Dear Parents/ Carers,

The long winter is ending and we are happy to welcome Spring to our nursery garden. The children are now seeing their hard work in planting bulbs paying off in a sea of daffodils and primroses in the nursery garden. We will be focusing on growth when we come back in April and intend developing our vegetable garden, which once grown, the children will be cooking the produce on the garden fire pit.

Parents meetings via the phone are taking place over the weeks of 15th, 22nd and 29th of March. If we have not caught up with you over this period, we will continue after the Easter holidays. We are so happy with the children’s progress and hope you will be too.

Easter Holidays

The last day of term will be 31.3.21 and the nursery day will be 8.45- 1pm for all children.

We invite the afternoon children to come in the morning session as we plan a picnic and Easter egg hunt on the last day of term. We will have breakfast club on the last day but we will not have after school club as we will be cleaning the nursery. We re open on April the 19th for the Summer Term.

 

Our new website is being designed as we speak and thank you to the parents who have volunteered their time in helping us. It is much appreciated. Watch this space.

 

The children and the staff have enjoyed mini Forest School and the learning has been immense. Last week the children decided to make environmental signs to put on stakes in the FS to try and encourage dog owners to clean up after their dogs. I do not know where it came from, but several children drew grannies and dog poo. Being a Granny myself I tried to dissuade them from thinking all Grannies have dogs and let them poo everywhere. I am unsure as to whether they believe me! We are sorry that you have not been able to come in on a weekly basis to follow their learning journey but we have made you a special FS book which will come home with the children profiles. We will send the profiles home again after Easter for you to share with your child.

 

Toilet Training

Don’t forget to look on the Parents Page for useful information regarding toilet training, emotional support and practical support. It takes a village to raise a child! Developmentally, we expect children in the 2 year olds and some children with additional needs to need support in this area, Eg. We have higher ratios of staff to facilitate nappy changing and a specific area in the 2 year old room with a changing table. We do not expect 2 year olds to be toilet trained.

However, if you have a child who has started recently in the 3-5 year olds and your child is still in nappies, please look at the tips provided. The staff have been working on toilet training in school, the Easter break of 2 weeks is a good time to practise toilet training at home. Look at our twitter and Instagram home learning for videos by the staff regarding toilet training. Thank you.

Oral Health

At Easter I am sure there may be a lot of chocolate eating going on! We have been teaching children the importance of healthy eating and brushing their teeth twice a day. We have a huge set of teeth on which we practice, the children find this fascinating! Look at our twitter and Instagram home learning for videos by the staff regarding oral health. You will also find support in finding a dentist on the parent’s page on the website. Thank you.

Think Equal

Exciting new project started at Mary Paterson! We have been working with a charity that has developed teaching resources specifically for the early years regarding Equality. The research behind this has shown that children as young as three are aware of race, gender, dis ability and stereotypes. We are delivering lessons that aim to talk about our similarities and difference and the children are loving it. The concepts behind what we are doing include; self confidence, resilience, acceptance of difference and celebration of diversity. After the Easter break, I will carry out a zoom where I can tell you more and you can ask questions about our Personal, Social and Emotional curriculum.

Have a lovely Easter break , when it arrives and please take care of yourselves.

With Regards,

Rose Parle