Welcome From Diane
Welcome to the late summer edition of our newsletter.
We had a lovely family picnic – many thanks to Louise, our cook, for preparing such a marvellous spread and thank you to all of you who were able to attend.
Thank you also for attending the parent meetings in June – if you have any feedback about this, I would welcome your comments.
The pre-school graduation ceremony and party went really well, it was great to see so many parents there. It was also lovely that Saffia could come to celebrate Sally and Melissa’s twenty years working for Bristol Childcare – what an amazing achievement for them and for the company!
Some further news about staffing is that Rhianna Smith, who has been in our 2s room this summer, will stay on with us and commence her Level 3 apprenticeship in September.
Also, well done to Abby for successfully completing her Level 3 qualification.
Thank you for all your support and enjoy the rest of the summer.
Diane
Race For life
Jo, Carla, Tia, Louise, Rachelle and Jemima all took part in the Race for Life. They raised an amazing £818.75 for cancer research and had such a fun time!
We’re looking forward to next year now when the whole team plans to participate!
UPDATE FROM SAFFIA
We have had a busy summer! It’s been great to see the creativity and excitement at the Leavers’ parties. It’s always sad to say goodbye to children and families, but amazing to see them step into the next stage of their lives.
Leaving and Staying
I was delighted to be able to attend the pre-school graduation. It was lovely to hear about each child as an individual. I was also proud to celebrate with you the amazing news that on 1st August, both Sally King and Melissa Wickham will have worked for Bristol Childcare for 20 years! We are very proud to have had Sally and Melissa on our team for so many years. They both bring a huge depth of experience and creativity to Mornington House and we hope they will be with us for many more years. Thank you to both of them for their dedication and commitment.
A new framework
Ofsted have produced a new framework against which we will be inspected from September. Whilst nothing will change for you or your children, in the background we are doing a lot of work to prepare for this! We are always looking for new ways to support you and your children and this summer have developed our libraries of books for you to take home and share at home, we hope you are enjoying this. Reading together is one of the best ways to help your child learn and develop and we love books at Bristol Childcare.
Another idea we are developing is a series of Core Books that we will be enjoying with all children at Bristol Childcare. Look out for baskets of these in the rooms from September.
If you like to do activities at home with your child, there are also age-appropriate ideas at this link:
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/
Hungry Little Minds is a campaign set up by the Department for Education.
Please let us know what you enjoy through ParentZone on your child’s Timeline so that we can continue to extend any learning at nursery.
Environmental impact
We have also been auditing our environmental impact and have put together an environmental statement that you can read on our website under the About Us section. As a team we are looking at ways we can reduce our environmental impact, starting with simple things such as ensuring lights are turned off when not required and that we are recycling everything we can. Following on from the success of our bras upcycling, we are organising a collection of mascara wands which will be sent to a wildlife charity as they are perfect for using on small animals. There is a collection box in each nursery so please donate any used mascara wands that you have lying around at home!
PRE-SCHOOL GRADUATION
This was a lovely event in our garden under our new gazebo. The children did a rendition of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and each received a group photograph and a reading book. We will miss these children very much and wish them every happiness and success in the future.
It was also a time to celebrate someone staying – Sally has been with the company for twenty years this August! Saffia, our managing director, came to the event to present Sally with gifts and thanks for her dedication and passion for her role. Saffia and her Head Office team had made a collage of photographs of Sally since she joined the company – it was lovely to look back at those. Here’s to the next twenty years Sally!!
PRE-SCHOOL SPORTS DAY
The children made medals with Melissa before the day, using recycled jar lids and foil. On the day we did:
Races – running, jumping, hopping
Tug ‘o’ war in teams of two
Throwing balls into a bucket and counting the score
Team games – ball over the head and between the knees, passing a ball around the circle (timed challenge).
Afterwards we talked about the podium and what it means to receive a medal. The children received a certificate and medal for taking part. We reinforced what it means to support your team and why we cheer our team on.
BILLY THE BIRD
Eleanor’s mummy, Natalie, brought in their pet bird which is a Green-cheeked Conure called Billy.
Billy has recently had quite an adventure!
He escaped and flew up a tree so Eleanor’s daddy, Chris, climbed the tree to try to get him back in his cage. Unfortunately, Chris then became stuck in the tree!
Natalie rang the fire service who arrived with a big ladder to reach them. They also had to close the road to keep the area clear and safe for everyone around and the electricity company had to shut off the power as there was a cable close to the tree!
Luckily, all ended well and Chris and Billy were safely rescued.
Natalie taught the children to use quiet voices around Billy so as not to scare him and also not to put their fingers in the cage – because Billy can bite!
MID-SUMMER FAMILY PICNIC
We were very lucky that the weather changed and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. Louise prepared a super picnic and lots of parents were able to join us. It was a lovely, relaxing and sociable event.
BUGS, BUTTERFLIES AND COCKROACHES
The children in pre-school built a bug hotel in the garden to house our mini beast friends. They filled the spaces with branches, pine cones and leaves to make a nice, damp environment. Thomas and Rufus used their phonics learning to sound out the words and write them to make a sign, whilst the other children each drew a bug. They have been busy finding mini beasts around the garden and putting them in their new home.
We released the three butterflies that had emerged from their cocoons. They didn’t seem to want their freedom and flew straight back to Sally! Whilst releasing them, another butterfly emerged from its cocoon which was very exciting! The children were very curious and commented “They’re beautiful butterflies!”
Lucia’s mum, Daphne, came into pre-school with some Madagascan cockroaches because she works at Bristol Zoo. The children were able to hold them and observe them carefully, learning about the similarities and differences between the male and female cockroaches. They also learned some new vocabulary: conservation, protection, habitat.
Newsletter – Late Summer – The Court House