As we say a fond farewell to all our preschool children we are delighted to welcome back our returning children and all our new little ones who are due to start at St Nicholas ELC.  We are very excited to meet everyone and provide the children with lots of quality learning experiences.  This is such a wonderful time of the year for everyone.  At St Nicholas we pride ourselves in providing a warm and nurturing environment for our little ones to thrive and grow.  Our main focus over the next few months is to settle everyone into St Nichols ELC.  We are very excited to see where our learning takes us.  Staff are always on hand to answer any questions or queries you may have.  We are are looking forward to meeting everyone and excited for the year ahead.

Many thanks

St Nicholas ELC

As we reach the end of our summer term the staff at St Nicholas ELC would like to wish all our pre-school children lots of luck as they start a new and exciting chapter.  We know all our little learners will embrace the learning experiences Primary 1 has to offer.  We are truly delighted the children experienced a successful transition.  The experience helped the children to prepare and feel confident about making the transition from nursery to Primary 1.  All our little ones welcomed this experience and particularly enjoyed meeting their buddies.  We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our parents, carers, grans and grandads for all your support throughout the year, it is very much appreciated.

Good luck to everyone on your first day of school, we will miss you lots.

It’s been a fun, fast and fantastic week at St Nicholas nursery with lots of quality learning taking place.  The children have all settled back in amazingly well and our new little children are making the most of their nursery experience.  Everyone is doing great at establishing and following nursery routines.  Following on from last week the children have enjoyed continuing with the lots of chat about Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  In order to extend the children’s learning further we have had lots of interesting discussion about bears, which has been lots of fun and most enjoyable.  Following on from some group discussion the children were eager to make their own little bears.    They loved taking part in a little transient art activity which involved using various art and craft materials to make a bears face.  The children found this activity very enjoyable which involved developing concentration as well as expressing their creativity.  The children have also engaged well with a little literacy activity which involved using the letter pebbles to make the word ‘bear’.  It’s been fantastic to see the children match and become familiar with the letter sounds.  The children have also enjoyed listening to a wide range of Bear stories, they have listened well and have loved sharing their thoughts and feelings, which has been lovely to hear.  As a little extension of this we decided it would be a great idea to sample some of the snacks that were in the stories we listened to.  I think it’s fair to say this went down a treat.  The children loved sampling porridge with various toppings as well as pancakes and honey.  Some of the children have even used large bricks to build a house and the bear’s beds.  They have been comparing sizes and have used a good range of mathematical language to describe their work.  They have also enjoyed drawing pictures of bears which are displayed in our art gallery alongside there wonderful writing.  It has been fantastic to see this topic develop and the children extend their own learning.

The children have also had the opportunity to celebrate Burns Day, we have all participated in Scottish Highland dancing, sampled Scottish food such as Haggis, neeps and tatties, homemade Scotch broth as well as oatcakes and cheese.  The children have embraced all things Scottish and it has been great to see them engage with lots of Scottish activities in order to learn about their Scottish culture.  It has certainly been a jam packed week of fun and lots and quality learning and interactions.  Our children have all been fabulous, they are all super little learners.  Great work everyone and very well done.

Here are a few pictures of what has been taking place in nursery this week.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

December has certainly been a fun, busy, enjoyable and magical time in St Nicholas ELC.  We have all had the best time preparing and celebrating Christmas.  The children have had a wonderful time engaging in lots of fun Christmas activities which have been on offer in the ELC.  They have embraced every moment which has been great to see.  They all had a fantastic time at their party and danced their little socks off.  It has been a truly magical time in St Nicholas ELC for both our children and staff.   We would like take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support and kindness over the festive period, it’s been fantastic and we are so very grateful.  On behalf of all the staff at St Nicholas ELC, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We look forward to that start of a new and exciting year with your little ones.  Stay safe everyone and Many thanks.

The ELC Team

Here are a few pictures of what has been happening throughout the month of December.

