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Notes from the editor, A very warm welcome to all the new children and their families, we hope you enjoy your time here at New Road Nursery. If your child(ren) are going to school next year, don’t forget you need to apply for their place by the 15th Jan 2014. We have some paper copies of the form or you can go online via the local authority website. Many of the local schools are doing open sessions or ring to arrange for a viewing. Talking to other parents can also be very useful.
Dates for your diary – Next events
(Please ask if you would like another copy of the dates for your diary sheet, or see our website)
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Caterpillars Parents evening on Tues 5th Nov 6.30pm-8pm, see notes below, booking a time slot.
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Butterflies and Ladybirds parents evening on Thurs 7th Nov 6.30-8pm, we will put up a poster for each group for you to book a time slot approx 2 weeks prior to the evening.
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Thurs 14th Nov 9.00am, Julie Borak the Nursery Health visitor is available for a drop in clinic, questions, weighing, and advice all on offer.
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Fri 15th Nov Children in need fun events at Nursery, more details to follow.
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Sun 1st Dec Family Christmas craft and fun afternoon. The whole family is most welcome. Crafts, singing, snacks and a visit from Father Christmas. 1-3pm St Pauls Church Hall.
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Please note we are closed on all bank holidays and this year we will also be closed on Fri 27th Dec, (you will not be charged for these days) We are open on Mon 23rd Dec and Tues 24th Dec. Mon 30th and Tues 31st Dec, Closed Wed 1st Jan and open Thurs 2nd and Fri 3rd Jan.
The Parent Group, I would like to thank the parent group for all their help at the summer family fun day held at Lydiard Park in July. We had some wonderful feedback from the families and we had a fab time, thank you.
The Parent group is open to everyone, if you would like to join please speak to Shan, or one of the members, the next date is always on the parent group board which is near the door in each building. Our next meeting is on Tues 22nd Oct 7.30pm at The Bridge Brassaire. Welcome to Rachel and Sarah, 2 new members.
Food news –Yipee we finally have the results back from our recent food analysis trial that we took part in back in Dec 2012. We were really pleased with the results and were the only nursery to have an amazing score for our zero salt. We were told that is a huge achievement. We basically never add any salt to anything (apart from the homemade playdough which is for play purposes only) The results did show that we need to add some more iron and zinc rich foods, which we have done already, and to increase the calorie intake in the form of carbs, but both these were common weaknesses in every nursery that took part in the trial. Our sample week also missed a lunch and tea so it could have made all the difference to our results and meant that actually all was balanced. We follow the non-statutory guidelines for a balance of nutrients and portion control. What none of us can control of course is that every child eats an average portion size of everything each time, we aim to but will always let you know if they say have had only green beans and potatoes and didn’t eat the fish etc. If you would like to see the full report please follow the link on our website.
Thank you to everyone who has been collecting the vouchers, We have ordered a new outside storage ½ shed. Which doesn’t sound hugely exciting but it means that Sara is going to develop a smaller version of a Play Pod for us. (which is very exciting)A play pod means that the children have better access to BIG art and craft whilst outside, using lots of natural and scrapstore type materials. It is going to be very much about the process and not the end result, lots of exploring and using. We also collected enough to order another child height octagonal wooden table for outside. Both items have saved us in the region of £300-400. So a huge thank you.
We are now collecting the Morrison vouchers to swap for free gardening equipment.
What’s New?
Ofsted – Just in case you didn’t realise, we had our latest ofsted inspection back in June and yes we got OUSTANDING, which is excellent news, the celebrations seem a while ago now, but we continue to work hard and make NRN even better. If you would like a copy of the report please ask in the office or see the link on our website.
Website – Mark has been updating the website and you can now print off the daily diary sheet for the under 2’s, did you know you can see our menus and also we have a link to the diary sheet of events.
