Category: Nursery News

Nursery News January 2018

Parent Breakfast

The children were thrilled to have their parents join them for breakfast in the nursery this month. Children, parents and staff sat down to a hearty spread of porridge, yoghurt, fruit and croissants with jam. Parents enjoyed the opportunity to have a chat and to get to know each other a bit better.

Buggy Storage

As you may know, we have very limited storage space for buggies, bikes and scooters, and we would therefore please ask all parents to only use the storage facilities if you need to. We would also like to ask all parents to please use buggies that fold up easily and take up little room rather than large bulky buggies so that more buggies can fit in the buggy hut.

Please do not leave buggies in the front garden outwith the buggy hut as the Rabbits & Foxes will be using the front garden throughout the day.

Finally, could we please ask that, when using the hanging rack in the front hall, you ensure that the rack is not overloaded and that buggies are not left insecure ( eg hanging by one handle) as this can result in buggies falling off the rack.

Nativity & Christmas Parties

The Rabbits & Foxes did really well performing their Nativity at the church. The children had all worked really hard learning the songs and their parts, so very well done guys! We all had a great time at the party with Tricky Ricky and Santa! The Hedgehogs also had lots of fun at their Christmas Party with Santa. Thank you to all parents who attended our Christmas Parties.

We would like to say a big thank you to Pete (Pearl’s Dad) for playing the guitar while we rehearsed our show and for playing the piano for us during our Christmas Party. We would also like to thank Pete for being Santa at the church!

Activities

Our current block of Tatty Bumpkins is on Thursday mornings for a six week period. All Rabbits and Foxes in the nursery on Thursdays will have the opportunity to take part in the classes. Enjoy-a-ball is now held at the Meadows on Tuesday afternoons for a six week block. We change the days of both classes every few months to ensure that all children can take part.

Care Home visits and Forest Schools have also resumed, please see the notice in the front hall for children attending the first block.

Staff

We would like to welcome Marta and Munira to Meadows! Marta will be working mainly on the middle floor with the Hedgehogs and Munira will work on both floors on break cover hours 9:30-3:30 until she returns to University in July.

Staff CPD

This month all staff have taken part in child protection and child development training, gaining knowledge of the most up to date procedures for child protection situations.

Diary Dates

Please note our 2018 diary dates.

25th January	Scottish Breakfast (8am – 9.30am)
22nd March	Parents Evening (6.30- 8.30pm)
12th April	Continental Breakfast (8 – 9.30am)
24th May	Spring Trip (3’s & over)
29th May	School Leavers Treat
1st June	Primary 1 / Nursery Party ( 3- 5pm)
7th June	Sports Day 10.30am
22nd June	Graduation & Summer Show 2pm
12th July	Parent Summer Social 7 – 9pm
21st August	Tea Party ( 3 – 5pm)
13th September	Bring a Parent to Nursery Day
25th October	Parents Evening
31st October	Halloween Party
7th December	Christmas Theatre
14th December	Nativity & Christmas Party
21st December	Nursery closes at 6pm
3rd January 2019	Nursery reopens at 8am

Nursery News December 2017

Children in Need

Thank you to all parents and children who donated to Children in Need. We raised a total of £108 through our bake sale, PJ party and teddy bear picnic.

Forest Schools

We have now completed our last week of Forest Schools for 2017. The children have had great fun going on the 41 bus and spending time exploring up at Blackford pond – especially on the muddy hill! We will be resuming Forest schools next year and plan to continue taking the Foxes and younger Rabbits to the woodland at Sciennes for shorter Forest Schools sessions and the older Rabbits to Blackford Pond.

Parent Participation

We would like to thank Gesine (Alex’s Mum) for coming in and spending time with the Rabbits and Foxes to discuss her experiences at nursery as a child. The children enjoyed listening to Gesine’s stories and songs as well looking at her photographs. We compared how Gesine’s nursery was different to our nursery and discussed any changes the children may want to make to our nursery.

Staff

We would like to welcome Stela and Barbara to Meadows Nursery. Both Stela & Barbara will spend time on both floors during their induction.

Reverse Advent Calendar

Our reverse advent calendar is now in the front hall. We will be collecting throughout December and the items will be donated to a local foodbank.

Diary Dates

Thursday 14^th December – Nativity & Christmas Party (Rabbits & Foxes at Barclay Viewforth Church)

Friday 15^th December – Hedgehog Christmas Party

Friday 22^nd December – Nursery closes (at 6pm)

Thursday 4^th January – Nursery reopens

Nursery News November 2017

Thank you to all parents who completed our Values, Vision & Aims questionnaires. We really appreciate your input and will feedback to everyone once we have collated all of the responses.