This week the children have engaged amazingly with our Autumn Topic.  There has been lots of discussion about observations they have made.  It has been lovely to see the children bring in lots of different Autumnal pieces they have collected.  We decided to make a little sorting and matching area.  The children have been amazing at sorting all the autumn pieces out and putting them into little baskets.  They have also been using the magnifying glasses to take a closer look.  There has been lots of quality discussions about texture, shape, size and colour.  The learning opportunities with this have been endless, covering all curricular areas.  We also set up a little transient art activity for the children so they could use the autumnal pieces in a creative way.  I think you will all agree the children’s art work is beautiful.  This activity allowed the children to explore shape, space, pattern, positioning and texture.  There has also been lots of discussion about Fireworks night and as a result the children have been learning how to keep themselves safe.  They have enjoyed a range of stories and have made some amazing firework pictures in the art and craft area. The children have also noticed how dark it is outside.  This led to lots of discussion about how we need the lights on in order for us to see.  To  develop the children’s learning further we decided to go outside just to see how dark it was.  We all agreed it was very dark.  This was a fantastic opportunity for the children to use the torches.  They had lots of fun and explored different areas of the garden using the torches.   It certainly has been another busy, fun filled week at St Nicholas ELC with lots of quality learning and interactions.  Well done everyone!

“I’ve used conquers and leaves to make my picture”

“The leaf has brown spots on it”

“This feels jaggy”

“My daddy lights the fireworks”

“I need to stand back to be safe”

Welcome back to all our families who have been lucky enough to have a little holiday over the October break.  It’s lovely to have all our children back and have the opportunity to catch up with all our little ones and hear all about what they have been up to.

The main aim of this week has been to settle everyone back into nursery with the main focus on establishing routines.  The children have all been wonderful and they certainly have had a great first week back.  We have had lots of outdoor play and there has been lots of opportunity to look for more signs of autumn.  The children have also been very busy making an autumn display.  They used their finger prints to make some beautiful autumn trees.  The children have loved chatting about the observations they have made.  The children have also been busy collecting various autumn pieces such as leaves and conquers.  The children have been fantastic at bringing in autumn pieces they have found whilst out and about.  Great work everyone!

The Autumn Leaves are Falling Down

The children have had a lovely week in nursery with lots of fantastic learning taking place.  The main focus has been looking for signs of Autumn.  The children have been making lots of interesting observations and they have all had the opportunity to discuss seasonal changes they have noticed.  The weather has been very kind to us which has been great as the children have been able to get outside to make lots of interesting Autumnal observations.  The children have also had the opportunity to go on a little walk to look for signs of Autumn.  They collected lots of leaves and we have been busy looking at the shape, colour and size of the leaves.  Some of the children have also brought in leaves which they have collected.  We have also enjoyed a range of Autumnal stories and chatted about Autumnal animals, which the children have loved and engaged well with.  After lots of discussion with the children we decided it would be lovely to make and little autumnal woodland den for the animals.  We have also made an interest table to display the leaves we have collected.  This is to allow the children to add any Autumnal pieces they collect and give them the opportunity to investigate and inspire their curiosity further.

Children’s voice

“This leaf feels crispy”.

“The leaf is green with yellow bits”.

“I love the little hedgehog, I saw one in my garden”.

“It feels cold today, I need by hat”.

“The leaves are falling down”

Here are some pictures of a wonderful week in St Nicholas ELC.

It’s been another very busy and enjoyable week at St Nicholas ELC.  The children are continuing to settle in and are doing great at becoming familiar with all our routines.  It’s been such an enjoyable time for everyone.  The children have now had the opportunity to sample some of our healthy and nutritional snacks which are offered to children mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  The children are encouraged to visit the snack table as it’s a great opportunity for them to try new foods and follow good table manners.  Healthy eating and physical activity is essential for growth and development therefore we take great pride in preparing and offering a full range of healthy snacks.  Children’s early experiences of food play and important part in shaping later eating habits and good eating habits support healthy growth and development.  The children have also had the opportunity to sample our lunches.  The children are coping very well with this routine and they are sitting beautifully during lunch.  Our lunches are offered in a caring and warm environment in order to make it an enjoyable experience and to expose the children to healthy eating patterns from an early age.  The children are encouraged to take their time and enjoy the experience of sharing a meal with their friends.   Here are a few pictures of the snacks we offer and the children enjoying the lunch experience.