MUD Kitchen I expect you have all seen our new mud kitchen tucked up in the corner of No. 37 garden. It is proving to be very popular with the children, we will start getting the children to wear protective waterproofs once the weather turns so they don’t go home too much like mud monsters! (Photo)
NEW FURNITURE – We have ordered some new children’s sofas and storage units for the rooms, this is to help us look fresh and updated but to also make the furniture more efficient and save on valuable floor playing space.
PLAYHOUSE - With the help of Alison we have also spruced up the outdoor playhouse with a new lick of paint, a few pictures, new window and a new deck for the front. The aim is to have it as a home corner/play den, we like to leave it fairly open so the children then use their own imagination to make it what they want on that day. We support their play with props, suggestions and role modelling. PHOTO
GARDENING –Luckily we have Trish and Julian, who bring lots of advice, passion and ideas each week and work with the children on the vegetable growing, which is already looking very productive. We have done really well with the strawberries and if anyone would like any swiss chard we have some spare.
Training – We have been busy updating ourselves with new development and attending the Wilts Early Years Conference, which is always a very informative day. The new training will be cascaded down to the team at the next staff meeting.
News from the groups
Caterpillars news – Dear Parents and Careers,
May we take this opportunity to once again welcome all of our new families to the group. These past few weeks have been quite hectic meeting and settling the young babies and they have all adapted well to their new environment and key people. Please do not hesitate to ask any member of staff if you have a query regarding your child’s routine and welfare.
The remainder of the term looks set to be busy in the lead up to the Christmas festivities, we continue to have topics of interest for the children to learn from and enjoy: - October is packed full of Wild Animals, November we blast into Outer Space alongside colourful craft activities for Divali and Children in Need fundraising. We round the year off with tree decorations, cards and glitter. We are also waiting to hear back from Music Bugs to start our fun music sessions again.
Alison who has worked at NRN for nearly 2 years has recently left to start up home in Basingstoke with her husband. But she had some wonderful news which she wanted us to share with you, they are expecting their 1st baby in April, next year. She has promised to visit us. We will have a new person starting with us Dec/Jan time when a few more babies will be joining us. Coke has also moved to the After School Club at Ivy Lane, we miss them both but wish them well in their next stage.
We have 2 new students with us from Chippenham college who will be with us until Feb, Kelsea (Mon and Tues) and Rebecca (Wed, Thurs, Fri)
Our Autumn Parent Evening will be held on November 5th (I hope it doesn't clash with your fireworks!!)
Finally may I ask that as the weather becomes cooler your child has suitable outdoor clothing and footwear as we regularly play outside and go for walks.
Kind regards
Steph, Laura, Stephie, Lucy and Hayley.
Butterfly news –Welcome to all the new Butterfly children who are settling really well. Also welcome to Susan (Mon, Fri)  Julie,(Tues, Wed, Thurs pm) and Laura (Tues, Wed, Thurs am) who all job share. Finally welcome to Denise who we have the support of doing some one to one work.
We have been enjoying the warm Sept and getting outside as much as possible. We have had Stretch and Grow sessions outside (fun exercise with songs) and we have explored the Podley outdoor set, not to mention the sand and water play. We will be exploring all about the autumn and harvest during Oct, and Nov is our animal and pet month. If you have anything at home which you think would link well with these interests then please let me know. Don’t forget you are welcome in anytime to share your skills, story telling or to come and play. If you have a very child friendly pet (we have guinea pigs and dog covered) we would love to hear from you.
Don’t forget parents evening on Thurs 7th Nov, and could we also ask for named wellies and slippers ready for the wetter, colder weather, Thank you.
Sara and Team.
 Ladybird news – Just a few notes from the Ladybirds:
Dragonfly news – The Afterschool club (Dragon flies) held at Ivy Lane School hall is going from strength to strength.  Rebecca and team continue to work hard and bring in new ideas. Coke has joined recently joined them as the numbers have grown. We also run a holiday club each holiday and are open on the TD days too. We still have some space this October ½ term if you would like to book please ring the office 01249 652004 or e-mail us at info@newroadnursery.co.uk.
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