Newsletter 15th

April 2016

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back after the Easter holidays; I hope you managed to

have a good break. I expect for many of you the year is

whizzing by and you can’t believe we are in the last term for

this year. It’s always a really busy one so be prepared!

Hopefully the weather will warm up and we will be able to enjoy

the sunshine. School places are announced soon and every year

there are a number of families who are

disappointed. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to

influence decisions but we will be happy to listen and give you

advice based on our experience if you have not got the result

you wanted. If you are considering deferring or delaying entry

to primary school please speak to us as soon as possible so

that we can work with you to ensure your child's place here is

kept for you. Each year there are a number of families who do

this for various reasons so we are used to meeting the needs of

the children. We look forward to working with you during the

coming term.

Helen Adams

Headteacher

Scarlet Fever

There has been a marked increase in the amount of cases of

Scarlet Fever being reported to Public Health England. Further to

the information we sent earlier this year, we wanted to remind

you of the signs and symptoms to look out for should your child

become unwell. The symptoms of scarlet fever include a sore

throat, headache, high temperature (38.3C/101F) or

above), flushed face and swollen tongue. The distinctive pink-red

rash develops 12 to 48 hours later. It is recommended that you

see your GP as soon as possible if you think you or your child has

scarlet fever. Although the illness usually clears up after about a

week, your GP will be able to confirm a diagnosis and recommend

appropriate treatment. If your child has Chickenpox and

develops a rash that looks like scarlet fever, it may be a sign of a

secondary bacterial infection. In this case, you should seek

immediate medical advice to reduce the risk of potentially serious

complications.

Dates for your Diary

Date Event

20th

April Morning Listening Walk

25th

April Afternoon Listening Walk

12th

May Bugball Wraparound Party – More details to

follow

7th

June Open sessions - afternoon

10th

June Open Sessions - morning

Challenge

We are talking to the children about recalling and retelling and have

been encouraging the children to recall what they did during the

Easter holidays and to tell us all about it. To support this, please

ask your child to tell you some exciting things they did at nursery

or what fun things you were doing at the weekend!

Primary School places – September 2016

You will be notified of your child’s allocated school place for

September on April 18th

. It is your right to defer entry into

Reception class for your child, dependent on their date of birth,

until later in the school year. The primary school are obliged then

to keep open your reception class place until they start. There are

terms and conditions surrounding this and further details can be

found in the document, “Starting School, Deferring or Delaying

Admission”. This document can be found under the Parents and

Visitors tab, How to Help your child, on our website. If you wish to

consider this, your child may retain their place with us at the

nursery into next year. For further details and to register an

interest please speak to Mrs Adams or a class teacher by April 22nd

to discuss this further.

Collections

Our topic for the term ahead will be Growing. We wish to turn the

role play corner into a Garden Centre. If anyone has any garden

related items that they could donate, i.e. empty seed packets,

gardening catalogues/magazines, old clean plant pots we would

love to receive them.

We are still happy to receive any other items we have

asked for recently.

Behaviour

Here is some information included in our behaviour policy about

how we manage behaviour in the nursery school. We recognise

that disapproval is of the behaviour and not of the child. We will

always explain to children what they should have done or said

when they get it wrong. We will encourage children to make

amends for example say sorry, get a tissue for tears etc.

Other strategies such as distraction, praising positive behaviour

or encouraging appropriate behaviour should be applied before

consequences. Consequences for young children should be

immediate and relatively short. Inappropriate behaviours include

rude or unkind language, hitting, kicking, biting or other physical

responses; discriminatory remarks. When inappropriate behaviour

continues the following consequences may be applied:

Removal from the group or activity if the behaviour is

disrupting others or threatening safety.

Use of a sand timer to focus thoughts and consider

appropriate behaviour

As a last resort; physical intervention

It is important to remember that learning about behaviour is a

very natural part of development for a 3 or 4 year old - they are

still learning about how to make the right choices and don't

always get it right. The strategies we use aim to help them to

make the right choices. We often use a 2 or 3 minute sand timer

with the children to give them a bit of time to think. We might

use a sand timer for example if a child is finding it hard not to

run everywhere inside despite several requests to stop from an

adult or if they are struggling to share. As you will know children

often get over excited and just need a few minutes to sit quietly

and think. Please be aware that this is part of our normal

practice and we would only speak to parents about strategies we

have used with specific children if we felt that their child's

behaviour was inappropriate, dangerous, persistent or if we have

had to use physical intervention. We would then work together

with parents to find the best way forward.

I hope that this information is helpful - if you have any queries

please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Adams (headteacher) or Mrs

Thrower (assistant headteacher).

Save Truro Nursery School

The government are currently consulting on revised funding for

schools. In their proposals and recent reforms they have not

included Nursery Schools (despite the fact that Nursery Schools

across the country are local authority maintained schools

- specialising in early years). We are asking all parents and carers

to support us by signing the online petition (and don’t forget to

confirm your signature via the email that you will be sent). We

would be very grateful if you could also ask as many people that

you know as possible to do the same so that we can alert the

government into taking action. Thank you for your support.

The petition can be found at:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/126310

Singing – moved to Tuesday

We would like to invite

parents/carers/grandparents to come and

join us for the last part of the session. You

can drop in (no need to book) on a Tuesday

at 11.20am or 3.10pm. Just come along to

the reception area. Don’t worry if your child

does not attend on a Tuesday – we will be changing the day as the

year goes on! I am sure the children would love to share this special

time with you. Siblings are welcome to attend the singing sessions

however we ask that they remain with you at all times. It can be

very distracting for both the staff and parents if little ones are

running around the nursery. We also ask that any mobile phones

are switched off before entering the nursery classrooms for

singing.

Bug Party Join in the party fun at our Afterschool Wraparound

Party.

Thursday 12th May 3.30pm – 5.15pm

To continue with our theme of Spring Time and Growing, we are holding a Bug Party. All children are invited to

attend whether they use the wraparound facility or not. Children may come dressed in Bug Costumes if they would like and there will be the chance to make Bug

Masks at the party. Games will be played and there will be dancing at “The Ugly Bug Ball!” A party tea will be provided. The cost of the party is £5.00 which will be

added to your normal invoice. There will no alternative afterschool wraparound on this day with the exception of the later pick up until 3.45pm. Please speak to Mrs

Jago or Mrs Jacobs if you would like to book your child a place.

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