September newsletter

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to those families who have been off over the summer period and a very warm welcome to those families who are joining us for the first time.  I understand that it can be a little tricky getting to know new routines and procedures when starting a new nursery, please feel free to call in or telephone with any questions or concerns you may have, we are always happy to help clarify things or reassure you should you have concerns about your child settling, potty training, eating etc!  Also, lots of questions you may have may be answered in our brochure which you will have received when your child started Fledglings.

A copy of our nursery policies is displayed by the Parent’s notice board and can be downloaded from our website.

Finance – Term-time only children will receive their invoices over the next 2 weeks, if you attend all year you will have already received your standing order mandate. This year our nursery is open for 52 weeks not the usual 51 therefore this calculation has been taken into account when preparing your standing order mandate. This happens every seven years when the school holidays move along a week, as our year starts in September and ends at the end of August. There are 53 weeks from 1st September 2014 to 31^st August 2015 inclusive; we are still closed for one week at Christmas.

Due to rising costs, there has been a price increase this year, although we are still cheaper than most other local nurseries.

Children who are newly funded (Nursery Education Grant) or have increased the amount of hours they were funded for last term will have received a parental contract, this should be returned to Jo Raven by Tuesday 9^th September at the latest!

Queries regarding invoicing and payments should be directed to Jo Raven who is our Admin Manager.

Staffing – I would like to welcome the following new members to the Fledglings Team

Gemma Crowther, recently qualified to Level 3 will be working as key person to Circle group, mentored and supported by Karina in the Pre-school Room.

Ewa Wisneiwska is an Early Years Graduate nursery practitioner with many years of experience; she will be working as key person to Purple Group in the playschool room with Denise and the under 2’s.

Jane Edmondson is a qualified and experienced nursery practitioner who has had both experience of being an Early Years Manager and a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. She will be working as a key person to Triangle Group in the Pre-school room and will be a named SENCO for the nursery with Julie.

Staffing for 2014 is as follows:

Playgroup Room.

Nursery Practitoners: Denise Gaskell, Katie Beard, Julie Smith,Lorraine Tebay, Moira Warby, Kelly Baxter, Ewa Wisneiwska

Nursery Assistant: Lynn Clews

Preschool Room

Nursery Teacher: Becki Streets (on maternity leave from October) Joanne Barton.

Nursery Practitioners: Jane Edmondson SENCO, Carol Holden, Gemma Crowther

Nursery Assistant: Leeanne Smith

Holiday Cover – Maddie Raven, Rachael Knowles

Early Years Managers – Angela Woodward, Karina Brooks

Nursery Manager – SENCO – Julie Longbottom

We also offer training opportunities for students and apprentices from Colleges and Universities.

I send out newsletters regularly, supplemented by emails and text messages, a copy of this letter is also available on our website, we have also created a Facebook page please ‘like’ it and then you will receive updates and information through social media too. I will from time to time be posting photographs on the Facebook page of our children undertaking various activities as we do on our website. If you have any concerns or objections to your child being featured in one of these photographs please will you inform me and I will ensure that pictures with your child on them will not appear on our page.

We will be holding an informal parents open evening in September further details to follow. This will provide an opportunity to meet our nursery staff, hear a bit about how Fledglings operates and ask any questions and make any suggestions you may have.

Baby News – Pam Staden who is currently on maternity leave has had a little girl, Harriet Anne. Becki will be starting her maternity leave at the end of September.

May I draw your attention to the following?

• Please ensure that ALL clothing and footwear is named and that there is a change of clothes in your child’s green bag, also please leave a pair of wellies at nursery when your child is attending.
• All packed lunches need to be in a named plastic bag, not a lunchbox. We are required to store packed lunches in our fridge and there is not enough room in there for lunchboxes. At lunchtime your child’s food is removed from the bag and placed on a plate for your child, you do not need to send in a drink as we supply milk or water. Unfortunately due to the size of our kitchen (it is small!!), we are unable to provide hot lunches to children attending term time only.
• Please do not send in food for snacks or breakfast we provide all these!
• Please do not park in or walk across the school car park during school term time, please park on the road and walk to us via the fenced pathway, please close the gate as you enter or leave.

Thank you for choosing Fledglings for your child….

Best wishes,

Julie Longbottom