Newsletter - 1st half Spring Term
Newsletter - 1st half Spring Term 2020
Dear Parents,
Happy New Year to you all, we hope you had a lovely Christmas break! Thank you to everyone for all your kind gifts and cards at the end of last term, and for coming to support us at our Christmas Show. We would like to offer a warm welcome to Leo, Daisy, Theo and Florence who will be joining us this term.
We would also like to welcome Tara as the new permanent member of staff to our team – some of you will know her already as she has worked with us before, so we're sure she will fit in really well!
Our new building is nearly ready now, and most of the work has been done. The builders are still working on the decking and ramps outside the building and hope to be finished very soon. However, our opening day of January 15th is looking a little unlikely, so we have decided to allow an extra week to make sure that the finishing touches are in place before we move in. This means that we will have to move our proposed Inset days to Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st January, when pre-school will be closed whilst we get everything ready. Pre-school will now be open as usual on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th January. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but thank you for bearing with us during this time. This means that we will continue to operate from the Village Hall until Friday 17th January, but with our new opening hours. If you have any questions regarding the move, please don't hesitate to ask.
We would like to make you aware that after the Easter break there will be an increase in the hourly rate charged to parents, and would ask you to read the information regarding this in your next invoice. The committee will be happy to answer any queries or concerns you may have about this.
Following some recent concerns around safeguarding of children at pre-school settings, please could we request that any communication regarding your child's attendance is done via the pre-school phone number or e-mail address only, and not by contacting individual staff on their personal numbers or social media. This will enable us to share information appropriately and in the best interests of your child. Our phone number is 07530 893773 or you can e-mail us at manager@thesombornespreschool.co.uk. Your help with this would be much appreciated, thank you.
Some general reminders:
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.
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 activities, 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.
Best wishes,
Becky, Katie, Kelly and Tara.
Dates for your diary:
Inset Days:
Monday 20th January 2020
Tuesday 21st January 2020
First day in our new building:
Wednesday 22nd January 2020
Half-term:
Monday 17th February – Friday 21st February 2020
Easter Holiday:
Monday 6th April – Friday 17th April 2020