NEWSLETTER –Autumn I 2015
And so begins another school year…
I would like to say a huge welcome to all our new parents and children, and an enormous welcome back to all our established parents and children. We hope that everyone had a wonderful summer and we look forward to a fantastic pre-school year. It has begun really nicely and the children are settling in well.
This term our theme will be ALL ABOUT ME. We will be getting to know the children a little better, thinking about things that are the same and different, finding out what we look like, learning about our bodies, comparing what we like (and don’t like), looking at why we are special, talking about our families, investigating our senses and many other things.
Week 1 Settling in
Weeks 2 & 3 Our faces
Week 4 Feet
Week 5 Hands
Week 6 Our bodies
Week 7 I like/don’t like…
Week 8 My Home and family
We are happy to look at anything that you child would like to bring into the setting that you feel might link in with the topic (or not as the case may be) then they can talk about it in circle time. There will be a small summary of the weeks previous week’s activities on the notice board and a reminder of what will be happening in the coming week.
For a number of years we have been attempting to complete our Eco-schools Bronze Award with varying degrees of success. This year we are determined that we will actually complete it! We will be having discussions with the children to find out what they would like to include and how they think that we can improve our current practice. If you have any projects or ideas that you think that we could work on then please could you either send you child armed with all the information or pass you ideas on to me.
From last year’s parental questionnaire there was a suggestion that putting the whiteboard of today’s activities on Facebook would benefit parents who don’t get a chance to pick their children up from the setting. So I am hoping to set up a Stepping Stones Facebook page to let everyone know what is going on in the setting on an on-going basis and show you how fantastic your children are (not that you need reminding). If there is anyone who would not like their child’s photograph or information to be shown on social media then please let me know as soon as possible.
Returning parents please note that our bank details have changed this year; the new details are on the bottom of the invoices.
In Stepping Stones we try to let children play both inside and out every day. The autumn term tends to be full of very changeable weather and can be very hot, rather cold, dry or soaking wet and sometimes it can pack all of those into one day! Can you please try to ensure that your child comes to the setting with weather appropriate clothing that is labelled to avoid any confusion and worry. Although we do have spares in the setting if anyone needs anything.
Could we please remind all parents and carers that we are a nut free setting which runs in line with Magor CIW School.
During this half-term we will be completing the new Foundation Phase Profiles introduced by the Welsh Government. They are new this year and the staff are in the process of undergoing training still and so it will take us a little while to get the hang of them. Once we have managed to get out heads round them I will facilitate a feedback session for any parents that are interested in finding out what they are and what they mean. They are not statutory for settings like ours but it is seen as good practice so we will be taking it on.
Dates
Half term Monday 26th – Friday 31st October.
As always if you have any questions or concerns please speak to a member of staff who will be happy to help.
Thank you,
Sian and all the staff at Stepping Stones`