Newsletter - 2nd half Spring Term 2022
Newsletter – 2nd half Spring Term 2022
Dear Parents,
We hope you all had a lovely half-term break. Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us with fundraising for our fabulous new garden! This was completed over the half-term week, and the children have had a great time exploring and having fun outside. We’re sure you’ll agree it has been worth the wait and will be a great asset to the pre-school. We would like to offer a very warm welcome to Leo A, Emma, Oliver, Melina, Theo, Arthur, Edward and Astrid who have all just joined us.
As a theme for this term, we will be looking at Spring animals including the lifecycle of the frog. We will incorporate this learning as much as possible into all areas of development as we go through this half-term. As we lead up to the Easter holidays, we will also be holding an Easter Bonnet competition. All children are invited to make/decorate a bonnet which can be brought into pre-school from the week beginning Monday 4th April. We love seeing the children’s work and can’t wait to see their creations – happy decorating!
On the afternoon of Friday 8th April all parents are invited into pre-school with the children for a ‘stay and play’ session between 1-2pm. We did something similar last term and we feel it worked quite well, but we were aware that a lot of parents were waiting for some time to go through the Learning Journals with their child’s keyperson. This time we have a lot more families at pre-school, so this session will be purely to look through your child’s Learning Journal in your own time. Whilst staff will be on hand to answer any general questions, we will not have enough time to go through all the folders with everyone. Therefore, if you have any specific questions or concerns that you wish to discuss with your child’s keyperson, please contact us to arrange a separate appointment, and we will be happy to schedule a one-to-one meeting with you at a convenient time. We will also use this time to announce the winners of the Easter Bonnet competition before finishing for the Easter holidays. We hope you can all make it and look forward to seeing you!
Please could we request that if you need to contact us regarding your child’s session times, to report an absence or with any other queries specific to your child, please use the work phone number (07530 893773) or e-mail address (manager@thesombornespreschool.co.uk). Please do not use the parents WhatsApp group, or contact members of staff directly for this purpose. This will ensure that information is recorded and shared appropriately in order to safeguard your children – many thanks for your support with this.
Some general reminders:
Snack time – please ensure your child brings a healthy snack for any morning sessions they attend. This can consist of a portion of fruit or veg, either fresh or dried fruit and can be accompanied by plain crackers or breadsticks if you feel they need any extra, but please do not supply sweet or chocolate biscuits. Their snack should be labelled with their name, and will be placed in their trays for them to access at snack time. The children will be offered a choice of milk or water to drink. If you have any special dietary requirements or requests, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Spare clothing – each child should have a clearly labelled bag which can be left at pre-school, containing spare clothes should they need them. We often have messy activities on offer, so spare clothing is essential!
Lunchboxes – if your child is staying for lunch, please provide a packed lunch containing at least one portion of fruit or veg. We will encourage children to eat healthier items first, and are then happy for them to have crisps, chocolate biscuits or a small cake. Please do not send in any food items containing nuts, as we are a nut-free pre-school. Please check food labelling carefully if you are unsure whether a product contains nuts – we really appreciate your support with this. You are welcome to provide a drink of juice for your child to have with their lunch if you wish, but we will always provide water for any children without one.
Uniform – this is optional, but if you wish to purchase uniform for your child, it is kept in stock at pre-school – please just ask! We have t-shirts for £6, sweatshirts for £12 and hoodies for £13 in a range of sizes.
Please make a note of the 'dates for your diary' below,
Best wishes,
Becky, Katie, Kelly and Siobhán.
Covid-19 – Keeping Safe - Information on when you should get tested for Covid can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/get-tested-for-coronavirus/
Dates for your diary:
Easter break:
Monday 11thApril – Friday 22nd April 2022
Summer term half-term break
Monday 30th May – Friday 3rd June 2022
Proposed End of Summer Term Trip:
Tuesday 19th July 2022
Inset Days:
Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st July 2022 (Pre-school will be closed)
Please note: if your child will be transitioning to Primary School in September 2022, we will be holding our Graduation Party for them on Wednesday 20th from 09:00-10:30. Parents of these children will be invited into pre-school from 10:30-11:00 for our Graduation Ceremony.
Summer holidays:
Friday 22nd July – Wednesday 31st August 2022