Newsletter - Autumn 2008 – Issue No. 3
Notes From The Editor
Welcome to the Autumn edition of the newsletter for Complete Childcare. The “summer” edition started with a comment about the weather and this time it continues! I overheard a young child saying the other day, “it is really very wet outside everyone”……… yes, we have enjoyed some good days between the wet ones, but it never seems to deter our little people, who happily play in the outdoor facilities come rain or shine. Weather aside, there has been the usual hive of activity...….read on for the summer highlights and for plans going into the Autumn.
Janet
From The Nurseries
Training has continued to be a focus for us, with Renewal, Fire Safety, Paediatric First Aid and Health & Safety as priorities. Head Office and Management staff successfully completed Safer Recruitment Training, which is vital to reinforce the Safeguarding Children aspect of our employment practices. Key staff are also booked onto EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) training to comply with the new Ofsted guidelines for the provision of childcare during September. Happitots Day Nursery was one of the first nurseries in the country to be assessed under this new framework. We are delighted to announce that they were assessed as “Good” across the whole of the nursery. This outcome is a huge credit to the staff and supporters of the nursery. To read more about this inspection, full details are expected to be published on the Ofsted website by the end of September. See Ofsted and follow the links to inspection reports for nursery and primary education (or search by postcode RG41 5EQ).
Bear Necessities
Paddington Bear’s 50th birthday was celebrated at fundraising parties at each of the nurseries in June. Children joined in with the “Bring your bear to show you care” and collectively raised over £500 for Action Medical Research to help sick and vulnerable babies. Many of you have perhaps read reviews of these events in the local newspapers – all universally labelled a success!
News From Happitots
Picking out some highlights is always a challenge because there is always so much going on. You may have already read about the Paddington Bear Day and our Ofsted inspection – very notable!
The whole nursery had a “People Who Help Us” topic during July. The children met a Policeman and were able to explore a police car. They met a Lollipop Lady who talked about road safety. They also met a Postman, wrote letters and drew pictures of him!
The School House children have been growing sunflowers, tomatoes and different herbs. Getting the sun itself has been difficult at times, but this has helped the children to learn about all the elements required for successful growing of flowers and plants.
The 0-2s now have home books instead of the daily sheets. This enables parents to share information about their child with us more easily and provides a comprehensive record of their child’s ongoing development.
The children in the 2-3s and 3-5s have been learning about the jungle and parents may have noticed that they transformed their rooms into one!
The Toddlers have made a more creative area in their room. Children have free access to drawing, painting, sand and water activities throughout the day.
Congratulations to Nicky for gaining Employee of the Month for August, for going the extra mile in her support for the management and to Emi, who recently qualified as a Nursery Nurse at NVQ Level 2. We are delighted that she is staying on Happitots and working towards her NVQ Level 3.
Lastly, thank you for giving us your Sainsbury’s Active Kids’ Vouchers. Many new pieces of educational, play and fitness equipment are arriving and being distributed throughout the nursery!
Vanessa
News From Northumberland
I have had the most amazing induction to life at Northumberland Day Nursery and I would like to thank all the children, parents and staff for making me so welcome and helping me settle into my first few months here! We’ve been busy, so I will just pick on a few highlights and pieces of news to share with you all. Rather than actually going to the beach, we built our very own beach, complete with sand, deck chairs, buckets and spades, which all of the children loved. This was one of the many activities enjoyed by the children and staff over the summer months.
On Wednesday 27th August we had a sports day at Cintra Park, which was extremely successful and enjoyable. A big thank you goes to the many parents who joined us and to all the staff who helped the children to have a fantastic time. For those of you who buy the Reading Evening Post, you may notice a feature in the paper! We all returned to the nursery after a fun-filled, healthy and educational afternoon for a lovely, and well-earned, homecooked party tea, which was home prepared.
We wish to congratulate Melissa on reaching 10 years of service at Northumberland on 8th August. Melissa is looking forward to a relaxing spa day in recognition of this milestone! We wish her many happy years in the future with us.
At the end of August we said a sad goodbye to Lisa from our baby room. She left to continue her career in the childcare profession, taking up a post as a classroom assistant at a local primary school. We thank her for her hard work over the years and wish her well for the future.
