Milngavie Early Years Centre

Our morning and afternoon session photographs are going to be taken on Tuesday 23rd August – time to be confirmed.  If your child does not attend nursery on a Tuesday but you would like them to be in the photo, you are welcome to bring them along.  We will confirm the time of the photos ASAP.

Holidays are over, the sun is shining and it’s time for Nursery and school to welcome everyone back.  Wednesday is looking like being a warm one, so please remember your sunscreen as we will be out enjoying the overdue summer weather!

During the holidays Lauren McIntyre who had the Green afternoon group last year, got a full time job at Cranstonhill Nursery in Glasgow.  We are very sorry to see her go but wish her all the very best for her future career and would like to thank her for her hard work and the many laughs we had together.

Maureen Kennedy is now an official part timer – she will still work 5 mornings a week with us but you might notice her skipping down the nursery ramp at 1pm!  From now on, afternoons are Maureen’s own!

We will be taking on a new member of staff, but until we do, Annabel and Eileen are going to cover the afternoon green and red groups.  Kate now has the Yellow afternoon group on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday and Eileen is their keyworker on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

This week we will be welcoming lots of new wee people and their families to our Nursery.  If you are not sure what you will need, we suggest gym shoes and wellies to leave in Nursery and sunscreen.  Please,please, please put names on all clothing brought to nursery.  Staff have permanent markers which they can lend you for this very purpose.  Things do go missing and it is so much easier to get them back if they have a name on.

Wellies are going to be particularly important this year as we are going to be helping to plant an orchard behind the Nursery.  If you would like to see what is planned and get involved please check out the Milngavie Orchard Project facebook page.  Our first big workday to prepare the site is on Sunday 21st August (this coming Sunday).  We are hoping to have lots of volunteers to help us as there is a lot to do.  We can’t invite little children along to this one as we will be using lots of power tools etc, though older children who would like to help can come if accompanied by an adult who will be responsible for their safety.  If you have a couple of hours to spare we will be starting at 12.00 and would be delighted to see you!

We are into the last two days of term before the big summer break.  There are Pre-school Learning Journeys to take home and all your belongings in the cloakroom too!  The nursery is beginning to look a wee bit sad as we take all the lovely work off the walls, ready for a fresh start again in August.

All the staff would like to wish you a very happy Summer Break and to thank you for all your marvellous support throughout the year.  We hope all our wee graduates will come back and visit us next term to show us their lovely new uniforms  and let us know how much they are loving school!  We really will miss them and we wish them all the very best of luck and send our love with them to Primary 1!

We look forward to seeing all our wee ones back as our big ones in August, and will be all ready to welcome our tiny new recruits too!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

This year’s sports day weather did not look too promising – the clouds were gathering and it looked as though the heavens might open on us.  It was nice and warm though, so the ladies got the flags out and prepared the events.  This year we had:

A gigantosaurus egg and spoon

Hurdles!

Slide and tunnel

The tricky steps and tunnel

We had a great crowd of spectators at both the morning and afternoon events and all the children really enjoyed participating this year.  The Relay Race was next:

We lined up in our teams.

We had to balance a bean bag on our head.

This was easier for the pre-schoolers….

..than it was for the wee ones!

When we had finished our relay it was the turn of the mums and dads!  Their races involved emptying a bucket of water using large sponges- it was good fun and not too many got wet!

They were all wonderful sports- thank you so much for joining in!

Some of the fabulous mums and dads, grandpas and big brothers who joined in our water relay race!  Stars, one and all!

Medals were presented to our wee sports stars too!

We were all gold medal winners, and we were all very happy!

What a fabulous day!  Many, many thanks for all the support from the spectators and the efforts of all our sports stars!

Now that it is official that we have won the full grant of £12,000 from Tesco, it is time to start making solid plans, organising suppliers and looking for volunteers.  Thank you so much if you voted for the project in Tesco, for us!  £12,000 is an amazing amount and we are hoping that we can create a really special resource for our school and our community.

If you would like to be involved in any capacity, please let Anne, Kate or Mrs McElney know-

anne.af.james@talk21.com

kate-cameron@hotmail.com

or Mrs Caroline McElney -0141-955-2251 during school hours

We are really excited about the project and hope the children will enjoy creating something which will be a real asset to the school in years to come.

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/746667968808046/?pnref=story

This looks like an amazing place – not sure if East Dunbartonshire Council would approve of the knives, but there is so much we can learn from our European neighbours’ approach to Early Learning.

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/746667968808046/?pnref=story

  A huge thank you to Dawn and Debs – organisers of the Big Nursery Night Out.  Everyone had an amazing time and the sum of £201 was raised for Nursery Funds.

Dawn forwarded me the photos last week but I have had a few technical difficulties unloading them and it has taken me till today to crack it!!!

Lots and lots of raffle prizes were bought and some people were lucky!

As usual, Julie, Maureen and Angela were more than happy to get down on the floor for some interesting games!

The brushes were seemingly part of another game – we love Debs’ new Madonna look!

Thank you for supporting our Nursery community and creating a great night out!!!

After our lovely graduations this week, we just have one more nursery event to go.  Nursery sports is on Friday.  Times and details are in the Monday morning news post.  The staff are keeping very busy clearing everything ready for next term.  We would be very grateful if you could take all your child’s clothes, shoes and belongings home for the holidays – even if they are coming back next year – as it gives us a chance to make sure everything is nice and clean for the start of the new term.

Pre-school children can take home their learning journeys this week.  They include a school tie, courtesy of our wonderful PTA.

Lost property will be put on the hall table – please have a look and claim anything that is yours.

Many thanks!

  This morning Amelia found a very tiny little froglet in the garden.  It was jumping about on the steps – she lifted it carefully and put it back into the pond so nobody would step on it.  This is the first real wee frog we have found this year.  We still have tadpoles with 2 legs and some with 4 legs who still have tails – Amelia’s froglet must be a big brother or sister!