Forgewood Family Learning Centre

The residents of Park Springs have been taking part in joint fortnightly book bug sessions at the nursery where they listen to stories along with the children,  share olden day songs and rhymes.  The nursery has been working closely with Park Springs Care Home looking at the benefits of intergenerational working on their residents and our nursery children.  There is an array of evidence that suggest benefits of intergenerational working for young children, older adults and communities include:

Benefits for Older adults 

• Improved mental health:  They perform better on memory tests and those with dementia experience more positive effects than in non intergenerational activities.
• Improves emotional health: Feelings of isolation and depression decrease and self-worth and happiness increases.

Benefits on Children

• They learn about real life experiences, and impacts on their social skills by interacting with older generations.
• It allows them to hear stories about the past in order to connect to the world outside of mobile phones, tablets and portable game screens

Benefits on the Community

• Enhances awareness and appreciation of cultural heritage and traditions
• Increase collaboration between local groups
• Greater community support for schools and nursery’s

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We will be placing our new nursery clothing order with the supplier on Monday 23rd April so please ensure you put your order in by Friday 20th April 2018.

We recently received an email from Tesco to let us know…

“We are delighted to let you know that following the Tesco Bags of Help vote in your local Tesco stores, your project came first and has been chosen by Tesco Customers to receive a grant award of £3,835.00!”

This will allow us to purchase more outdoor clothing and resources which will support us in enhancing the great outdoor learning opportunities that we already provide.  At Forgewood Family Learning Centre we embrace the importance of outdoor learning and as  research tells us,  children who learn to play outdoors are much more likely to continue to enjoy outdoor activities such as walking, running and cycling as they get older. Learning in an outdoor environment allows children to interact with the elements around them and helps them to gain an understanding of the world we live in. They can also experience animals in their own surroundings and learn about their habitats and lifecycles. Also being outdoors provides children with more opportunities to experience risk-taking.  They can learn to make calculated decisions such as ‘should I jump off this log?’ or ‘can I climb this tree?’

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We are excited to tell you that the new nursery Polo and Sweatshirts have been finalised and samples will be with us within the next couple of weeks, so look out for our displays.

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All North Lanarkshire Schools and nurseries will be CLOSED tomorrow, Friday March 2nd

Due to the severe weather warnings, ALL schools and nurseries in North Lanarkshire will be CLOSED tomorrow (Thursday 1 March).
Please continue to seek advice on travel and safety from the Met Office and Transport Scotland. #staysafe

To enable our children to take the lead in initiating our planning and learning in the 3-5’s we have created ‘Our Learning Journey’ wall within the playroom for children to add ideas and interests and also as a starting point for discussion and reflection of the learning taking place within the centre. Our aim is for our children to be the driving force behind their own learning and development with staff facilitating and supporting the experiences.
Since January the children have been involved in selecting and choosing resources for each area as well as setting up a ‘Hairdressers’ and more recently a ‘Grocery Shop’ within our imaginative area. These opportunities have encouraged the children to develop many skills for life-long learning as well as highlight the growing interest in mark making and writing for Early Literacy Development. The children requested a cash register which enabled them to explore the concept of money and familiarise themselves with various coins.
Many children are establishing positive relationships with their peers and working cooperatively, sharing ideas for learning and experiences. Some children are taking the lead in play experiences and ensuring their friends feel included and happy.

These are just some examples of the quality learning experiences taking place within the centre and we would love for you to take a look at the learning wall yourself. As a staff we welcome any feedback you would like to share, as parents and families your views and opinions are so important to us!

Just a reminder the Nursery Annexe will be closed for Mid Term Break

Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th February 2018 for our  3-5’s

2-3 room children attend as normal

The nursery is also closed Wednesday 14th February for all children – Staff In-service day

Nursery re-opens Thursday 15th February 2018 for all children.

Due to forecast worsening weather, and instruction from North Lanarkshire Council,

Forgewood Family Learning Centre will be closed as from 1pm today (Friday 19th Janury 2018).

Staff will remain with pupils until they are collected.

Weather permitting the nursery should be back to its normal sessions as from Monday 22nd January 2018.

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We have had a lovely time exploring different materials to make snow. We having been baking biscuits and making cards and chocolates for our grown ups. Every one has enjoyed dancing to the Christmas music especially at our party, the bubbles and special snack were also favourites. Santa came to visit and brought us wonderful presents, he said he enjoyed all the cuddles and the beautiful singing from the 2-3 year old boys and girls.