Countryside Day Nursery

December 2015 Newsletter

We had a really good final class of French with Madame Fran-

cois on the 23rd November. The children have learnt a lot over

this past term and have thoroughly enjoyed it. We would like

to say a big thank you to Madame Francois for her continued

support and completing these lessons for us.

The last ballet class was on the 18th November and both

groups put on a wonderful show for their Mummies and Dad-

dies. It is wonderful to see the children progressing in their

skills and we would like to thank Andrea for doing such a fan-

tastic job with these classes, they are very popular with the

children!

If your child currently does French or Ballet and would like to

continue with these lessons, please complete the reply slip

along with a payment of £35.00 for the new term. Alterna-

tively, if you would like your child to begin French lessons

(Monday mornings) or Ballet lessons (Wednesday mornings)

please complete the reply slip along with payment of £35.00

for 10 lessons over the next term and we will make sure that

your children access this excellent extra– curricular activity.

Please note that Ballet and French lessons are available for children who are in Little and Big Squirrels.

French and Ballet Open Classes and New Term

2 Minute Silence on Poppy Day We were able to do a 2 minute silence with the children using a

sand timer at Circle Time on the 11th of November. We explained

simply why we do this—to remember the soldiers that fought in the

war a long time ago. The children enjoyed making their own poppies

and were able to complete the 2 minute silence very well.

Thank you to Felicity’s Mummy and Daddy We would like to say a massive thank

you to Dave and Alison for allowing

Hedgehogs the opportunity to visit and

enjoy a pony party on the 30th Octo-

ber! We were able to groom a lovely

pony called Fudge, feed him and we also

found some nice puddles to splash in! It

was a truly fabulous experience for the

children so thank you very much, they

thoroughly enjoyed it.

Phonics Session We would like to say a big thank you to Jo Mansbridge for coming

into Nursery on the 23rd of November to complete a phonics and

sounds session for parents. We had very positive feedback from

the session and we appreciate Jo coming in to do this. We hope

those who attended found it useful and are able to implement what

they have learned. If you would like help in supporting your child in

this area then please do not hesitate to speak to your child’s key-

worker who will be happy to help.

Road Safety Day We took part in Road Safety Day on the 25th of No-

vember, this year the theme was “Drive Less, Live

More” - everyone is being encouraged to think about

how they use the roads, reduce their mileage if they

can by walking more or using public transport.

Thank you so much to Neil “The nice policeman” (Neve’s

Daddy for coming into Countryside to talk about road

safety with the children and we had great fun making

traffic light biscuits, exploring about stop and go and

learning about safety when walking on the pavements.

At this point can we please remind parents to drive

safely when entering and exiting the nursery during

these dark evenings.

Diwali Celebrations On the 11th of November we en-

joyed learning about Diwali, Mya in

Little Squirrels brought in some

lovely books for us to read at Cir-

cle Time, thank you Mya! We had

fun making some tealight holders

and decorated some lovely pat-

terns. We then had a special food

tasting session for tea with dif-

ferent types of curry and side

Revamp of Little Squirrels Room We would like to say a very big thank you to Dave, Harry and Ben and also to Amy and Becki for coming in over the weekend from Friday 20th to decorate Little Squirrels - it looks fabulous and we really appreciate all of your hard work. We have also had a new carpet fitted so in order to keep it clean we politely ask that all outdoor footwear be taken off before you go through the room. If your child attends Little Squirrels please could you pro-vide slippers for your child to change in to. Many thanks.

We have a special visitor joining us at the Christmas parties this year called Caroline Green. Caroline

is a Ledbury based artist, writer and illustrator who has written four stories about her dog Oscar

and his adventures. They are suitable for children between 2 and 6 years old and combine lively illus-

trations with humour. The first three books are £5.00 each and Oscar’s Best Christmas Present is

£6.00.

Caroline will be at all of our Christmas parties with her books for sale and will be available to read,

sign and dedicate her books. They would make lovely gifts so have a look when you are at the party

and see what she to offer. We are always looking for opportunities to promote literacy development

and reading to your child at home is a great way you can help us to support your child.

