Newsletter - 2nd Half Summer Term
Dear Parents,
We hope you have all had a lovely half-term break. We would like to welcome Cody, James and Nico who have just joined us.
The children really enjoyed the rainforest topic before half-term, so we will continue with this for a while longer. We will adapt the role-play area as a 'rainforest campsite', so if you have any old camping equipment you could lend us for a couple of weeks, that would be great! Please speak to a member of staff if you think you have anything we could use. The visit from Zoolab was also very successful, and all the children were captivated by the variety of creatures that they got to meet! We hope to have some photos on the website soon so that you can see what went on! We will continue to use this theme for our 'show and tell' time, so please encourage your child to find items relating to the rainforest if they would like to take part. Any items should be placed in the yellow 'show and tell' box in the entrance hall at the start of the session, and can be collected from the box at home time. If you have any questions about this, please ask!
To give the children a chance to look at nature a bit closer to home, we will also be looking at the variety of birds that can be seen around the field. We would like the children to make a birdfeeder at home, using recycled objects such as plastic bottles, empty juice cartons etc. These do not have to be too complicated, and there are lots of helpful suggestions on the RSPB website if you would like some tips! If the children could bring these into pre-school by the end of next week, Friday 16th June, we will fill them with bird seed and then hang them outside. Hopefully this will encourage some feathered friends for us to learn about! As a follow on from this activity, we are proposing to hold a 'Sponsored Bird Watch', where we can take the children out around the field to look for some of the birds we have learnt about. We will be giving out sponsor forms soon, so please feel free to start collecting sponsors as soon as possible – all money raised will directly benefit the children by being used for new resources. The event will take place during the week beginning 27th June, and we will take a different group of children out every day so that all children have a chance to participate.
We will be running a 'sweet tombola' at the primary school's summer fete on Saturday 17th June, to raise funds for pre-school. We ran this stall last year, and it proved very successful as we ran out of prizes before the end! We will also be running the 'sweet tombola' at the Village Fun Day on Saturday 22nd July. If you could help us by donating as many sweets as possible for our stalls so that we can raise as much money as we can, we would be extremely grateful. Please hand any donations to a member of staff as soon as possible – thank you!
We are also planning to hold a pre-school Sports Day later this term on Thursday 6th July, weather permitting. We will be practicing for this whenever we can, so please make sure that children are wearing suitable footwear for running in! Other events will include an end of term trip to Hilliers gardens on Tuesday 18th July, and a graduation party for children leaving for 'big school' on Wednesday 19th July. Further information on all these events will be given nearer the time.
Snack time – please bring a portion of fruit or vegetable snack and place it in the bowl provided by the signing in book for every morning session your child attends. We will prepare everything provided, and it is then shared between all the children, giving them a choice of food and a chance to try new things. They will also be offered a choice of milk or water to drink with their snack. We sometimes supply breadsticks or crackers to eat alongside the fruit. If your child attends afternoon sessions, we will provide a drink and biscuit or cracker during the afternoon. If you have any queries or special dietary requirements, please speak to a member of staff.
We hope to provide more outdoor messy play, such as sand and water, during the summer term, so please could you make sure that your child always has some spare labelled clothing at pre-school in case they get wet – thank you!
If possible, could you please provide your child with a labelled sun hat for the summer term, which can be left at pre-school in our 'hat box'. We do have some spares, but not enough for everyone. If the weather is sunny, could you also please apply suncream before your child arrives at pre-school – thank you.
Thank you for all your continued support,
Becky, Katie, Diane and Siobhan.
Dates for your diary:
Sponsored Bird Watch: Thursday 29th June
Sports Day: Thursday 6th July
End of term trip to Hilliers: Tuesday 18th July (no pre-school)
Graduation party: Wednesday 19th July
Inset Days
Thursday 20th July
Friday 21st July
Tuesday 25th July