Thank you also to Krishna’s Mum, Radhika, for coming in and celebrating Diwali with the children. Radhika read us a story about Diwali and played songs for us to dance to. We also used coloured sand and our fingers to make Rangoli patterns & designs.

Zoolab

The children sat really well as we listened to the Halloween story and learned about the Zoolab animals. We got to touch (if we wanted to!) and look at a snake, toads, snails, a tarantula, cockroach & a millipede. All of the children were very good at remembering to wash their hands afterwards!

Outdoor Learning in the Community 

We spent some time at the Meadows and Sciennes woodland this month gathering leaves and natural materials for our displays and messy play.

Our Forest Schools trips have been going really well. We have been learning about the animals that live at Blackford pond as well as discussing environmental print, such as street signs, we see on our way to the pond.

Some of the Rabbits went to Summerhall to take part in in a workshop called ‘I’m a very Clever Cat’- part of the kite and trumpet festival of Polish art. We listened to stories and had lots of fun creating artwork using wool and other collage materials.

Diary Dates

Wednesday 15^th November- Parent Forum

Thursday 14^th December- Rabbit & Fox Nativity & Christmas Party

Friday 15^th December- Hedgehogs Christmas Party

Nursery News October 2017

Our Nursery Topic

As you may be aware, our new topic on the ground floor is ‘Our Nursery’. This will involve the children expressing their likes and dislikes and suggesting ideas about activities, environment and practice.

We are really excited about this new topic in our nursery and we have lots of great ideas.

We would like to invite parents to come in and spend time with us discussing their childhood memories from their own nurseries. This could include – What did your nursery look like? Did you have a uniform? What was your favourite activity? What are the differences & similarities between your nursery and ours?

We would also appreciate it if you could give us your opinion about what you like in our nursery and what makes us unique.

Junk Modelling

The Hedgehogs, Foxes and Rabbits all spend lots of time junk modelling. We would be grateful if parents could bring in any ‘junk’ (yogurt pots, kitchen roll tubes etc) from home to replenish our supplies.

Staff CPD

Kathleen has recently started studying the BA in Childhood Practice at the University of Edinburgh. Kathleen will study on a part time basis over the next 3 years.

Diary Dates

Our Halloween Tea Party will take place on Tuesday 31^st October at 3pm.

Nursery News July 2017

Trips

This month the Rabbits and Foxes have been learning about Summer. Within our Summer topic, the children wanted to learn more about holidays and transport so we turned our home corner into an airport and have been learning about holiday destinations around the world. We have also carried out surveys of the modes of transport the children and teachers used to go on their holidays.

The Hedgehogs have had a great time exploring baking activities this month. We have been exploring the different textures of the ingredients and had lots of fun mixing our ingredients together with our spoons (and hands!).

We have all been getting out and about to the Meadows, the Fruit Shop and the Care Home this month. We have been taking our clipboards with us so that we can record what we see on our walk, using tally marks beside pictures of objects eg. dog, bike.

Activities

Our new blocks of Enjoy-a-Ball, Forest Schools, Care Home visits and Tatty Bumpkins will commence in August. The days of these activities will be rotated to allow all children to take part in all the relevant activities.

The first blocks will take place on-

Mondays – Tatty Bumpkins

Tuesdays – Enjoy-a-ball

Wednesdays – Care Home

Thursdays – Forest Schools

Standards, Quality & Improvement Plan

Thank you to all children, parents and staff who provided us with valuable feedback for our Standards, Quality & Improvement Plan. A summary of our 2017/2018 priorities is displayed on the front hall notice board.

Diary Dates

Eco Committee meeting 29^th August @ 4:30pm

Nursery News May 2017

Policy of the month

Our policy of the month for June is Sun Care, a copy of which is shown on the hall notice board. The nursery is committed to ensuring that all children are fully protected from the dangers of too much sun. It would be much appreciated if children could arrive at nursery with sun cream on if it’s going to be a hot day with a high UV index.

Activities

This month on the ground floor we have continued learning about the Life Cycle. The Foxes have been exploring bugs and mini beasts, while the Rabbits have been learning about the life cycle of different animals as well as the life cycle of humans. We have been looking at our caterpillars regularly to see which stage of their life cycle they are in!

On the middle floor we have been having lots of sensory play! The Hedgehogs have been exploring the smells, tastes and textures of fruit and vegetables and have carried out food tasting and printing activities. Our older Hedgehogs have been learning how to walk on the walkodile and walked really well while on our trips to the Meadows Park!

