Here are all of the pages that have nursery info,
Nursery
Nursery Homepage
Please Click Here for the Nursery Handbook 2012-2013 (requires Word to open – click and then click again)
Nursery Newsletter – Feb 2013
Click for the February 2013 nursery newsletter – February 2013 – web copy
Nursery Newsletter April 2013
Click on the link to access this sessions nursery newsletter – April 2013 – Web copy
Nursery Newsletter September 2012
Click on the link to access a word version of the newsletter – Nursery Newsletter Sept 2012
Nursery Rhyme Time – September 2012
Click on the link to see this document – Nursery Rhyme time – Sept 2012
Nursery Newsletter – Jan 2012
Below is the text version of the Newsletter – for a full version (with pictures etc) click here to download and save
We would like to extend a warm welcome all our families and wish everyone a very Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy 2012.
Our January newsletter is brimming over with information in relation to children’s learning, nursery developments and forthcoming events, so please take a little time to catch up with the exciting events that have taken place over the past couple of months and find out what we have planned for the spring term.
Since our last newsletter was issued we have all been very busy finding out about space and investigating our solar system. Together we have been learning the names of the different planets and finding out about their distinguishing features (e.g. the rings of frozen ice and dust on Saturn, erupting volcanoes on Venus, and huge swirling dust storms on Jupiter).
There has been great excitement as we have watched space shuttles launch, taken a tour around the international space station and flown by many of the planets observing them at close quarters from the space shuttle – all using ‘You Tube’, which has been a fantastic resource for us throughout this context for learning.
Many children brought in space related books and toys from home to share with their friends and we have had lots of fun finding out new facts. We were very lucky to borrow a planetarium model of the solar system complete with illuminated/moving planets, enabling the children to see the solar system in action.
Working as part of a small group many children helped to build our own large scale space station and shuttle. Along with developing good listening and co-operative skills (following instructions and working together) the children had the opportunity to share their knowledge to help design/create the models and also to problem solve design issues (e.g. how to make the walls sturdy enough to stand upright). Once complete the giant models provided lots of opportunity for role play with many explorations to the furthest reaches of space then home again for lunch!
Children also made lots of small scale models of space rockets, astronauts and planets, along with many fabulous drawings and paintings, all of which showed great detail and representational skill.
We managed to answer many of the children’s questions about space through co-researching information with them using the internet and reference books about space, the solar system and life on the space station. The children have been continually eager to know more and as we found answers to their initial questions many more questions emerged prompting further investigations. The nursery ladies have been amazed by the depth of knowledge that some children have developed about the planets and life on the space station and many parents have commented that the children now know more about space than they do! The nursery ladies had to work very hard to ensure that their own learning kept pace with the children’s! We have recorded the children’s understandings about space in our context for learning book (located near the snails/fish), on the learning wall (in the cloakroom) and in the children’s individual folders (on the bookcase). Please take time to have a quick look – we are sure that you will be amazed too!
Throughout December we took time to learn about the Christmas story, looking with the children at a variety of books and retelling the story with nativity puppets and wooden characters. We also used the internet to learn more about the Christmas story, watching nativity performances and animations.
We were very lucky to have two parents visit nursery, (Isaac’s mummy in the morning session and Becky’s mummy in the afternoon session), to tell us all about the Christmas story. They taught the children a new Christmas song and also brought lovely nativity costumes for them to try on – they had great fun dressing up as Mary and Joseph, the angel Gabrielle, the shepherds and their sheep.
All of the children had the opportunity to make Christmas decorations, cards and also calendars to take home as presents for their families. Some children undertook a little research into how Christmas is celebrated around the world, finding out some of the many different names for Santa including Pere Noel (France and Belgium), St Nikolas (Germany), Babbo Natale (Italy) and Black Peter (Morocco).
We would like to say ‘Thank you’ to all the parents and grandparents who joined us for our festive rhyme-time, and also a very big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the parents and carers who provided the delicious food for our party feast. It was a fabulous day and a lovely end to the year.
Next Steps
After giving the children a few days to get settled back in to nursery after the Christmas break we began the consultation to choose a new context for learning. As ever the children provided us with many fantastic ideas of things they wanted to learn more about, with farm animals, the jobs people do and pets being the most popular suggestions. We explained to the children what each of these contexts could involve and then asked them to choose their favourite. It was a close run contest but the votes are now in and counted with ‘pets’ the clear winner!
Through this context for learning we aim to:
• Find out about the wide range of animals that people keep as pets from common pets such as goldfish and hamsters to more unusual pets such as pot belly pigs, iguanas and snakes
• Investigate which are the biggest and smallest pets, which are the fastest and slowest and which are the noisiest and quietest!
