As we approach the winter season we inevitably start to think about Christmas! We have set dates for events so do please make a note of these.
Just to be clear, the Nativity Play is for pre-school children only and we do need to limit the numbers to two adults attending per child. The parties are for all children (parents do not need to attend!). The Christmas dinner is for staff and children and the Christmas carol singalong is for everyone – so please do come along and bring grandparents and siblings if you like. It’s one of our favourite events as we all sing and celebrate Christmas together; it feels really cosy and festive and Louise makes wonderful mince pies!
You will all know about our Ofsted inspection by now, if you wish to read the report it is available on the parent noticeboard in reception. We are happy with the outcome and will continue to evaluate and improve our practice, just as we always do.
On Thursday 27th November we will be supporting the Just One Tree initiative. We are asking that children dress in green that day and donate £1 each – every £1 donated purchases one tree. We will be doing other related activities throughout the day to support the children’s learning.
Throughout December we will be collecting food and other essential items for donation to the Julian Trust Night Shelter which supports homeless people in the centre of Bristol. I will email you all with a list of items the Trust needs nearer the time.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and to say what a privilege and pleasure it is for us all to work in partnership with you in caring for and teaching your children.
Diane
DATES TO REMEMBER
Just One Tree Initiative – Wednesday 27th November
Donations for the Julian Trust Night Shelter – 1-20th December
Pre-School Nativity Play – 2pm, Thursday 12th December
Christmas Parties – 2-4pm, Tuesday 17th December
Christmas Carol Singing – 4pm, Thursday 19th December
Christmas Lunch – 12pm, Monday 23rd December
Nursery Closure – 3pm, Tuesday 24th December
Nursery reopens at 7:30am on Thursday 2nd January
UPDATE FROM SAFFIA
As I hope you have been hearing, our focus this autumn has been on looking in depth at our commitment to environmental sustainability and what else we can do to reduce our impact. We have been looking at how we can reduce our use of single-use plastic across Bristol Childcare and have been reflecting on our use of nappy sacks and aim to stop using them. This is a two-part process:
1. We have changed the company we use for nappy disposal. We are now using Green Bottoms who incinerate nappies to create energy and we will be sent an audit for this. You can find out more on their website http://greenbottoms.co.uk/. Our aim is to empty our nappy bins in the rooms more frequently rather than using individual nappy sacks to reduce unpleasant smells in the room!
2. We would rather not have to use nappy sacks for wet clothes when a child has been changed. We would like to ask you to keep a plastic bag in your child’s bag, or on their peg, that we can use to put wet clothes in. This can be dried and used over again. Another option is to buy a wet bag. These are bags that can be washed and are therefore suitable for dirty washable nappies as well. If you are interested in this, we have teamed up with Baba and Boo and can offer a code – BCCWB15. This will give you 15% off just the wetbags – https://www.babaandboo.com/collections/nappy-storage-bags
We are also working with Bristol Nappy Library to develop a programme to train staff about washable nappies so that they then have information that they can share with you. Our Priory babyroom team have already been trained and we will be offering a weekend pack of a range of cloth nappies that you can borrow to try out. There will also be offer codes for nappies should you wish to buy them. We can support you in using washable nappies for your child if this is what you would like to do. Please discuss with your babyroom manager if you are interested in finding out more. You can find out more about Bristol Cloth Nappy Library offers – https://www.facebook.com/BristolClothNappyLibrary/
For those who would like to find out more about the environmental impact of washable nappies versus disposable nappies, there is an excellent article at this link – https://www.babaandboo.com/blogs/news/reusable-versus-disposable-nappies-the-real-story-of-their-environmental-impact
Thank you for supporting us with these initiatives.
#NurseryPractitionerDay.
On Thursday 17 October we celebrated #NurseryPractitionerDay. This is a day for us all to think about the amazing work that nursery staff do through the care and love they show the children every day.
We thanked all our staff for their hard work and commitment with a few little treats.
Cascade Training
In October we welcomed Anna Ephgrave to our Cascade Training session. Anna talked to us about “planning in the moment” with children. This is our pedagogy – how we teach children. We provide a stimulating environment and resources and allow the children to explore what they are interested in at that time. Staff then support the children by responding to them with role modelling and suggestions or facilitating with extra equipment.
Anna talked to us about “level 5 involvement” from the Leuven scales – this happens when children are most engaged, usually on activities they have selected themselves, and is when most learning happens. Anna reminded us that children are learning all the time – when singing with their friends, when moving water around the mud kitchen with a ladle, when driving a toy car round and round in a circle. We adults can’t always understand a child’s purpose, but they always have one. Please talk to your child’s key person if you’d like to find out more about this approach.
Recycling pens
Please join us in making another tiny difference and trying to keep all we can from landfill.
We are now collecting old pens for recycling. There is a box in each nursery. We will be taking them to Rymans in Clifton where they are being collected as part of the Terracycle scheme.
https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/the-writing-instruments-brigade-r
NURSERY NEWS
One of our core books, Dear Zoo, inspired the children in the baby room to explore and learn about animals.
We began the week by looking at lots of animal books, Dear Zoo was the favourite along with an animal picture book, Owl Babies and the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
During the week we created some pictures of animals using craft materials and sang lots of animal songs such as Down in the Jungle, Old MacDonald had a Farm, Incy Wincy Spider and A Farmer’s Life for Me.
On Friday, we went to Bristol Zoo and saw lots of the animals that we’d been reading and singing about such as snakes, crocodiles, lions, monkeys, spiders, birds, butterflies and turtles.
CORE BOOKS – OWL BABIES AND HANDA’S SURPRISE
The children in pre-school created resources to support the core book of the month, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. They were really interested in making the owls from felt which encouraged language development and recall of the story and characters.
As part of our core book learning, we took the children on a trip to the new greengrocers just around the corner from nursery. We chose a basket from the home corner and a pack-away bag (to encourage curiosity and technology awareness). We looked around the shop to find the fruits from the story and we talked about other vegetables that we found. The children gave the shop keeper the money and carried the fruit back to nursery, placing it in Handa’s basket.
TOMATO GROWING AND EATING!
We ate some of our tomato harvest at tea time in Pre-school. This encouraged conversation about the growing process; what we did to help the tomatoes grow and whether we liked the taste of them. We feel very proud to have grown our own produce at nursery.
A really huge THANK YOU to all the parents and grandparents who have come in to talk to us about their country and culture.
They have brought in music, food, pictures, maps, flags and books. The children have been excited to learn new words and to share their culture with us.
So far, we have explored:
Argentina
England
Belgium
Finland
Pakistan
Wales
Philippines
South Korea.
We are also looking forward to talks about France, Italy, Saudia Arabia and Iran. How very lucky we are to have such a diverse nursery – it’s really wonderful.
WE THE CURIOUS
Lots of babies were on holiday in September so Tia and Riz made the most of the opportunity to take two babies to We the Curious. They had an amazing time! Lots of hands on activities for them to explore independently and a lovely picnic lunch.
Macmillan Cake Sale
We had an open morning for parents to come and see the sorts of activities their children do at nursery to support their learning and development. We combined this with a cake sale and raised an amazing £150 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Cakes were both donated and made by the parents and staff members of all nurseries.
All three of our day nurseries took part in a Macmillan cake sale in October and raised a fantastic amount of money with Bristol Childcare topping up all three totals. We are proud to be able to donate to this wonderful charity £281.32.
Dear Zoo