Nursery News August 2016
Doodle Poll
Thank you to all parents who took part in our Doodle poll to help establish a date for our next parent forum. The most popular date is Tuesday 6 September at 6pm. A sign-up sheet is displayed in the front hall for anyone who wishes to attend.
Managing Allergies in Nursery
Thank you to parents for cooperating with our nut allergy policy and, as far as is possible, for ensuring that your child’s lunch is nut free. Can we also ask that, when providing a birthday cake, or bringing in any other edible treats, that they are ideally “shop-bought” so that we can clearly see the ingredients and allergens. Should you wish to bring something homemade in to nursery, can we ask you please to provide a written list of ingredients.
Policy of the Month
Our policy of the month for September is Additional Support for Learning. Some children may require additional support at some point in their lives, or may have a long term additional support need, and Meadows will work alongside parents to support in line with the GIRFEC approach. Our Additional Support for learning co-ordinator is Kadie.
Lunch Provision
The Meadows at Pilrig kitchen has now been upgraded and we are currently planning the trial provision of lunch at Millerfield Place. We currently expect this to start in the week commencing 19 September or possibly 26 September. We thought it best to trial one floor at a time, so the first week will be the ground floor, followed by the middle floor the second week. Caroline, our nursery cook at Meadows at Pilrig, will be cooking a two course lunch which will be transported across in time for our usual lunchtime at 12 noon. The menu, which we will be emailing to you in advance of the trial, is on a 2 week rotation and generally consists of a soup & main course. Caroline has stressed that it can take time for the children to get used to the new arrangements and we can expect some children to sometimes refuse to eat some of the new lunch. However, we can expect an excellent high take up in due course as there is at Pilrig! We’d like to extend an invitation to all parents to join us for lunch any day (or days) over the 2 week trial period. Please just let us know whether you would like to come and we will update everyone on timings and detailed arrangements in due course.
Outdoor Learning in the Community
Now that the Festival is over and everywhere is much less busy, we plan to resume our usual programme of trips. Our nursery is very well placed to access all of the fantastic local attractions and trips out are enjoyed by both the children and adults. If you ever have a spare morning or afternoon to help out with trips then we’d love to have you along! Our usual weekly outdoor learning programme is as follows:
- Mondays: Swingpark / Meadows ( mainly younger children) or museum (mixed ages)
- Tuesdays: Children’s Library trip to George IV bridge (mixed ages in groups of 8)
- Wednesdays: Glencairn Care Home (mixed ages, group of same 6 children for 6 consecutive weeks)
- Thursdays: Forest Schools (Blackford Pond or Johnston Terrace Wildlife Garden). Same 8 children for 6 consecutive weeks.
- Fridays: Tennis with Alex Harkins alongside the senior pupils of Sciennes Primary.
We also have weekly trips to the fruit shop as well as generally monthly trips to Clambers, at the RCP, and Mini Zoomers at Summerhall for mixed ages.
Staff
We have recently made some changes to our staffing.
Louise has led the middle floor for some time but is now working part-time so she has recently handed over the reins to Katie. Louise will continue to support Katie along with Chantelle, Carolann, Garazi & Irene.
Amy has asked to work from 9:30-4:30 Monday to Friday and will mostly be on the ground floor.
Keyworker groups will be updated shortly and parents will be notified of who their child’s keyworker will be.
Staff CPD
All the staff will be attending a refresher course on fire safety this month. Kathleen will also be attending a full day child protection course and Nadia will be attending a training course to learn more about ‘Building the Ambition’ curriculum which we use to plan for the 2 year olds on the ground floor.
Diary Dates
Our parent forum will be held on Tuesday 6 September at 6pm.