Newsletter - 1st half Autumn Term 2019
Newsletter - 1st half Autumn Term 2019
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to Autumn term at pre-school – we hope you all had a lovely summer break! We would like to offer a warm welcome to Matthew, Benji, Oscar, Reggie, Cal, Skyla, Arthur and Daisy who are all joining us this term.
Once everyone has settled back into a routine, our new topic will be 'all about me', learning about ourselves and each other! We will continue to visit the primary school on Wednesday mornings, which will involve storytime in the library and looking after our patch of the eco-garden.
You may have already heard that planning permission for the new pre-school building was granted at the end of August, so you may see the building getting started very soon! It is hoped that the building will be ready for us in January, and we will let you know the progress as and when we have more news – watch this space!
With a move to a new building in mind, we may need to use Thursday 19th December and Friday 20th December as Inset days, in order to prepare our new setting for the Spring Term. This will be confirmed as soon as we know when the move will be.
Some general reminders:
Entrance to the hall – we appreciate that there are other users of the village hall during some of our session times, but please help us to safeguard the children by making sure that the inner doors to the entrance hall are closed behind you when you enter or leave the building – thank you for your help with this.
Snack time – please provide your child with a prepared/chopped fruit or vegetable portion (this can include dried fruit), in a named container which can be placed in the snack box provided in the entrance hall. Grapes should always be cut in half to avoid a choking hazard. If you feel your child needs it, dry crackers or breadsticks can be provided alongside their fruit or veg, but not sweet biscuits please. The children will be offered a choice of milk or water with their snack. If your child attends any afternoon sessions, we will provide a biscuit and a drink before home time. Please speak to us if you have any concerns or if your child has any special dietary requirements.
Lunchboxes – we promote a healthy diet at preschool, so please try to provide at least one portion of either fruit or vegetables in your child's lunch, and they will be encouraged to eat this before moving on to items such as crisps or biscuits. Please ensure that grapes are cut in half to avoid a choking hazard, and if you can cut up any other fruit or veg that would be very helpful. Please do not supply sweets or fizzy drinks in lunchboxes as they will be returned home. We are happy for you to supply a squash or fruit juice drink for your child to have with their lunch, but we will always make sure that water is supplied at lunchtime for any children without a drink. In line with other settings, and because we have at least one child attending with a nut allergy, we are a nut-free pre-school, so please check labels if you are unsure whether anything contains nuts.
Nappies – if your child is in nappies, could we please ask that you provide sufficient nappies/wipes/nappy bags/cream (if necessary), in your child's bag at the start of each session. We do keep some nappies, but only in one size, so much better for your child to have their own supply – thank you!
Spare clothing – please could you ensure that your child brings a named bag containing some spare, clearly labelled clothing to pre-school in case clothes get wet or messy. We do provide messy/water play activies, and although we do have some spare clothing, it is always handy to have their own. Could we also ask that your child has appropriate clothing for outdoors, depending on the weather, as we try to get outside as much as possible.
Uniform – this is optional, but if you are considering this, t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies are available from pre-school, and we will put samples of the all the sizes in the entrance hall so that you can see what's on offer. Please let a member of staff know if you wish to purchase anything.
Best wishes,
Becky, Katie, Diane and Kelly.
Dates for your diary:
Half-term holiday: Monday 28th October – Friday 1st November 2019
Christmas holiday: Monday 23rd December – Friday 3rd January 2020
Inset Days:
Thursday 19th December 2019 (to be confirmed)
Friday 20th December 2019 (to be confirmed)