• Discover what is involved in caring for a pet (feeding, grooming, cleaning cages, walking etc.)
• Find out about baby animals – what they are called, what they look like and how their parents care for them when they are young
• Carry out short surveys to find out what pets we have at home and what our favourite pets are and record the results in different ways (on wall charts and the computer)
• Ask some of the parents if they would bring pets in for a short (supervised) visit (before visits we will undertake the required risk assessments and check with parents for children with fear of particular animals or allergies)
If you would like to join in with our context at home, here are a few ideas for you to try out.
• Visit your local pet shop to find out what types of pets are for sale and what type of equipment you need to take care of them properly (e.g. food, cage, bed, water bottle, collar/lead etc.)
• Visit the library to look for story and reference books about different types of pets
• Look on the internet to find out more about different types of pets (e.g. different breeds of dogs or cats, where animals live, animal jobs – guide dogs and police horses)
• Make the most of technology – find funny pet videos on You Tube (Just type in ‘funny ………. videos’ adding in the type of animal you want to watch and you will be able to find everything from swimming cats to dancing dogs and tightrope walking hamsters!)
• Get creative – making model animals from play dough, Plasticine or junk (boxes and sticky tape are lots of fun!), creating collage animal pictures (using different types/colours of paper, fabric, feathers, pasta, wool etc.)
• Draw or paint pet pictures. You don’t need to be able to draw yourself – try what we do in nursery and use a photograph from the internet or a picture in a book as a prompt for your child talking them through the different parts of the animal and important detail that they need to draw (head, body, legs, wings, feet, feathers, spots etc.) as they work
• Take a photograph of your pet to bring in to nursery
• Visiting relatives, friends or neighbours with pets to find out more about what is involved in caring for animals (e.g. taking a dog for a walk, playing with the cat or helping to feed and clean the hamster)
Chinese New YearThis year the Chinese New Year begins on the 23rd of February and it is the year of the dragon. We are very lucky to have a lovely selection of Chinese decorations which were sent by a child’s auntie all the way from Singapore and so we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year in style. We will again have a tasting session to encourage the children to try some Chinese foods. We will also find out a little about how Chinese children and their families celebrate the New Year at home and in their communities.
Family Rhyme-timeThe dates are in for our next family rhyme-time (details below). Please put them in your diary and if possible come join us for 30 minutes of fun and singing with the children. Family friends and relatives are welcome to join with us – the more the merrier and the louder we all sing! Rhyme-times will be held in the gym hall to ensure we have enough space to seat everyone comfortably. Please use the main school entrance when you arrive.
Sponsored Obstacle CourseWe did it! It was hard work but we made it 10 times around the course! The children had great fun taking part in our sponsored obstacle course back in October and we would like to say ‘Thank you’ to the families who took part and helped us raise money for new resources for the nursery. Together we managed to raise £363 enough to buy a CD player/MP3 speakers, some small world resources and hopefully a new camera as well.
StudentsWe have a new student joining us from Forth Valley College this term. Her name is Imogen Paul and she is presently in her first year studying Child Care and Education. Imogen will be with us until the end of term in June. We also have a teaching student, Nicola Kyle, joining us after the Easter break.
Playroom Reminders• An important reminder for all parents to please take extra care when entering and leaving the nursery. We have several new children in nursery who are quite young and also younger siblings who do not understand the danger of going out of the nursery without their parent/carer. We are asking that you be extra vigilant when entering and leaving the building and ensure that you only allow your child to leave the building with you. Please also remember that once you have collected your child from their Key-group you are responsible for their care and safety.
• Please can you ensure that your child has appropriate shoes to wear in nursery. It is not a requirement to wear plimsolls indoors, however if your child is wearing boots, please can you bring trainers, plimsolls or shoes to change them into.
• Please do not take paintings or other art work from the drying rack. Sometimes the art work which is drying are special pieces of work that staff have asked children to do for the wall or their folder, and often the art work on the rack is wet. Completed/dry art work will be put into your child’s tray when it is ready to go home.
• It is school policy that on gym days children are not allowed to wear jewellery. Earrings especially should be removed, however if this is not possible your child needs to have their earrings covered with medical tape.
Mon 13th / Tues 14th / Wed 15th February – spring holiday – nursery and school closed
Thurs 16th / Fri 17th February – staff development days – nursery and school closed
Mon 5th March – Rhyme-time (afternoon session) 1.00-1.30 in the gym hall
Fri 9th Mar – Rhyme-time (morning session) 11.00-11.30 in the gym hall
Mon 2nd – Fri 13th April – Easter Holiday – nursery and school closed
Mon 7th May – May holiday – nursery and school closed
Braehead Nursery – Parent/carer Questionnaire
January 2012
Evaluating and improving the service we provide for children and families is an ongoing process in both the school and nursery. As part of the nursery’s evaluation and monitoring programme we would appreciate if you could share your views on:
Partnerships with parents –
• the information provided for parents/carers (type, amount, frequency) and if there is any other information you think it is important to receive?
