October 2021 Edition

We would like to welcome all our new parents and children who have recently joined us. We hope that you enjoy your time with us and would request that if you have any queries, questions or suggestions that you please speak to a member of staff. 

To all our current parents and children, welcome back into the building via the main entrance door. It is starting to feel a lot more like the Pre-School we remember and it’s lovely to see you all again.

School applications

If your child’s 4th birthday is on or before 31st August 2022 you need to apply for a Primary School place now, parents are required to still apply even if a sibling is already attending a school.  

When applying for a school parents are required to express no less than 3 preferences in priority of order . Click the link below or call 01524 581148 to apply. The deadline for all applications is 15th January 2022 

All parents will receive a single offer of a primary school (offers made electronically) on 16th April 2022 or the next working day. 

Teddies

We are excited to welcome back our parent and child stay and play group ‘Teddies’, which takes place on Friday mornings from 10am - 11:30am at Fylde College Common Room.

The play group is available to children under 5 and is a great way for you to meet other parents. Babies and toddlers welcome! Need to know more? Contact reception on 01524 594464.

Ask me about...

Please look out for our new “Ask me about” stickers.  

This initiative is being introduced to help develop children’s communication and language development through positive child- adult interactions. 

The stickers will be issued by staff and are a conversation starter, both for other staff and parents. The intention being to spark discussion and create opportunities for meaningful interactions.  

The key person will write a word or very brief explanation on the sticker about something interesting the child wants to tell us about, it could be an activity they have undertaken at Pre-School, but it could also be about something that relates to outside of the Centre. If this is the case just let your key person know when dropping your child off that you need a sticker. 

Your feedback on this initiative is welcomed.

Staff Training Day 

The staff training day held on Friday 1st October was enjoyed by all. 

We spent the morning at Forrest Hills undertaking various team bonding training activities. In our teams we faced both physical and problem-solving challenges with gusto. As you can imagine the air was filled with laughter and the Trainer commented on the enthusiasm and effectiveness of the teams. 

In the afternoon we undertook further training on Child development with a focus on Behaviours and attitudes. As adults the strategies we use to support positive behaviour, emotional literacy and self-regulation development are vital to ensure the best positive outcome for each child.  

We rounded off the day with an Authentic resource challenge. The room teams rose to the challenge of finding/purchasing items of interest and provocation for the children and we were astounded at their ingenuity and creative ideas.  

Top tips for looking after your children's teeth

Due to minor changes made in section ‘Safeguarding and Welfare’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS September 2021), it is a requirement to promote good oral health of children. 

Below is a link with information and tips on how to look after your children’s teeth.  This information is also available on our website 

Sensory experiences and ideas

Visit our Activities From Home page online for links to lots of great ideas and also to our YouTube channel which contains lots of useful and interesting videos to share with your children.

Click on a link below to take a look at some of the content available to you:

Baby Room

This term has seen us welcoming families both old and new, we are building existing bonds and forming new relationships with our key babies and their families.  

We’ve been exploring our environment and discovering the changes of season. We have also been practising our fine motor skills, using our grip and learning how we can use our hands to try out different skills. We will continue to discover changes of season and weather by exploring many new festivals over the next few weeks.  

Creche 1

This term in Crèche 1 we are looking at the changing of seasons.  We experienced sensory play with leaves, pine cones, pumpkins and cinnamon sticks. 

We have explored the textures of leaves, by crunching them in our hands and throwing them in the air to make leaf showers. 

The children have really enjoyed exploring the forest and we have been for walks around campus. We visited the EcoHub to see the plants, vegetables and resident hens. 

We have been reading books and singing songs relating to Autumn. 

Nursery 1

Throughout this term Nursery 1 are exploring colour and texture, utilising a variety of child inspired methods.   

We began by flicking paint and flinging our brushes and paint against the paper, with only a few misses! We also used bowls with sand, cornflour and other powders to create our own textured paint which the children used to decorate the windows in a beautiful motif.  

Next using paint and tooth brushes, the children explored both large and small marks created by the brushes, noticing the marks that they had left.  

Exploring textures, the children have been provided with a variety of different substances such as water, soil, wood shavings, leaves. The children explored and combined these freely to create new concoctions.  

The children were fully engrossed in these activities taking full advantage of the creative freedom we encourage in Nursery 1.

Nursery 2

As the term starts and the seasons are changing Nursery 2 have been busy outside noticing these changes and we loved the falling autumn leaves.  

We have found many ways to interact from listening to the sounds they make as they walk through them, to trying to catch them as they fall and interestingly using tools to collect them. Have you ever tried to collect leaves with tweezers?  

Inside we have been noticing the autumn colours in our art work, using broccoli to make tree prints and using the colours we noticed on the trees. 

We have a passion in Nursery 2 for books!  We love looking at the colourful pictures and finding letters in our name that are important to us.  

Our favourite story by far is Zog and this has inspired our play so far this term. We really enjoyed making playdough Zog’s and making representations of the features we noticed in the story like his wings, teeth and his fire.  

We are also using story spoons to retell things we remember from the story. Do you do this too? 

Pre-School 1

Over the last few weeks in Pre-School 1 we have enjoyed visiting different areas of the campus. To enjoy the last of the Summer weather, we took a trip to the fountains and very much enjoyed splashing in the sunshine!  

We have also been on a trip to the EcoHub to see all the fruit and vegetables growing within the environment, encouraging the children’s awareness of recycling and taking care of the environment around us.  

We will continue to plan trips to different areas including the engineering building and the library following the children’s interest and increasing the opportunities available to us on our Campus. 

Pre-School 2

In Pre-School 2 we have been learning about sustainability. 

We recently visited the EcoHub on campus where we saw how lots of different fruits and vegetables growing. 

We saw peppers, apples, plums and chillies.  There were also lots of flowers and plants growing and wildlife such as bees and butterflies going about their business collecting pollen. 

We had conversations about the chickens we saw about how they lay eggs, and how our food comes from animals and nature. 

The children took home nature bags for them to fill on Autumn walks. One of our children was very excited to bring in some corn which he had picked from his own garden. 

Pre-School 3

Our adventures started with a search for the water fountains which we believed were located near the Nuffield theatre 🎭 

In our quest to get there, we had to cross a road (safely of course), we came across a few dinosaurs, a flying dragon, and crossed a swamp before we finally found what we were looking for. Our adventure was very thirsty work, so we had snack before playing in the fountains which really cooled us down. 

Our next adventure, after observing the children making playdough pizzas, was to make our own real pizza. First the children decided what they would like on their pizzas and made a shopping list which consisted of cheese, pizza base, tomato purée, pineapple, ham and olives.  

The children decided that they needed a grown up to take them shopping, so with shopping list and money to pay for the purchases and of course the grownups (Sammy and Jenny) they went of to the campus Supermarket to do some shopping.  

Once back we made our pizza’s with individual choices for the toppings. After cooking them they made a delicious treat for afternoon snack.  

Watch this space to see what adventures we have next.  

Reminders

Can we please remind parents to use their door entry card/fob to enter the Centre.   

Parents who are staff/students at Lancaster University can have the door access activated onto their Library card. If you haven’t already done this, just call into the main office and this can be done for you. 

Pre-School Website and Newsfeed 

We would like to remind parents that you can access regularly updated information from our website www.lancaster.ac.uk/pre-school and our twitter feed https://twitter.com/LUPSCentre