Welcome to our December Newsletter

Welcome to our Pre-School Family

We would like to congratulate Natasha and her partner Rob on the safe arrival of Georgie and Helen and her partner Jake on the safe arrival of Louie.

Goodbye & Welcome

We would like to send Lucy, who left her post in October and also Clare who leaves us at the end of this term our thanks and best wishes and good luck to them both in their new careers.

As you may be aware the Pre-School Centre has experienced a bit of a baby boom with 8 – yes 8 of the team having babies in 2022. 

We are very much looking forward to Kathy our Senior Early Years Practitioner returning in December and Leah our Early Years Practitioner returning in February 2023, when she will form part of the Baby room team. Christina returned in mid-November and will be working in Crèche 2 from January 2023. 

Working with Lancaster and Morecambe college we have also been able to add two Early Years Apprentices to our ever growing staff team. Chloe will be starting her apprenticeship in January 2023 and will be based in Nursery 2 and Hettie who began her apprenticeship journey in September will remain working with the staff and children in Pre-School 2. 

Joining the team recently or in the very near future are Rhodd who will be based predominantly in the Pre-School rooms from January 2023 and Annmarie who has recently been appointed to the Lunchtime post.

If you have any questions, please do speak to a member of the Senior team.

Christmas at Pre-School

Preparations have well and truly begun here at the Pre-School Centre for our Christmas celebrations. We have produced a Christmas information newsletter to advise parents of all the activities that will be taking place.

Main Door Access

Can we please ask ALL parents to ensure that when accessing the Pre-School Centre they use their access cards/fobs. We are experiencing a high volume of disruption due to the doorbell being used so frequently.

Can parents who have misplaced their door card/fob to please advise the office immediately so it can be de-activated and purchase a replacement at £5.00 per card.

Contact details

Please remember to advise us of any updated contact details, ensuring that they are up to date at all times. You can do this via the Parentzone app or by calling into the office.

National Literacy

Below is a link to the National Literacy Trust Time Together booklet providing the information in home languages to help support multilingual families.

Parent Childcare Survey

Lancashire County Council would like to hear from Parents and Carers who use Childcare in Lancashire, follow the link below to complete the short Parent Childcare Survey to give feedback on your experience. 

Some of the topics covered in the Survey include the type of childcare you are using, the location, the reasons why you use it, the cost and how you pay for it.

Baby Room

Let's Get Physical

In the Baby room we have been focusing on developing physical skills as the babies are becoming increasingly more mobile and in need of extra physical challenge to further aid their development.

We have adapted the room to increase the available space for the babies, allowing them to be able to move around, travel further and explore.  We provided large soft play which is supporting and encouraging the children to pull to standing and crawl over new surfaces.  

We have been actively encouraging the use of the baby walker to help support and encourage the babies first steps, as well as strengthening their leg muscles. We hung balloons from the ceiling to help strengthen core muscles and further develop hand eye co-ordination.

We used the entertainer to make this experience accessible to all the babies. We provided the tunnel and tent to encourage the children to crawl into exciting new spaces.

The encouragement of mark making and the development of fine manipulative skills providing large chalks and colour paint to make marks and we also provided small cereals to encourage the children’s pincer grip.

Crèche 1

Exploring Festivals

This term in Crèche 1 the children have explored a variety of festivals. We have celebrated Diwali, Bonfire night, Halloween and Remembrance Day. 

 For Diwali the children took part in activities such as creating their own Rangoli which developed both fine and gross motor skills and making their own Diva candle holders and Diwali lanterns. 

 The children enjoyed making their own fire work pictures using various different tools, using their problem-solving skills to work out how to manipulate the different tools when mark making. 

We used our hearing skills to explore the different sounds of fireworks, also making edible sparklers using breadsticks, melted chocolate and sprinkles which they enjoyed eating around a pretend fire. 

 For Halloween the children dressed up in a variety of costumes, developing their imagination, having fun painting and exploring the insides of pumpkins.  The children made ghost pictures, using their hands while exploring the sensory texture of the paint.   

For Remembrance Day the children listened to relevant music and made their own pictures of poppies.  

 We have also adapted our room to support the children’s needs and challenge the children’s abilities. The older children have been self-serving at meal times ready for transitioning up to nursery and the younger children have been challenging their gross motor skills using the large wooden steps and negotiating space on the slide. 

Crèche 2

Autumn baking 

This term in Crèche 2 we have been looking at all things autumnal. We have been busy playing with all the fallen leaves in our outdoor area, watching the wind and looking at the rain.

All these activities culminated in a day of exploring pumpkins! After exploring the pumpkins from the outside looking at the different sizes and shapes we cut them open and experimented with the innards feeling the slimy pulp and seeds. Not everyone liked the texture and the children’s faces were very expressive.

Then we used the pumpkins to make some pumpkin muffins which we then had as a welcome addition to our teas! This was a valuable learning experience for all stages of learning from the sensory exploration of the pumpkin to the maths and fine motor skills of the muffin making. 

Moving into winter we will start to expand our experience looking at the changing temperature and what that entails (frost, snow, ice etc).

Nursery 1

Outdoor Adventures

In Nursery 1 we have been having lots of fun exploring the world around us. 

We have been spending lots of time in the big garden and forest area. We have been exploring the weather, splashing in the puddles, listening for bird sounds and discovering insects. We have enjoyed playing in the leaves and having a go at the trim trail.

