Committee News – March 2008

Welcome

A belated welcome to Xavier Batt, Henry Morris and Lucy Johnson who have all started with us since Xmas. We hope you enjoy your time at Pre-School.

Changes to committee

Jan Tyley has stepped down from committee after spending the past year and a bit as secretary. Thanks for all your hard work Jan, especially staying on after Rhys had left Pre-School! We’ve found a fine replacement in Rosie Cooke who has already brought great energy to her fundraising role and has started planning lots of new events for the next few months. James Vaughan has taken over the position of Secretary. A full list of committee and their areas of responsibility is given at the end of this newsletter. We always welcome new members at any time of the year if you are interested in joining us. The next committee meeting is Thursday 1^st May.

Punctuality

Please can we remind all parents to be punctual when collecting your child, be it 11.30am, midday, 12.30pm or 3pm. If you are going to be more than five minutes late you must phone Pre-School to let the staff know (01865 859933). We staff sessions according to our numbers, to meet the legally required adult:child ratio. If you are late in picking up your child then it is likely that either a member of staff who is going off-shift is having to stay late unpaid or that a member of staff who should be on their lunch break is having to work. Friday afternoons are a particular problem. If you are not willing to walk out of sharing assembly at 3pm when it overruns then can we suggest you collect your child beforehand and take them in with you. Parents are also always welcome to collect their child slightly earlier if it helps with a combined Pre-School/school pick-up.

Recycling printer cartridges

We have joined a scheme where we can raise money from recycling used printer cartridges. This should hopefully be an easy, environmentally-friendly way of earning money for the Pre-School. There should be a box going up in the lobby soon in which you can put your cartridges and Raj should also be collecting in the shop for us. Please speak to Rosie if you want further information.

Questionnaire

We’re thinking of running a holiday club during the summer holidays if there is sufficient interest. We also need to provide monitoring data to the Big Lottery Fund as part of the conditions for receiving our grant. We would therefore be grateful if you could complete the attached questionnaire and return it to the drawer marked “Kate Croudace” in the lobby of Pre-School.

End of Term

To keep our hours in line with those of St Laurence’s, we shall be ending the afternoon session at 2pm on the last day of term, Friday 4^th April. Unfortunately this early closing was not taken into account when the invoices were produced at the beginning of term. For those people affected, the money will be credited to next term’s account. For those not familiar with St Laurence’s hours, they finish at 2pm at the end of every ‘old’ term, that is, at the end of terms two (Xmas), four (Easter) and six (summer holidays).

Quiz Night

Our next big fundraising event will be a quiz night at the Cricketers on Wednesday 14^th May. More details to follow nearer the time.

Committee details

Below is an up to date list of committee with their areas of responsibility if you have any queries or concerns regarding the provision:

Term 4 update from Louise

We are continuing this term with the theme of Traditional Tales. Over the past three weeks the children have been taking part in activities based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood. During the first week of term the children initiated lots of play involving picnics so on Wednesday the 5^th of March we had a teddy bears picnic. It was great fun and many of the children brought in and shared their favourite bears with us. This week, with the children’s help, we have transformed the role play area into ‘Grandma’s house’. Depending on the children’s interests we will look at some other Traditional Tales over the next few weeks as well as the topics of Easter and spring.

Class 1 are learning about mini beasts and spring this term and we are hoping to join up with them on Thursday 20^th March for an Easter egg hunt and again nearer the end of term to go and visit some local chickens! Everyone is welcome to come on the 20^th. If it’s not your child’s usual day then we do ask that a parent/guardian stay with them. Do come and watch anyway – it is normally good fun and we will be serving refreshments.

Even though the weather is against us, we are trying to get the children outside as much as possible, so warm coats, hats, gloves and wellies please.

Please can I remind all parents and carers that they should park on the road and under no circumstances should they drive into the school car park. This is for the safety of the children in pre-school and school.

It is very important that the children come to pre-school with a named water bottle each day. If you do forget please inform a member of staff, who will be happy to supply a drink of water for them.

When dropping off your child, do not feel you have to rush off, please stay and play if you wish. If you would like to speak to Louise or your child’s key worker about any pre-school issue please make an appointment.

We are also looking for volunteers to come into pre-school for as little as half an hour a week to work on a project with the children. This could be a sewing/material activity, woodwork, gardening or a craft activity. If you feel you could help, please speak to Louise.

Thank you to those parents who have already carried out a parent helper session or have put their names down to do one before the end of term. We really do appreciate your help. If you have not put your name down yet, the rota is on the parent board in the lobby!

Also thank you to all the parents who donated towards the children’s snack last term. As I am sure you are aware the sharing of refreshments plays an important part in the social life of the pre-school as well as reinforcing the children’s understanding of the importance of healthy eating. We ensure that all snacks provided are nutritious, varied and avoid large quantities of fat, sugar, salt, additives, preservatives and colourings. To do this to a high standard we would be very grateful of a donation of 20p per family for each day attended per week (i.e. 3 days attendance 60p, 5 days attendance £1.00) to contribute towards the cost of purchasing the food items. The collection box can be found on the post box in the main room. If you would prefer, we could arrange for the suggested donation to be added to your termly bill to avoid the need to remember to bring change in with you each week. Just speak to either Kate or Synetta.