Books for Sale at the Christmas Party

In order to continuously promote communication between home and Nursery we will be photocopying

some prompts and sticking them into your child’s blue books. The EYFS states that “providers must

enable a regular two-way flow of information with parents and/or carers” so in line with this we want

to do all we can to make this process as fluent and simple as possible.

Starting from January please look out for a new sheet in your child's blue book to full in with added

prompts and sections which will ensure communication from both sides gives a more rounded out pic-

ture about your child.

Increased Communication Using Your Child’s Blue Book

Our lovely Karen who works on a Monday in Big Squirrels has been work-

ing really hard to make some excellent little activity packs for children.

They contain a variety of activities for the children to enjoy including

colouring in, puzzles, finger puppets and stickers. They would make

lovely gifts for all ages so if you would like to purchase one these packs

will be on sale at the Christmas parties. They are priced between £1-00

and £3-00, so please look out for them—they will be in the food hall.

Karen’s Activity Packs

Gloucestershire County Council have forwarded us some information regarding keeping our young

children safe. Therefore I thought that it would be useful to forward this information to our par-

ents. Hollie Gazzard Trust have launched a new free app to help young people keep safe. “Hollie

Guard” turns your smart phone into an advanced personal safety device at the touch of a button.

Please look at this link for further information: http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk/free-personal-safety-app-to-

save-lives/

Internet Safety is very important to encourage children to keep safe at home, please visit Childnet

for some lovely stories and resources to share. It is worth clicking on the

link below to meet Smartie the Penguin and DigiDuck for more informa-

tion. The link is: http://www.childnet.com/RESOURCES

On a different note, William from Hedgehogs won the Children in Need

teddy bear - well done to you! The bear’s name turned out to be Harry and

we have a photo here of William and Harry, not the royal ones, but our

very own! Can I take this opportunity to remind parents that all Children

in Need funds raised need to be in by Friday 11th December. Thank you.

Information for Parents

Magic Moments Please let us know if your child has done something exciting at home and we will celebrate it here

with a Wow certificate. It is really wonderful to see our children taking steps forward in their

learning and development and they also love sharing their certificates with their friends during Cir-

cle Time.

Ladybirds: We would like to say a big welcome to Hallie, Maisie and Abigail, you guys have done a

super job settling in to Nursery well done! Sebastian is now crawling , well done to you! Ciara has

been expressing herself and has started clapping, that is amazing! Christopher has been working his

legs and is now standing, we are so pleased! William has now started walking, what a clever boy!

Hedgehogs: Well done Rupert for sleeping in his Big Boy bed and sleeping all through the night, that

is very grown up of you! Iris and Lola are now in Big Girl pants, that is super work well done to both

of you. Sabrina was really clever at home and was able to completely dress herself, how amazing!

George is now using the potty, good boy we are so proud of you!

Little Squirrels: We would like to welcome Lettie, Iris, Fraser and Ted to Little Squirrels, you

guys have done an amazing job at making the transition, well done to all of you!

A very big congratulations to all you superstars!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us all! On behalf of the staff and myself, we would like to thank you very much for continuously reading

our newsletters and supporting your children every step of the way. You would not believe what a

difference this makes to us as staff within our job roles, as your support is fundamental to your

child’s early learning and development. We are so lucky at Countryside to have an excellent partner-

ship with parents and we thank you so much for being brilliant supportive parents.

Just to let you know there will be a post box in the foyer for your children to send Christmas cards

to their little friends. The children will be taking it in turns to be the postman/

lady and collect the post at 10:00am and 3:00pm.

Please note that the last day the Nursery will be open is Wednesday 23rd

December and we will re-open on Monday 4th January.

As this is the last newsletter of the year, we hope that you will all enjoy a well de-

served restful Christmas period, and we hope that you have a lovely time at

Christmas with your children. However, can I take this opportunity to wish you a

very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year

from us all here at Countryside. From Grace xxx

Me at Home I would like to thank all parents who have made “Me at Homes” to go into their child’s

learning journey. I can honestly say the quality, thought and care that have gone into

these “Me at Homes” has amazed us all. They provide a little window into what the

children get up to outside nursery and help us forge a link between home and nursery

life. I have attached a Me At Home this month for parents to share what their child

has been doing at home, we would especially love to see what you have been doing over

the Christmas period when we return in January!