We have also been going for walks around campus, visiting the playground to practice our climbing skills. We encouraged each other and took turns on the equipment.

We have walked to the orchard and sat to have snacks watching the cars and the machines on the building site. 

These experiences promoted lots of new language from the children. 

We enhanced our vocabulary, describing the colours of the cars and buses passing us by. We spoke about danger and the importance of listening to the grown-ups on our walks. 

We will continue to explore the University campus visiting the market and library. 

Nursery 2

Autumn Festivals

In Nursery 2 we have had a very busy month of experiencing all the autumn festivals.

The children explored many natural materials in the run up to Halloween with leaves, conkers and pumpkins. The textures and colours introduced new vocabulary. We also learnt new phrases like ‘Trick or Treat’.

With Bonfire night, we went to town on colour and texture. Making sparkly black playdough with pipe cleaners to allow the children to further increase their fine manipulative skills.

The children also enjoyed making their own fireworks with spots of food colouring in shaving foam, with some of them being able to relate to their own experiences whilst playing.

Pre-School 1

Black History

This month the children of Pre-School 1 have been learning about Black History.

We have been talking about some influential figures within the Black community, ranging from Rosa Parks and Michelle Obama to Nelson Mandela and Mohammed Ali.

We have spoken about the social and political circumstances around these figures as well as their contribution to the world.

Utilising age appropriate resources such as themed books and videos we found the language to convey the lessons that history must teach us. Further, we have been exploring the children’s hopes and dreams, using the theme of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.

Here we asked the children to share and to talk about their own dreams, as those of their parents. The responses have been phenomenal, ranging from seeing Santa and driving a fire truck, to world peace and having a good knee.  

The result of this leaning is clear in some of the fantastic conversations we and parents have had with the children.

The ideas and kind words have warmed our hearts. Seeing and hearing the views of equality and hopes for a kinder world are amazing!!

Pre-School 2

Creative Masterpieces

Following on from our last article where we investigated some famous paintings we have continued to develop the children’s creativity in Pre-School 2 by exploring the use of natural resources for art.

We went on a scavenger hunt around the garden and forest to find some natural items and the children all went home with a special little bag to collect any natural autumnal objects that they found when out and about on their adventures. 

We explored all their fantastic findings together, using lots of descriptive language to describe the acorns, conkers, leaves, twigs and other interesting objects which they found. We then read a story called Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and combined all of our findings to engage in transient art where the children worked both individually and in groups to create and re-create their masterpieces as many times as they liked, talking about what they had created.

Below is a link to a blog about transient art with ideas you might like to try at home.

Pre-School 3

Festivals and Celebration

In Pre-School 3 the children have been exploring different festivals and celebrations that bring people together and create a sense of belonging in the community, the children are curious about almost everything, so letting them know about the festivals and their hidden meanings has become an exciting and important thing to do.  

We have celebrated Diwali, Halloween, Bonfire night and Remembrance Day.  

Each festival/celebration the children explored many activities such as: 

Making Diwali candle holders, dancing to music in different ways, listened to stories and watched a short clip about Diwali, where a group of family and friends gather to celebrate their special time.  

On Halloween we had lots of fun with messy activities and dressing up. We listened to spooky music and told spooky stories. We then shared our experiences of trick or treating with our family and friends. 

In the week of Bonfire night, we explored making firework pictures from tissue roll tubes, looked at stories, watched firework clips, made chocolate apples, and discussed being safe with our sparklers. 

For Remembrance Day the children engaged in making poppy pictures, listened to poems about the fallen soldiers, why we have poppies and watched a short clip on what Remembrance Day is.

 The children learn certain valuable skills during festivals so celebrating them enthusiastically helps make them more joyful and it also teaches them morals. The valuable skills they are learning are social skills, diversity and inclusivity, history, moral and ethical values and valuing relationships. 

myHappymind 

The children in PS1 and PS3 have enjoyed meeting Berty & Betty while exploring our first module in the myHappymind program “Meet your Brain”.

The children have learnt our brain helps us with lots of different jobs. We have explored activities such as: 

Listening to a Berty & Betty story – “Berty & Betty’s play date”, where Betty teaches Berty “When we practise something our brain remembers it for next time and so the more we practise something the better we will get at it”.

Happy breathing – a technique to help the children slow down their breathing and calm their brain. Our brain helps us with many jobs and sometimes it gets tired. So, we need to make sure we are looking after it, just like we look after our bodies. There are two main ways for our brain to rest. The first is sleeping and the second is happy breathing. Happy breathing is a special way to relax our brain and it also helps to relax our bodies. Happy breathing is really helpful, especially when we have had a busy time or we feel a little sad. 

Brain activity sorting game – learning what jobs the brain helps us with.

Brain Hats – making those connections and learning that all the squiggly lines represent the messages that our brains send to our body to help us to almost everything that we do, including sleeping, playing, eating, etc. and when we practise and do things over and over again these lines get stronger and stronger and our brain gets bigger and bigger.

We are looking forward to January when we will hold a presentation for the children to receive their certificates.

For more information on the myHappymind programme visit the myHappymind website, to access the Parent Resources please visit the myHappymind Parent Resources and insert your authentication code which is mhm057.

Reminders

Early Years Funding 2023 

Parents who are eligible for Early Years Funding from April 2023 will be contacted in due course after Christmas inviting them to attend a workshop presentation which will provide lots of useful information, after which parents will be asked to complete relevant paperwork.

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