• opportunities for parental involvement – are you happy with the present opportunities or would you like additional opportunities to be involved, and if so what type of involvement?
Through our newsletter we try to share ways in which parents and carers may wish to link in with our present context for learning at home. Equally we would welcome suggestions from parents/ carers which could support children’s learning in nursery relation to our ‘Pets’ context. Suggestions could include ideas for activities or where to find good resources. Perhaps you or a relative would be happy to share a specific skill or visit the nursery to talk about an interest with the children. Or if there is an aspect of our context for learning which your child is finding particularly interesting please let us know to enable us to take forward their interest and learning in nursery.
Completed questionnaires can be returned to your Key-worker or placed in the box in the entrance hall. Questionnaires can be left anonymous, however if you wish a personal response or to discuss your views with a member of staff please complete your name at the bottom of the questionnaire.
Name:_________________________ Date:___________
Nursery Newsletter – Sep 2011
Here is the text version of the Newsletter – for a full version click here to download and save
We would like to wish all our children and families a warm welcome to Braehead Nursery and to our first newsletter of the year.
Our nursery newsletters provide you with information about Curriculum for Excellence, forthcoming ‘contexts for learning’ (topics) and the range of learning experiences on offer for the children. The newsletters also help keep you up to date with nursery developments and provide you with important dates for your diary.
It is our aim to continually improve and develop the service we offer and we welcome feedback from families. A feedback form will be attached to each newsletter for you comment. Please share your thoughts and ideas with us so that we can continue to improve our service.
Our aim is to issue a newsletter at the start of each new context for learning (approximately 6-8 weeks). We try to provide a broad range of information for families, however, if there is any additional information that you would like to see in the newsletters please let us know.
We are now working within A Curriculum for Excellence, which is the Scottish curriculum for all children aged 3-18 years. Key-workers meet fortnightly to plan a comprehensive programme of learning opportunities, activities and experiences. Key-workers share information about their Key-children (gathered from observations) with colleagues at planning and evaluation meetings. This enables the nursery team to support individual children’s developmental needs and provide opportunities to extend their learning. Aspects of our curriculum planning are displayed on the ‘learning wall’ in the cloakroom – please take time to have a look.
Approximately every 6-8 weeks we will look at a new ‘context for learning’, such as ‘Growing and Changing’, ‘The World Around Us’, ‘Under the Sea’ or ‘Dinosaurs’.
Children engage better with contexts that catch their interest and spark their imagination, therefore, we use the children’s interests as a starting point when deciding on a new context for learning. We do this by taking time to observe and listen to their play, and talking with them about their current interests before choosing a new context. Then the nursery team start to plan a programme of learning experiences to support and extend the learning and development of all children in the nursery.
To help us get to know the new children who have just started nursery and to help them get to know us a little better, we propose to start with the context ‘All About Me – Myself and My Family’.
Through this context we plan to support children with developing social and communication skills, including:
• forming new friendships
• becoming familiar with new routines
• learning to turn take and share resources
• learning to take turns to talk and listen to each other and adults in nursery
• following instructions from an adult
• developing an awareness of the feelings of others
• developing independence and self-confidence (i.e. I can do it…..)
• developing concentration skills and perseverance
• sharing information with our Key-groups
We aim to make good connections with home through:
• investigating and talking about many of our likes and dislikes e.g. our favourite things to eat or play with
• finding out how we get to nursery
• exploring how many people are in our families
• listening to stories about families
We also plan to find out about keeping healthy as part of this context:
• finding out about what our bodies need to be healthy and to make them grow
• investigating healthy food choices and trying different types of healthy foods
• talking about and being involved in different types of exercise – finding out what we can do (e.g. jumping, balancing, catching)
• exploring bodies (e.g. finding out the names for body parts, looking at x-rays of skeletons)
There are lots of ways for you to join in with this context at home including:
• talking with your child – about feelings (what makes you feel happy, sad, angry, frightened etc.), favourite things to do, likes and dislikes
• playing board games to encourage sharing, turn taking, concentration and perseverance
• encouraging your child to follow instructions and be independent (e.g. getting dressed, putting on own shoes, tidying up their toys) and giving positive feedback when they do so
• visiting the library to find/share story books about families
• looking at family photographs and talking with your child about their own family
• talking about and trying different types of foods that are good for us
• encouraging your child to find healthy food (e.g. fruit) when you go to the supermarket and to put it in the trolley
• trying out different types of exercise together – cycling, bouncing on the trampoline, walking the dog or scooting to the shops
• visiting the library to find books about the human body and talking about bones, different body parts and what we need to be healthy
To help us get started with our new context for learning we are asking each child to bring in a photograph of their family. We then plan to laminate the photos so that the children can handle/look at them, so please do not send in any photographs that are precious.
