with the photographer for the M&B Herald.

Valerie has asked me to remind everyone whose wee one is returning to Nursery for their Pre-School Year in August, that they need to re-register for a place by Thursday 31st January.  This is the case even if you have just started with us this term!  If you know anyone who might want a place here for next year, please let them know – the closing date is approaching.

Apologies for the lateness of this post – the internet has been a bit intermittent this morning!

This morning our pre-school children went for an SFA football session in the gym.  They really enjoyed the experience and are already looking forward to next weeks session.

On Wednesday the Red and Orange Morning Groups will be going to gym.  Some of our wee afternoon children are still settling so we will make a decision about the afternoon gym session on Wednesday afternoon.

This week is Primary 1 enrolment week. All Pre-school children need to be registered at their catchment area school.

Nursery enrolment for next year (August) also starts today.  The form is online –

https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/webform/early-learning-and-childcare-registration-form-children-aged-2-3-and-4

If your wee one is returning to Nursery in August you need to re-register using this form- even if they have just started with us.

Good news on the underwear front – we have had several kind donations of girls pants, leggings and socks and our girls will no longer be wearing y-fronts or boxer shorts!

On Friday we will be having the PAThS session that we were going to have last Friday.  Our lovely music specialist Susan came along instead and we had great fun introducing our new children to Mr Snappy and all of Susan’s instruments.

We are looking for some advice on how we might organise our cloakroom more efficiently.  At present our children have a shoe bag, a box under their peg for wellies and outdoor shoes. and a coat hook, which due to our numbers is often shared with another child.  This makes for cloakroom chaos and not a nursery day passes without something going missing.

We have tried storing wellies in group boxes – we have been considering wellington boot racks – but we seem to be short of wall space to put them on.  As wellies are an essential part of our outdoor wear, it would make everyone’s life much easier if these were stored where the children could access them independently and also put them away themselves.

If you have any ideas about how we can improve things- we would love to hear them!  A total re-think is needed!

We would be very grateful for any donations of spare pants, socks, tights and trousers for girls, as we have completely run out.  If you have any nursery ones lurking at the back of your child’s drawer, we would be very happy to have them back.  At the moment we are operating a unisex pants policy through necessity, so if your wee girl comes home in a pair of iron-man boxer shorts, we can only apologise!

Our Pre-school children – i.e. the children going to school in August – have been invited to participate in a series of SFA Football Skills sessions.  The cost of these is £1 per session and the course runs for £9 weeks.  The course will start on Monday 14th January and is only open to children who attend nursery on a Monday

The SFA coaches are great and the sessions are full of fun and games.  The children are taught the basic skills involved in the game.  We have thoroughly enjoyed these sessions in previous years and feel the children learn a lot.

It will be possible to pay weekly, or for the full 9 week course.  If you would like more information please speak to Valerie.

All our nursery staff would like to wish everyone in our Nursery community a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2019, and to say a huge thank you for the incredible kindness we were shown at Christmas.  We very much appreciate all the lovely gifts we received and are all a lot heavier and happier as a result of them!!  For some of us, the big diet starts today!

This week we are catching up with all the children’s Christmas news and talking about things we would like to do this year i.e. making a few resolutions!  On Wednesday the Yellow and Green morning groups will be going to the gym and our afternoon sessional children.  On Friday we are continuing our PAThS program with a wee lesson on compliments and choosing our PAThS Wee Person for the following week – to be a special Nursery helper and help their keyworker at group time.  Over the course of the year all our children will have a turn of this.  It is designed to promote good self esteem and responsibility.  The best bit, for the children, is getting to wear the helper’s badge all week!

Primary 1 enrollment week starts on Monday 14th January.  If your child is due to start school in August, you need to register them at the school for your catchment area.  If you live outside our catchment area and would like your child to come to Milngavie, it is possible to put in a placement request- just mention this when you register at your catchment school.  If your child is deferring entry in August, you still need to visit your catchment school to register and then to fill in a deferral form.  The list of appointments for registration is on the door in the nursery hall – if your catchment school is Milngavie, please make sure you sign up for an appointment.

As always, we are looking for donations of junk for our modelling table and would be very grateful if you could recycle your boxes, tubes, cartons etc with us.  You may well get them back again as a beautiful, artistic creation- a lovely present for grandparents!!!!!!

Our next Parent’s Nursery Focus Group is on Monday 21st January at 10am in the Nursery Office.  Please come along and have a cup of tea or coffee and share your opinions on the recent changes we have made in nursery and what more we can do to make our nursery the best possible experience for both children and parents.

2019 is a big year for Milngavie Nursery.  From April onwards, most of our staff are moving from term-time to 52 week contracts in preparation for the increase in funded nursery hours in 2020.  Change can be a bit daunting, but we are determined to make the very best of it.  Working in a nursery is a very special job and we all love the special relationships we build with children and families – this is not going to change!

Wishing all our wonderful Nursery community the very best Christmas yet, and hoping that Santa visited every single house in Milngavie!

On the last day of term Harris brought in some candy canes. He thought this might attract elves! He was right- look at this!   I think the elves will be putting their wee elfy feet up today- they’ve had a very busy time in our Nursery and I’m sure they’ll be glad to be back at the North Pole and home with Santa for Christmas!

Good morning!  We had an amazingly busy week last week – concert, parties, trips to Douglas etc.  This week is a bit quieter – this morning we are off to Cairns Church to watch the Infant Nativity.  We have gym on Wednesday and then Susan is coming on Friday with Mr Snappy for a festive music session to end the term.  We have the finishing touches to make to our cards and presents and then we’ll be really ready for Christmas!

On Wednesday Kate and Dionne are off to the EDC STAR awards- last year we nominated Dionne Curran, our EDC apprentice for The Young Apprentice of the Year Award.  The event was cancelled due to a strike and it has been rearranged for Wednesday afternoon.  We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for Dionne!!

A huge thank you to all the mums, dads, aunties, uncles, grans, grandpas, childminders and little brothers and sisters, that came along to our nursery concert.

It really is a big deal to get up on a stage when you are 3, 4 or even 5, and sing to a multitude of people -and we were so proud of every single one of our wee ones yesterday.  It is a major crush getting everyone onto our stage and the children were so patient and listened really well.

We apologise for the mix up with the group call which gave the wrong time for the concert and thank you for your patience, waiting outside in the cold, while the school children went back in to class.  We hope you thought it was worth the wait!!  Thank you for being such a great audience – the whole occasion felt really festive and it was great to see our Nursery Community en masse!!

If you missed seeing your wee one on stage, Giselle made videos of most of the songs and if you contact her on our closed Facebook Page she might be able to send you a copy!

We are at the start of  our busiest festive week of the term.  On Monday we are having a big practise in the hall for our Xmas concert.  We are singing really well and looking forward to singing for you tomorrow.

Tuesday is our big performance. The concert is in the Infant Gym and the doors open for parents at 11.105am.  If you are bringing your child in for the concert, please could you drop them off at the nursery at 10.50 at the latest, so we can all go down together.  If your child would like to wear something red or something Christmassy, that would be fabulous – if they don’t feel like it, that’s fine too!!!

On Thursday, our Thursday morning children are going to Douglas Academy on the bus, for a morning of festive fun.  We should be back by 12 at the latest.

Friday is our party day- a day of fun and games in nursery.  Our all day children are going to the library for a trip in the morning and will be partying in the afternoon.  Santa is bringing us presents at 11am and 3.10pm and you are welcome to come back to see him giving his gifts to the children.

It’s beginning to feel an awful lot like Christmas!