Good day everyone, all staff would like to welcome everyone on their return from our short Easter break. It

This week has been eventful with the introduction of six new children starting our nursery. We wish them and their families all the joy and fun as they have opportunities to experience a range of activities to extend and develop their learning. We can also say a great big thank you to all our children for making these children feel welcomed and included in their play. Well done to parents too as this reflects how children are taught in their homes – you must be very proud.

Last week children were very busy having fun with the build up of Easter as they had a range of activities such as making head bands, decorating eggs, stories and making their own hot cross buns.

This week we have been astounded over the daring activities children have challenged themselves with. We feel we could have a circus performance with the daring acrobats.

As you all know, we do enjoy exploring our community and this week, under the direction of Devin we discovered lovely places to take a walk. It was certainly invigorating, as both children and staff came back with rosy cheeks and some heavy breathing, though that maybe because they also visited a swing park with some climbing apparatus.

This leads nicely to our National World Earth Day. This event has been celebrated from the 1970’s and is getting stronger each year as we become more aware of the impact of looking after our planet.

Today is World Earth Day, where we are asked to do something – not to big as small things accumulate to have a huge impact on caring for our community and environment. It could be tidying/cleaning up a small area in our community and disposing of the litter sensibly in a bin or turn off lights or all sockets for an hour: this will also save you money too.

For parents whose child is starting primary school transition is well under way as meetings are taking place between nursery and school staff. Details will be given to you when transition programme is finalised – hopefully very shortly.

Nursery CLOSED
Our next date when we will be closed on May 2nd 2022 and resume as usual on the 3rd May.

Well that is what you would expect when the schools are closed for a well deserved break however in nursery children have been exploring inside the school and having fun in doing so. Though there have been fewer children it has not stopped any learning through play as we introduce and reinforce their right to Article 31 – All children have the right to play.

Listening and attention is something as parents we all want our children to demonstrate however it is not necessarily a skill which comes naturally to all as it always appears that something else is more interesting or important to the child: certainly was for my children. So we have spent some time engaging children to develop these skills in a fun way as they discover and explore the school hall. As there was only nursery children in this was safe for us to do so. They played wonderful games such as the BEAN game, Jack, Jack, Giant (usually Duck, Duck Goose but keeping in focus of Jack and the Bean Stalk) and Corners. All children stayed focused on these and were very enthusiastic in their fun. Some children also showed leadership skills as they gave out commands as to what to do next following the rules of the Bean Game.

Turn taking and cheering on others through good sportsmanship was keenly displayed when they all participated in Jack, Jack, Giant as they sat quietly waiting in anticipation for their turn before springing up and chasing the ‘giant’.

Corner reinforced their learning about shapes as well as listening and following instructions such as galloping where some people thought they were suppose to do side stepping – and that was just staff; silly us.

They also spent time in the hall developing their ball skills and it was easy to spot children who played football or attended gymnastics/dancing, though everyone enjoyed discovering ways in which to move across a bench, bouncing on the older children’s ‘space hopper’ proved quite challenging as we forget how much children have grown in primary school.

Learning to bounce a ball on a bat soon changed to basketball where they had a choice of ‘nets’ to shoot for which then developed into a game of mini football as the ball dropped from the net allowing children to naturally kick the ball- some children were ‘diving’ trying to gain advantage of ‘stealing’ the ball from their opponent. There was even the activity to further these potential football players to learn how to control a ball as they dribbled one around some cones.

Fun was had as they had freedom to discover different types of rolls to do on a mat. We’re impressed how many knew and were confident at participating in a forward roll. One was delighted in learning how to do a pencil roll.

NEW SNACK MENU

Thank you all for supporting us in creating a new menu: ready to start on April 25th 2022. It was terrific to see so many replies to our form and it will probably be this way when creating future snack menus. Children have also had their voice heard and they were getting quite vocal for ‘sausages’ “They’re really scrummy.” As they are not a processed meat they can be a nice addition to our snack. A snack for us is not the food but rather the quantity or portion size which makes it a snack and not a meal.
Please look at the menu and have your say if it is good to go or maybe a tweak is needed. It is our menu which means all voices are heard.April Menu 2022

This will be placed in our Menu page for future reference.

Top Tip in supporting communication – These are always great to look at. The suggestions are always simple but so meaningful.Communication is Key calendar 2022 April

Nursery Natter
This was postponed and hopefully we can reschedule for the 19th April at 2pm. We would like it if parents can come along to have a wee natter where you can ask questions, share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions. It is a relaxed time: cup of tea and a biscuit with no pressure. Just everyone getting to know each other.

NURSERY CLOSED
Next Friday: April 15th and Monday April 18th we are closed on these days however we return as usual on Tuesday April 19th.

Our next time we are closed will be Monday May 2nd again opening on Tuesday 3rd.