July 2021 Edition

We would like to remind parents that you can access regularly updated information from our website www.lancaster.ac.uk/pre-school as well as our twitter feed

COVID Quarantine

A reminder to parents that if you are planning to leave the country for a holiday, please ensure that you follow the current government guidelines with regards to quarantining upon return and ensure that you advise the Pre-School Centre of your plans to travel and the period you expect to absent for. 

Price Increase

As per the letter that was emailed to all parents on June 2nd, the prices for 2021/22 have been agreed and will be introduced from 31st August.

Holidays

Can we please request that if you are planning a break/holiday and your child will not be attending the Pre-School Centre that you advise either your key person or the office so we can mark them absent and your key person will not be expecting them in or plan for activities.

Babylab

The Lancaster University Babylab is one of the UK's most prominent Baby Labs. Most studies involve children between 1 month and 2 years of age as well as studies that investigate development before birth. 

If you are interested in being contacted for studies that match your baby's age, please register your interest with the Babylab by clicking the button below:

Sunflowers

The children from Nursery 1 planted seeds and have carefully watered them each day. It’s very exciting watching the growth process, at 1st small delicate shoots emerged and they have continued to grow steadily at a rapid pace.

The Sunflowers are thriving under the care of Gill and her team of mini gardeners, who clearly enjoy the responsibility. As they chat about the changes they observe they look in awe at how tall the Sunflowers are becoming “even taller than me”, “right up to the sky”

How are you getting on with your Sunflower seed planting at home? Please could you share some images with us, so we can share them with the children and compare them with the ones grown here at Pre-School

Baby Room

Now the nicer weather is here, our babies have been busy exploring.

We have tasted different foods, enjoyed splashing in water and also gone on walks around Campus. The babies have taken an interest in everything they have seen, especially the ducks!

We will continue with our adventures over the Summer and have lots of exciting sensory play planned using the herbs and plants we are growing.

The children who are due to transition in September will be visiting their new rooms over the Summer period allowing them to become familiar with their new environment.

Creche 1

Hello to all of our children and families in Crèche 1.

As we are entering the new term, our focus is on children’s reading and how we can facilitate and enhance our children’s early reading experiences. We have been observing the children and how they use reading materials to create rich auditory, stimulating areas to share our love of stories.

Text is provided throughout our learning environment from sensory areas to role-play, to create plentiful opportunities for reading and language.

We have been making the most of the beautiful weather, developing gross motor skills and physical ability. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the physical challenges of the barefoot walk, helping to instil resilience and perseverance. Our clever children have had great fun creating their own games, which we in turn have loved to watch, such as us sledging down the hill together on various resources!

Nursery 1

In Nursery 1 we have been putting our physical and critical thinking skills together.

We hung water balloons all over the garden and left the children to explore.

We saw lots of stretching, reaching, balancing, squeezing and squashing, which worked a whole range of gross and fine motor muscles.

The children also exercised their brains, thinking of lots of different ways to pop the water balloons and showed brilliant critical thinking skills, by coming up with ideas of how to burst the balloons that were out of their immediate reach.

We all had lots of fun and worked as a team until all the balloons were popped

Pre-School 1

In Pre-School 1 we have been exploring and talking about Pirates.

The children excitedly discussed everything Pirate related and spent a lot of time creating resources to assist their chosen topic.

It was agreed a treasure map was an essential item and the children created one where they planned a route travelling through various dangerous locations, including Warrior Warren and Skull Island.

The brave band of swashbuckling Pirates followed the clues on map and ventured into the big garden, eventually after many adventures they were successful in finding the treasure.

Avast me hearties!

Pre-School 3

Pre-School 3 have been exploring the outdoors and developing their physical skills.

We have focused on increasing our den building skills, sharing ideas, communicating well, learning negotiating skills and taking turns.

The children have been using large gross motor movements for the larger construction building and fine motor skills to ensure the smallest details are complete.

We have also created a quiet space/sensory area for the children to take some time out, observe what others do within their play.

We have created a space for a vegetable plot, we are planting potatoes, onions, runner beans and peas to name a few amongst a wide selection of tasty vegetables. We look forward to eating everything when it grows.