Tottington Nursery School, Newsletter – August 2010
20th Anniversary celebrations
We are pleased to report that the nursery is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary in September. The nursery was opened in September 1990 by Sue and John Robinson and has been managed from day one by Avril Healy. We plan to mark the occasion with a week of celebrations. It would be great if your child attended nursery in fancy dress on their last day of attendance that week, and there will be fun activities for the children all week. The celebrations will culminate in a party day on Friday 3rd September when we will have bouncy castles in nursery and other surprises in store!
Staff training
The pre-school staff from all three of our nurseries recently attended further training on ‘Letters and Sounds’. This course allowed all the staff to further their knowledge and share good practice. The course was led by Sue Routledge from Bury Early Years, who has been tasked with rolling out the national scheme in all the nurseries in the Bury area.
Parking
We have appealed against the extension of the single yellow line on Kirklees Street but have been told it cannot be reversed at this time. We are discussions with Bury Council about alternative measures to improve parking, but these will take some time.
We have asked all of our staff to park at the bottom of the street to allow space for parents to pick up and drop off. Could we ask you to please park carefully (having consideration for our neighbours) and be aware of the pressure on parking spaces when you come to drop off or collect your child.
Dancing lessons
Natalie Bennett, Head of Older Toddlers in our Walshaw nursery has taught dance to children at ‘Dance Studio 1’ in Whitefield for the last ten years. We have now asked Natalie to introduce dancing to our Preschool children at each of our nurseries and all Preschool staff have recently been trained by Natalie and dancing lessons will be rolled out in the next few weeks.
Charity Event 2010
Our annual charity event was another huge success. Tottington Nursery School, Mulberry Bush Nursery, Whitefield and Mulberry Bush Nursery, Walshaw raised a massive combined total of £5466.02!!! Thank you very much for all your generous donations.
This year we plan to split the money between The Good Life Orphanage and The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.
The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity supports projects which aim to make life a little easier for young patients and their families, particularly when they have long or frequent stays in hospital.
The Good Life Charity was set up by a couple who live in Bury and have built and continue to maintain an orphanage in Mombasa, Kenya. We have set up an ongoing link with the orphanage so we can see exactly how the money is helping. We plan to continue our relationship with the orphanage in the years to come.
Details and photos of the orphanage can be seen on our charity noticeboard outside the main office in the nursery, but a lot more information is available on the charity’s website which is www.thegoodlifeorphanage.com.
We are inviting the Bury Times to come in to take a photograph of the cheque presentation in the next couple of weeks.
Teddy Bear’s Picnic/Sports Day
All units will be having a teddy bears’ picnic and mini sports day in August.
Teddy bears’ picnics will be held w/c 16th August and every child is invited to bring their teddy bear on the last day of their attendance that week. A label will be given with the invitation to put on the teddy bear. Each unit will also hold their own fun mini sports day and the children will be given a certificate and a medal, it is the participation that matters, and not the winning!
Children’s photographer
The photographer will be in nursery to take photographs of individual children on Wednesday 22nd September and Friday 24th September. If your child does not normally attend on a Wednesday or Friday, please speak to your child’s Head of Unit to confirm arrangements.
Email
We would like to start to use email to send out newsletters, reminders of important dates and any other relevant information from the nursery. You will soon be asked to complete a slip where you can list any email addresses that you would like us to use. Your email addresses will not be passed on to any marketing companies and will be kept confidential to the nursery.
Pre-school leavers
Many of our pre-school children are leaving us to start primary school. We wish them well and hope they will continue to enjoy their early years education and make new friends along the way. Thank you to the parents who have completed the ‘leavers’ questionnaires’. We agree with the sentiment that many of you have expressed that our staff are our best asset. The questionnaires completed with the children have also been very nice to read so many thanks.
If you know which date your child will be leaving the nursery this summer, please let Avril or Alex know as soon as possible. This will allow them to amend your direct debit and to take into account your two-week advance payment. It also allows us to keep those on the waiting list informed of a possible start date.
Bottle feeding
The parents of young babies that are bottle fed have recently been given a letter explaining our revised bottle feeding policy. It explains the reasons why we have now taken the decision to provide readymade feeds in a carton. At the bottom of this letter is a tear off slip where you can inform us of the type of formula that you use. We will not charge any extra for providing these feeds.
Transfer of units
Many children transfer units at this time of year. They have several tasters in their new unit and the vast majority of children settle in immediately. A member of staff from your child’s current unit will go with them on these taster sessions to help reassure them in the new unit. If you have any worries or concerns about your child moving units, please speak to staff or pop into the office.
Reminders
Please do not allow your children to bring coins into nursery in their pockets as this can be a choking hazard.
If you use childcare vouchers to pay towards nursery fees could we remind you that we need to receive vouchers by the 10th of the month for them to be credited for that month’s fees.
Song of the month
It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, he went to bed and he bumped his head and he couldn't get up in the morning. Rain rain go away, come again another day!