Blackridge Nursery are beginning to work towards the goal of becoming a “Breastfeeding Friendly Nursery”, to actively support parents in our area who are choosing to breastfeed.

Recently we have been focusing on how we can promote a breastfeeding friendly culture in our nursery.  Staff have received training and we have written a  breastfeeding policy for the nursery ( click on link below). It is known that breastfeeding can have enormous benefit to the health of both the mother and the child. However, as well as “knowing the benefits”, supportive environments are needed to enable and support breastfeeding.

At BlackridgeNursery we:

• Use positive and culturally appropriate images of breastfeeding
• Avoid materials which promote artificial feeding.
• Provide appropriate education and training for staff to enable them to promote, protect and support breastfeeding.
• Increase awareness of sources of support and information for breastfeeding families.
• Provide a welcoming atmosphere for breastfeeding families and to encourage breastfeeding in the public areas of the establishment.
• Support informed choice in relation to infant feeding.
• Blackridge-Nursery-School-Breastfeeding-Policy

Mrs Hill pointed us in the direction of a very good link from the BBC that ties in to our life cycle and minibeast topic.

Minuscule

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/by/show/minuscule

Minibeast adventures with Jess

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b044479g/minibeast-adventure-with-jess-20-snail

Dear all,

We have had a busy few weeks in the nursery, running two of our projects side by side.

Nursery to primary 1 transition has begun, and is going really well.

We were introduced to our dragon friend, who needs us to help him rebuild fairy land. All of the fairy tale characters have lost their homes, and need us to help them rebuild their lands in our classrooms.

The Primary 1s have been working very hard with their nursery buddy. More details of this, and pictures of their adventure so far to follow.

The very hungry visitors…

We have had 5 very hungry visitors in our classroom, who we have been watching very carefully.

Our caterpillar friends arrived as tiny little bugs, and have now developed into chrysalis.

We look forward to watching them very closely over the coming weeks,  and waiting for them to turn into beautiful butterflies.

Well the countdown has begun to the summer holiday, and it’s going to be very very busy in the nursery.

Attached is the news letter, letting you know all the lovely things that we will be looking at in the nursery this term.

NewsletterAPR-JuneCom

Also, the very important dates you will need to know:

Smart Start- 7^th May

AM- 8.45- 9.15am   PM-12.18- 12.45am

Monday Holiday- 19^th May

26^th-29^th May – Health Week

Thursday 5^th June- Fairyland Open Morning

Tuesday 10^th and Wednesday 11th June

P1 Transition Days for Pre-schoolers

Details to follow

Thursday 12^th June- Mill Farm Trip

16^th June- M+M Treasure Island (AM only)

17^th June- Nursery Sports Day

19^th June- Teddy Bears Picnic (details to follow)

25^th June Nursery Awards Ceremony

Today some of our sunflowers started to grow. We used a magnifying glass to look at them up close.

Hopefully they will all start to grow in time for the Easter Holidays!

Today the nursery were inspected by the Care Inspectorate.

Sarah Connell was our inspector and she spent the day with us today.

I am delighted to say that everything went well, and we will receive our report in due course.

Ms. Connell is available for anyone who wishes to speak to her at:

sarah.connell@careinspectorate.com

Thank you to all our parents and carers who helped out by filling in the questionnaires, speaking to the care inspectorate, and for your unending support of the nursery.

Miss Mitchell and Mrs Chalmers

Just a quick reminder…
Tomorrow is photograph day. It is individual, and possibly family as well.
Make sure all children come with their usual sparkly appearance, and full school uniform.

Also….
This week on channel four it is Space Week, with feeds live from the international space station. Some of it may be appropriate for the children to watch. It starts at 9pm so you may wish to DVR it and watch little bits!

The nursery were very lucky to experience the culinary skills of Mrs Chalmers today. We ate a very yummy snack of crepe pancakes, expertly made upon the stove. Miss Mitchell even made an attempt to flip a pancake, which entertained the children greatly.

I hope you all enjoy your pankcakes for dinner this evening!

As many of you will know we have been granted two super I-Pad minis.

A lot of parents have been asking about what apps we are using. Here is a screen shot of Miss Mitchell’s IPad. These apps are used regularly by the children. The iPads are a fantastic resource, and are used for lots of different learning activities, such as photographing or recording our learning, developing mathematical or language concepts, or exploring the solar system.

The time has come to say goodbye to our space topic. Our space rocket has blasted away to continue exploring the solar system, as Buzz Lightyear would say, “to infinity and beyond”.

The children have put a lot of effort into the topic this term, as have parents and families at home. Thank you to the AM nursery parents who have returned their feedback forms. Pm Nursery, you will receive your forms this week. It was so lovely to hear about the children’s favourite parts of our topic, and hear what the parents have thought as well.

Hopefully our topics for this term will capture your child’s imagination just as much as Space has!