Welcome to our November/December Newsletter

We would like to welcome new members of staff, Lisa, Helen and Abigail who have joined the Pre-School.

Baby Room

Stories with Charlie

Rachel brought her son Charlie in to see the babies as he’d asked if he could read them some stories. We thought this was a great way to introduce the babies to new people. The babies were engaged throughout and loved the novelty of having an older child in the room to learn from. Charlie undertook his role well and was very kind and caring towards them. The babies loved to interact with Charlie and after he read his book he stayed to play. The visit was a resounding success.

Crèche 1

Physical fun

We have lots of children who are interested in outdoor play and ball activities. We decided to take a group of children to the basketball court with a range of different balls. This trip out was very beneficial for the children, as they were able to run freely in open space. This also enabled them to kick, roll and throw the balls which is all great for the development of physical skills.

Being physically active every day is important for the healthy growth and development of babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Visit the NHS webpages for ideas and guidance on physical activity for children under five years.

Crèche 2

Edible sparklers

We all enjoyed making edible sparklers for bonfire night. The children were able to follow simple instructions whilst making the edible sparklers, this demonstrated their increasing listening skills and understanding. The children showed excitement during our trip to the forest and were able to sit nicely around the pretend fire and eat their edible sparklers.

When back in the room we enhanced the experience further by drawing colourful pictures using large gross motor skills while listening to the noise of fireworks exploding. Because the children learnt so much from this experience we will continue to do baking activities.

Nursery 1

Mystery readers

We have been really enjoying reading stories recently. The book area has been enhanced with new cushions, displays and props to go with different stories. We have been doing activities linked to our focused books. We’ve invited parents in as “mystery readers”. The children enjoyed this and listened and concentrated.

The children’s speech has continued to develop, they are copying sentences from the stories, filling in missing words and naming things they’ve seen on the pages in the books. Parents have also been involved, sharing photos of their child’s experiences outdoors, which the children enjoy looking at together, as they recall events.

Visit the National Literacy Trust webpages for ideas and guidance on how you can build your child's communication skills.

Nursery 2

Going on a bear hunt

We have been enjoying our focus book of “We’re going on a bear hunt”. To further enhance the story, we acted it out. This provided the opportunity for the children to experience the different terrains and textures to see how they felt. The children tried walking and stomping through grass, water, mud and cornflour snow before seeing if they could leave their footprints when walking over paper.

The children showed good recall and told us parts of the story as they walked over different terrains for example saying “swishy swashy” when walking over the grass. The children really engaged with this activity, they were engaged and focused throughout.

Pre-School 1

The festival of lights

We have enjoyed engaging in some activities to celebrate Diwali and learning about the traditions carried out during the festival. Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, which takes place between October and November. It is a time for families to get together, give presents and decorate their houses with bright lights. It is also celebrated by Sikhs and Jains all around the world.

The children have explored different resources and books. We made some colourful lanterns, decorated clay lamps called a ‘Diva’ and danced to some traditional music. The children have enjoyed seeing their creations on display throughout the room and learnt lots of new vocabulary. If you would like to learn more, you can watch the CBeebies 'My First Festivals' with your child.

Pre-School 2

Kindness

The children have been learning all about kindness and the importance of being kind to others. In small groups we read a short book about kindness and we then had a discussion about what kindness is. The children contributed their thoughts which were then put together to create a collaborative poem about ‘words on kindness’ we aim to repeat this to see their understanding and awareness develop.

We also had a whole group story about kindness which was a story CD, this was something new to many of the children and a great way to use those listening skills. We printed with hearts and a short poem about kindness was shared with the children. We have been learning the basic differences between story books and poems and enjoying both. Being thankful and helping others has been reinforced throughout the week and we will continue to encourage kindness.

Pre-School 3

Playdough station

The children have been making their own playdough, this requires them to make scientific judgements, and it incorporates maths skills as they decide how much of each ingredient is needed. It teaches perseverance as they fine tune their technique to make the best playdough, and it encourages them to question themselves as they problem solve. For example, 'if it’s too wet, what should I do?'

The measuring, mixing and stirring all provides the opportunity for physical development and muscle growth which is vital for pencil grip as the children become older. It’s such a valuable activity and over the coming weeks we will enhance this further by having our own Dough disco’s.

Reminders

Pre-School website and newsfeed

We would like to remind parents that you can access regularly updated information from our website and on our X and Instagram feeds.

Funding

A reminder that parents in receipt of working families funding need to revalidate their eligibility every three months from the date of issue. Failure to revalidate your code will result in a loss of funding.

Door Entry System

A reminder for all parents that the new door entry system to the Pre-School Centre is now in place.

All parents will need to use their new door fob, holding against the card reader a few seconds longer than you used to with your old entry card/fobs. If you have not collected your new door fob, please collect them from your child’s room.

Parents are provided with two fobs per family only. If a fob is lost, please advise the office immediately so it can be deactivated. The cost to purchase a new key fob if lost is £6.00 and this will be invoiced appropriately.

Please note that Lancaster University Library cards and old door entry cards/fobs will no longer work.

It is vitally important that parents do not hold the door open for anyone, to ensure there are no issues with safeguarding.

Important term dates

Full year bookings

Autumn term 2024
Tuesday 27 August to Monday 23 December 2024 inclusive

Spring term 2025
Thursday 2 January to Wednesday 16 April 2025 inclusive

Summer term 2025
Wednesday 23 April to Friday 22 August 2025

Undergraduate term bookings

Autumn Term 2024
Monday 7 October to Friday 13 December 2024

Spring Term 2025
Monday 13 January to Friday 21 March 2025 

Summer Term 2025
Monday 28 April to Friday 27 June 2025

Invoice dates

Autumn 2024 term

25 November until 3 January 2025

Spring 2025 term

6 January until 31 January 2025

3 February until 28 February 2025

3 March until 28 March 2025

31 March until 2^nd May 2025