Our care home visits are going really well. This month we have been drawing, playing jenga and making paper plate pandas with the residents. We have invited the residents to come to the nursery later this month to listen to the Foxes and Rabbits sing their summer show songs.

Parent Involvement

We would like to say a big Thank you to Christian (Emily’s Dad) for coming in and reading the Hedgehogs stories in German. The Hedgehogs seemed to enjoy listening to Christian’s stories!

Forest Schools

We are currently on our last block of Forest Schools before the Summer. Forest Schools will resume after the summer at Sciennes Woodland with the Foxes and younger Rabbits.

Staffing

All staff recently completed a full day refresher infection control training course learning the most up to date infection control procedures.

Diary Dates

Friday 9 June – P1 party

Friday 23 June – Summer Show

Friday 30 June – Sports Day

Nursery News April 2017

Spring Activities

We have had a busy month with lots of spring activities and trips! The Rabbits had a great time at East links on their Spring Trip. Thank you to the parents who came along to help out! We all really enjoyed watching our Living Eggs hatch, all ten eggs hatched giving us 5 girls and 5 boys! The Hedgehogs, Foxes & Rabbits also had lots of fun taking part in Easter crafts and our Easter egg hunt in the garden, and they did really well finding the hidden eggs.

Zoolab

Zoolab came to visit the ground floor this month. We sat really well and listened about all the creatures, we learnt about their life cycle, where they live and what they like to eat. We also got to see and touch (if we wanted to) a snake, toads, giant snails, a tarantula & big cockroaches! All of the children were very good at remembering to wash their hands afterwards!

Forest Schools at Sciennes Woodland

The younger Rabbits & older Foxes had lots of fun exploring the woodland at Sciennes. We had a great time looking for bugs with our magnifying glasses, practicing our balancing on the logs and building dens and swings using tarps and rope. Our next block of Forest schools will include the older Rabbits at Blackford Pond.

Staffing

We are pleased to announce that Katie Gibson has been appointed Deputy Nursery Manager. Katie has been with Meadows since mid 2015 and has spent most of her time on the first floor with the younger children. Katie will now be spending time on the ground floor to continue to develop her knowledge of this age group.

We will sadly be saying goodbye to Irene at the start of June as she is moving back to Spain. We would like to thank Irene for all her very good work during her time at Meadows.

Diary Dates

Wednesday 17 May – Topic session

Monday 22 May – School leavers Doodles trip

Nursery News March 2017

Policy of the Month

Our policy of the month for April is Supervision of Visitors and Security.

We would ask parents to please be mindful of letting people into the building. On a few occasions, delivery men and agency staff have gained access to the nursery by parents holding the door open for them. If you do notice somebody behind you trying to gain access to the building, we would be grateful if you could let a staff member know so we can greet them at the door.

This safety measure is to ensure that our children and staff are kept safe at all times.

Parent Involvement

We would like to thank Meriam (Loueϊ’s Mum) for reading a story in French to the Foxes and Rabbits. The children really enjoyed hearing the story and asking Meriam lots of questions. If any other parents wish to come in and share your hobbies, songs or stories with the children, please let us know.

Parents Evening

Our Parents evening will take place on Thursday 20 April. Please find a sign-up sheet in the front hall should you wish to make an appointment. If you have any questions regarding parents evening, please feel free to ask.

Music Time

The Hegdehogs, Foxes and Rabbits have been having great fun at our daily music times with Sophia and Lizzie this month. We have been signing our Song of the Week and our favourite action songs along to the piano, guitar, ukulele & clarinet! We have all really enjoyed using percussion instruments to play along with Lizzie & Sophia and the older children are doing well at trying to keep the beat.

Shop Trips

We have been taking weekly trips to our local fruit shop to top up our supply of fruit & veg for snack. The children have been learning about the different types of fruit & vegetables we can buy for our snacks and the older children have been doing great at helping to count out our pennies! All of the children have been good helpers while preparing the fruit and veg for snacks. We have been discussing which foods are healthy and why, as well as which foods are unhealthy and the effects of consuming too much of these.

Diary Dates

Wednesday 19 April – Rabbits Spring Trip

Thursday 20 April- Parents Evening

Nursery February 2017

Lost & Found Baskets

We have a Lost and Found basket on each floor to collect children’s clothing that isn’t named. If you are missing an item of clothing that did not have your child’s name on it, please have a look in the basket. We would be grateful if clothing could be labelled as this allows us to identify who it belongs to.