Information Evening
We are holding an information session for parents on Thursday 8th September at 6.00. We will share information about nursery practice and procedures including the Curriculum for Excellence, our new child profiles and documentation.
Staffing
We have said a fond farewell to Wilma Gemmell, our Early Years Pedagogue, who has taken up a teaching post at Doune Primary, and also Mhairi Banks, our ECA, who is now working in Primary 1 at Braehead.
We are also giving a warm welcome to Jackie Dupont, our new Early Years Pedagogue (teacher). Jackie will be working with the Early Years team at Braehead between October and December this year as we develop a new profiling system to record the children’s individual successes and achievements.
Playground Safety
Please remember that in there is no cycling permitted in the school grounds. All children must dismount bikes, trikes and scooters before coming into the playground.
Safety
When dropping off or collecting your child from nursery please ensure that external doors are securely closed behind you. Some of our younger children become very excited when they see their parents in the playground or sometimes become upset when other parents arrive before their own mum or dad. For many of these children an open door can look very inviting. We are obviously eager to ensure that no children ‘escape’ into the nursery garden or beyond, so please, please close the door behind you. Thank you.
Cloakroom Request
Please leave all wet umbrellas in the box in the entrance area rather than the cloakroom – we use the cloakroom as our music and dance area during the session. Please remove any items that could be potentially harmful from bags and backpacks left on children’s pegs (e.g. anti-bacterial hand gel or sun screen) and any medicine (e.g. sachets/bottles of Calpol) and give them to your Key-worker for safe storage. Please remind the person collecting your child to pick the items up at the end of the session.
Entrance Area
Please note that the entrance to the nursery is also a fire exit. We are required by law to ensure that this passageway is kept clear at all times and as such no bikes, dolls prams or scooters etc. can be left there during the nursery session.
Nursery Hours
Morning session 9.00-11.30 Afternoon session 12.45-3.15
Parents, or other adults collecting children, are requested to be prompt when collecting their children. Staff only have 15 minutes to tidy the nursery at the end of each session. If you arrive to collect your child after these times you will need to collect them from the school office (using the main entrance to the school).
Illness
If your child is ill we request that you keep them at home until they are feeling well again – the nursery is a very busy and noisy environment and not the best place for a young child to be when they are feeling ill and needing comfort and a quiet place to sit. It is vital that you provide us with up to date emergency contact numbers in the event that we need to contact you (or one of your emergency contacts). If your child has sickness and/or diarrhoea they must remain absent from nursery until 48 hours (2 days) after their last bout of sickness/diarrhoea. We appreciate that this is difficult for working parents, but it is vital to prevent the spread of infection to both staff and other children.
Gym Hall
The nursery has two gym sessions each week – Monday at 1.00 for the children in the afternoon session and Friday at 10.45 for the children in the morning session. All children must wear trainers or plimsolls for gym. Also for safety reasons children are not allowed to wear any jewellery in the gym hall. Please do not send your child to nursery wearing jewellery on their gym day.
Nursery Handbook
Our nursery brochure is available to read on the school website. If you do not have internet access, please ask a member of the nursery staff for a paper copy of the handbook.
Thurs 8th Sept – Parent Information Evening – 6.00-7.00 in school dining hall
Fri 7th Oct – Last day of term
10th-14th Oct – October holiday – nursery and school closed
Mon 17th Oct – Start of new term
Mon 7th/Tues 8th Nov – Staff Development days – nursery and school closed
Wed 23rd/Thurs 24th Nov – Parent’s evening (times to be arranged)
Braehead Nursery – Parent/carer Questionnaire
August 2010
Evaluating and improving the service we provide for children and families is an ongoing process in both the school and nursery. As part of the nursery’s evaluation and monitoring programme we would appreciate if you could share your views on:
• The settling in process for children starting nursery.
• The range of information provided for families, including the nursery welcome brochure, newsletters, letters from the school, parents’ information board and learning wall (both located in the cloakroom), verbal communication with Key-worker and/or other members of the nursery team.
Name:_________________________ Date:___________
Completed questionnaires can be returned to your Key-worker or placed in the box in the entrance hall. Questionnaires can be left anonymous, however if you wish a personal response or to discuss your views with a member of staff please complete your name at the bottom of the questionnaire.