We have more fun activities scheduled for the coming months, starting with the “Yummy Mummy” week from 22nd to 26th September. For details on this and other activities, please see the events calendar and look out for posters and information at the nursery.
Kim
News From Smart Tots
Feedback from our parents’ forum has asked for a little more detail in our newsletter, so I hope that this jam-packed account will keep you informed!
We have been focussing on Quality and conducted internal Quality Checks throughout the nursery. This, combined with a visit from our Early Years Advisory Teacher on 24th July, has given us some very good feedback and areas on which to focus as we continually strive for excellence.
This seems a good opportunity to remind everyone about the children’s indoor shoe policy. Please provide separate footwear for indoor use only – this helps to reduce dirt and grime in the nursery and to prevent accidents. Thank you for your co-operation!
On the training front - I accompanied Kim (Manager at Northumberland Day Nursery) to attend the Early Years Conference in Manchester on 19th and 20th June. We were both informed and inspired by this and have been disseminating our findings with nursery staff.
You will notice that Bears has been transformed over last few months in line with EYFS. Future plans include painting out the front, signs, developing the garden area and our treasure baskets!
Staffing-wise we have lots of news. Sian was named Employee of the Month in July for supporting the nursery so well, particularly during a difficult time when I was on leave.
Nicky Houghton came back from maternity leave, second time around – congratulations!! - and has resumed her role of Room Senior for Cubs. Adele has also announced that she is expecting a baby in February and currently plans to take maternity leave in January.
Congratulations also to Donna, who completed her Foundation Degree in early years and has been working alongside Nicky in Cubs. Laura is also now working in Bears alongside Sian, who will be commencing her Maternity leave at the beginning of October.
Lastly, we would like to mention Ann and Charlotte, who both did well with their recent NVQ Key skills examinations, and Laura who undertakes training SENCO 3 on 16th September and Beth having her EYFS introduction in October.
At the end of the summer, we said goodbye to sixteen children who were starting primary school. We wish them all well. We wrote to the teachers from their schools and sent hand-over reports to assist in the continuity of child development and learning.
Many have been asking about Head Count day for funding for the Autumn terms and this will be 18th September for Smart Tots. This date is also the date for the Whole Nursery parent’s evening. Please book with your child’s keyworker.
Keep abreast of what’s going on by looking at the events calendar – lots planned (and more to come) for the coming months.
Gemma
Help Us Reduce Paper Use
Would you be happy to receive future parent communications via email? We would like to reduce the amount of paper issued from the nurseries and need your help to do this. We will be asking you to complete details soon if you can help us on this – paper copies will still be available and displayed in nursery rooms, but for those who are keen to support a reduction on paper use, we are working towards making this possible! Watch this space!
Parent Bounty
Recommend a friend and have a chance of earning a reward!
If a parent recommends a friend and that family register then we will pay a reward.
The recommending parent must ask the new parent to quote their name at registration.
Following registration and joining the nursery the recommending parent will receive a credit to their account in month 3 of the new child’s attendance (new parents’ fees must be up to date).
The credit will be equal to 50% of one months fees, proportioned according to the new child’s attendance.
Example:
Children's Clothing Range
Great quality T-Shirts, Sweat Shirts and Fleeces displaying the “Kiddie Chain” logo are available from all nurseries. Sizes range from 6m to 5yrs – please ask your Nursery Manager for an order form.
Parent's Letter
We received a lovely letter from a parent whose child was about to leave the nursery to attend school in September. The letter reads:
“I’m sure that we will get the opportunity to see you before he leaves, but I just wanted to say a big thank you to you and all your team for the wonderful care you’ve given Daniel since he arrived with you at just 7 months old. He’s grown into a confident, caring, disciplined and well mannered (in the main!) little man and you and the team are responsible for so much of that. Very many thanks.”
If you have any comments we are always pleased to hear them, so do get in touch with your Nursery Manager or send them directly to our enquiries email address: enquiries@completechildcare.co.uk .
We look forward to hearing from you.
Forthcoming Events
There's lots of fun stuff planned for the weeks ahead!
CLICK HERE and see our table of forthcoming events
Latest date for entries for next edition 13th November 2008.
Click Here To Read The Previous Newsletter