Term Dates

February 22nd ——-  March 24^th

April 11th ————–May 27^th

June 6th —————July 15th

We shall be closed on May 2nd as this is a Bank holiday. Please make a note of all these dates in your diary and pass them on to anyone else who brings or collects your child for you.

Theme for this Term

Over the next 5 weeks we shall be looking at books and favourite authors. We shall look at the different ways that stories can be told e.g. on CD, in books or comics or made up from our own imaginations. Through this work children will be introduced to the ways that stories are structured and make up their own stories identifying characters and plots. You can support this work at home as you share books with your child introducing terminology including author, illustrator, beginning, middle and end etc. Help your child to identify what sort of books they like best and reasons for this. You can always borrow books from the pre-school’s book share box or visit the local library in order to widen their knowledge. We shall be looking at Julia Donaldson and Sue Hendra books as these are popular with the children and staff. During the week beginning 29th February we would like children to bring in their favourite book to share with their friends at story time. This links in with World Book Day which is on 3^rd March and each child has a voucher in their drawer that can be exchanged at local book stores for £1 off a book of their choice.

Nature Trail

Please bring in your Nature Trail collections and sponsor money asap. We shall be displaying your children’s collections in the playroom.

Dates for your Diary

The fund raising team have planned some events over the forthcoming months that will help to raise much needed funds for some maintenance projects on the pre-school building as well as support the purchase of new resources for the children.

Easter Fair March 20^th at Pre-School 1-3pm. Further information and requests for help will be sent out separately.

Bags2school May  2016 – You can turf out all your unwanted clothes, shoes and bags and bring them along to pre-school making money for us. So please have a good sort out and hang on to your unmated bits until this time.

They are also planning to take part in the Ockash Bargain Trail and are hoping to organise a Car Boot Sale

The finale will be a Grand Summer Fete being planned for June/July.

You will notice that over the last few weeks we have refurbished the Book Corner with new furniture and carpet which is colourful and inviting to the children. Today has also seen the arrival of the new mud kitchen. All these items have been purchased with funds raised by parents at the different organised events. Thank You to All those who have supported the pre-school to achieve these results.

Parents Evening

This years’ parent’s consultation evening will be on April 19th between 6pm and 7-30pm. Time slots will be on the cupboard in the kitchen nearer to this time, just sign up to see your child’s key person and share in their achievements and successes and talk about appropriate next steps for learning & development.

Ofsted

You will be aware that an Ofsted inspector visited the setting on February 9^th and carried out a thorough inspection of the pre-school. The report from this inspection will be made public information in the next 2 weeks, but until this time all information remains confidential. We look forward to sharing our outcomes with you as soon as we are able.

Spring Clean

This years’ annual spring clean and DIY day will be held on 23^rd April between 9am and 12noon. We would like to invite all our parents to come and join in sprucing up the premises so that it can be maintained in a safe, clean and fresh way that looks inviting to your youngsters. We are only asking you to give an hour of your time and make a contribution in some way. We will put up a list of jobs that need doing nearer the time so that you can see where your skills lie with regard to this activity. Please do come along and show your support as many hands make light work. We do have to employ professional to carry out work for us as necessary, but obviously these costs have to be raised through fund raising activities so please do come and help us on the 23^rd.

Session Availability

Most of our sessions are now at capacity, but please ask if you are looking to increase or make changes and I will check numbers for you. I am now taking bookings for September and would urge you to let me have a written note of sessions you would like to reserve for your child.

Term Time Holidays

If you are planning a holiday during term time please let me have written notification of these dates as we need to keep records for DCC. Children who are funded and take time off without providing written notice may be asked to reimburse the pre-school for their unauthorised absences.

Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers

If you shop at Sainsburys please collect the AKV’s for the pre-school and post them in the box on the signing in table.

Reminders

Due to lack of space in the coat area can you please leave all bags/rucsacks in the Big toilet.

Jane & the team

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