Committee News – July 2006

 

With eight children leaving school at the end of term, it’s also time to say goodbye to some committee members. Kathryn Phillips and Theresa Powell are both standing down from committee. Theresa will remain a familiar face though, as she is working for us for a few sessions next term. Kate Lemon and Rebecca Vaughan are both standing down from their respective posts as chair and secretary, but will remain on committee. Kate Croudace and Jan Tyley have agreed to fill the breach until the official elections at the next AGM in October. After an early blip in numbers, it’s been a reasonably successful year for pre-school and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all members of staff for all their hard work and flexibility in what is an ever changing business environment

 

The news regarding the new building is looking very positive. The legal table tennis is almost at an end, the lease for the land is almost signed, and the funds are almost in place. So we’re almost certainly going to be open for business sometime in 2007. The new building committee (chaired by Tessa Peake-Jones) is disbanding once the building is in place, after several years’ hard work. It will be up to us as a committee to ensure that this work does not go to waste: with a purpose-built building we will be able to offer afternoon sessions in addition to morning sessions and lunch-clubs, building up to full wrap-around care. We shall shortly be sending out questionnaires to gauge the level of interest in the various provisions; if you have any suggestions for activities the pre-school could provide or host, please contact Kate Croudace or Nikki Gibbons.

 

The parent-helper system was not a great success this term. Some parents have commented that they would have preferred to have had more consultation over the days assigned to them. For next term, we will be placing a calendar in the porch, on which parents can sign up for days that are convenient for them. We have traditionally asked for a £5 donation per (helper) session for parents who are unable or unwilling to help. Parents with younger children, under the age of one, are not expected to help, although they may do so if they wish.

 

The number of children attending pre-school have taken their usual autumn dip, which has meant that, unfortunately, we have had to implement some cost cutting measures. Rather than increase prices, we have decided to reduce sessions to two and a half hours: from 9:15am to 11:45am. This will bring the length of sessions in line with those we hope to offer once we move into the new building. Circle time will now start promptly at the beginning of the session, so please endeavour to have your children there punctually. We are still unsure as to whether we will have enough children to be able to run lunch club on a Monday.

 

Finally it would be a great help, if you have an e-mail address, to give it to Kate Croudace. This will allow us to keep you up-to-date with any changes over the holidays.

 

Have a good summer.