Policy of the Month

Our policy of the month for March will be Child Protection. The child protection policy applies to any child who has experienced or is likely to experience neglect, physical injury, sexual abuse or emotional abuse. All staff have undergone Child Protection training and are required to have Disclosure Scotland clearance. Two references are requested for all new members of staff

Activities & Trips

Our first block of Forest Schools with the Foxes and younger Rabbits went really well. The children had great fun building dens and looking for beasties in the woodland! Our next block of Forest Schools will be at Blackford Pond with the older Rabbits.

The Hedgehogs had lots of fun developing their gross motor skills in the garden this month. The children have been really interested in using our obstacle courses and beams as well as moving the long pipes to make ramps for their balls to run down!

Diary Dates

Thursday 2^nd March – World Book Day

Wednesday 15^th March – Topic Session 4pm

Wednesday 6^th April – Parents Evening

Nursery January 2017

Music Time

We are pleased to let you know that Sophia Turner, who is currently studying music at Edinburgh University, will be joining us for music time on the days Lizzie isn’t in ie Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays. Sophia also plays piano and we’re really looking forward to having our singing accompanied on the piano on a daily basis! Sophia & Lizzie also play other instruments which they will bring to nursery from time to time to play for the children. Singing, music, rhymes, chants etc are all a very important part of nursery life and we hope to have a song or rhyme for every occasion! It’s also lots of fun!

Activities & Trips

We have lots going on in the nursery this year, including:

Monday – Tatty Bumpkins with the Foxes & Rabbits, Music time with Sophia.

Tuesday – Enjoy a ball at the Meadows with the Rabbits. Music time with Sophia.

Wednesday – Mini Zoomers at Summerhall ( Hedgehogs once a month), Music time with Lizzie, Glencairn Care home visit (all age groups, set group for block of visits)

Thursday – Forest schools – The foxes will be going to the woodland at Sciennes in the first block then the Rabbits will be going to Blackford Pond. Music time with Sophia.

Friday – Music time with Lizzie.

We plan to rotate the days we have specialist activities where possible so that all children have the opportunity to take part.

Along with our planned specialist activities and trips we will continue to go on trips with all age groups to the Meadows park, Clambers, the museum, library & the fruit shop as much as we can. We track the trips so that we can ensure that all children have equal opportunity to go out and about.

Scottish Month

Thank you to everyone who came to our Burns Tea party. The children have really enjoyed learning Scottish songs and stories and the Rabbits and Foxes did really well at making their own tartan collages! We have all spent lots of time baking for our tea party, the Hedgehogs had a great time exploring the ingredients and mixing them together in their own bowl while making shortbread. A special thank you to Rosa and Clem for entertaining us with Scottish poems and music at the Rabbits & Foxes party.

Our Scotland & Other Cultures topic will be continued on the ground floor for a few more weeks. We will be learning about Chinese New Year and other celebrations around the world.

We welcome any parents who would like to come in and share aspects of their culture with the children through books, songs or activities.

Policy of the month

Our policy of the month for February will be our Play policy. As most of our learning is supported through Play, our policy identifies the play schemes, why play is important and how we encourage and support play.

Staff

We sadly said goodbye to Nadia this month who has gone to China to teach English. We would like to thank Nadia for all her hard work at Meadows and wish her all the best with her travels!

We would like to welcome Margaret (Mags) to Meadows Nursery. Margaret has worked in childcare for a number of years and will be based on the ground floor with the Rabbits & Foxes.

We would also like to welcome Katy & Denisa to Meadows. Katy is a qualified practitioner and will be working with the Hedgehogs on the middle floor. Denisa, who will join us later this month, is a qualified teacher and will be working alongside Anne-Marie, Erin & Carrie implementing the curriculum for excellence for the Rabbits.

Diary Dates

15th Feb	Parents Forum 6.30-7.30pm
15th March	Topic Session at 4pm
2nd March	World Book Day
6th April	Parents Night 6.30-8pm
17th April	Spring Trip
TBC	Eco Committee Meeting
17th May	Topic Session at 4pm
9th June	Sports Day
23rd June	Summer Show/Graduation
11th July	Parents Forum 6.30-7.30pm
4th August	Tea Party 3-4.30pm
TBC	Eco Committee Meeting
13th Sept	Topic Session at 4pm
5th Oct	Parents Evening 6.30-8pm
31st Oct	Tea Party/Halloween Party 3-4.30pm
TBC	Eco Committee Meeting
15th Nov	Parents Forum 6.30-7.30pm
8th Dec	Christmas Panto
14th Dec	Rabbit & Foxes Nativity & Party
15th Dec	Hedgehog’s Christmas Party
22nd at 6pm	Nursery Closes
4th Jan 2018	Nursery re-opens