Parents Letter January 2024

Parents Letter January 2024

Welcome back 😊 We hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all a happy new year!

Safeguarding

All staff are safeguard trained and we have four staff that have designated safeguard training, it is our duty of care to record and report any concerns that we may have. We follow the policies and procedures set out by the Warwickshire safeguarding team. If we have a concern, this will be recorded on a green form, you will be notified if we complete a green form for your child, should this not cause any risk of harm. Any green forms will transition with your child should they move to a different setting and when they progress into school.

We are also here to offer advice and support to children and their families, please feel free to contact us at any time if you feel you may benefit from some extra support or would just like to discuss any worries or concerns you may have. You may also seek advice via the FIS family information service.

Please ensure with the cold weather that your child is provided with appropriate clothing including; coat, hat, gloves, scarf. Children access the outdoors throughout the year and with the colder temperatures appropriate clothing is very important.

Handwashing

Please use the handwashing station provided next to the outdoor shed to wash your child’s hands prior to coming into nursery to reduce the spread of infection.

Children’s bags/belongings

Please ensure that you provide a bag for your child with any items they may require during their session at nursery. This should include; spare clothes (outfits including, pants, socks, trousers, tops) nappies, wipes, nappy cream.

Children bringing nappies can we recommend that you provide 5 to avoid your child running out, also enough wipes to at least last the duration of the day.

Can we please ask that children’s bags are not too big, we only have limited space for storage and we have lots of children attending.

Please ensure that all items are clearly labelled with your child’s name.

Indoor and outdoor shoes

We ask that children are provided with a separate pair of indoor shoes (if you decide to bring slippers these must fit your child’s feet and not be a trip hazard). We want to reduce the spread of germs and keep the indoor areas/carpets clean leaving mud outdoors.

Lunch and snacks

We provide healthy snacks in the morning and again in the afternoon for children with a drink of milk, water is readily available for every child throughout the day. We provide lunch for children with a selection of sandwiches including jam, ham and cheese, a selection of fruit, a yoghurt, crisps and a chocolate treat (meals can be adjusted for children with allergies/dietary requirements). This is charged at £1.00 per day with fees due change in April.

Nursery fees

With the national minimum wage due to increase in April unfortunately, we have no choice but to increase the nursery fees. Fees will increase by 10% and this will be in place from 1st April 2024. A copy of the new fees sheet will be sent home asap.

Absence

Please ensure that you inform nursery if your child is going to be absent. This may be due to a holiday, a day trip or sickness. You can notify us via phone, text, whatsapp or email.

If your child is absent due to holiday, illness or a day at home you will still be charged for this session, this includes additional hours during non-funded weeks, for example if your child receives 15 hours funding but attends for 18 hours per week, during non-funded weeks you are still expected to pay for the additional 3 hours therefore, we encourage you to use these additional hours and book your child in.

Medication

We are only able to give prescribed medication to your child whilst they are at nursery, this means that the medication needs to have a prescription label with your child’s name clearly stated and the required dosage of medication. We cannot give over the counter medication, this includes medication such as cough syrup, calpol and nurofen. If your child requires long term medication such as an inhaler, we will require a health care plan to enable us to administer this. You can get this from your child’s health visitor.

Please refrain from giving your child medication such as calpol prior to coming to nursery as this can mask symptoms of illness.

Whatsapp

We have a nursery mobile device with whatsapp on, this enables us to send group messages with important updates/information. To enable parents are given the same information you will be added into a group for your child as opposed to separate messages to each parent/carer. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Tapestry  

Please ensure that you have logged into your child’s tapestry account, for new starters parents will have received an email with login details to activate your account.

Staff will add weekly newsfeeds where you can see photos of activities the children have been participating in throughout the week (please note; your child may not be on all of the photos). During focus weeks you will receive more detailed information which is personal to your child and their development, this will also include information about their next steps of development and how you can support this at home.

Tapestry is also lovely for you to share with us any photos or updates of achievements, day trips, milestones reached at home.

Website

We regularly update our website with information regarding nursery, it may be parents letters, dates to remember or photos of activities that the children have particularly enjoyed. You can subscribe to the website to enable you to receive notifications of when updates are added to the website.

Staffing

Management- Sam, Clare

Deputy Manager- Kirsty

Babies/Toddlers- Kirsty, Chloe, Nicola, Izzy, Molly

Preschool- Jade, Lauren, Vicky, Jess, AJ

SENDco- Jade/Chloe

Congratulations

Congratulations to Jade and Connor on the safe arrival of their first baby, born on 2nd January 2024, weighing 7lb 8oz and named Ava. Jade and Ava are doing well 😊

15 hour funded places for 2,3 and 4 year olds

Funded hours will be offered between 8.30-11.30am and 1-4pm, any hours before, in between and after these times will be charged at the hourly rate. If for example you would like your child to have their funded sessions in the morning but would like them to stay for lunch you have the option to book them in 8.30-1 (space dependent) your child would receive funding 8.30-11.30am and you would pay from 11.30-1pm.

If your child will be attending solely for 15 hours these hours will be offered as 5 morning sessions or 5 afternoon sessions. All funding information can be accessed next to the handwashing station outside.

30 Hours Funding

30 hours funding will be offered as 24 hours per week, across 4 days for 47.5 weeks of the year. Funding will be offered between the hours of 8.30-11.30am and 1-4pm. Children are able to do a full day however, anything either side and in between the funded hours will be payable at the hourly rate. Please note that there are limited spaces allocated for 30 hour funding, children do not automatically receive this at our setting even if you have applied for it and been accepted.

Funded childcare entitlements following the spring 2023 budget announcement

On 15th March 2023, the Government announced changes to help with childcare costs for working parents. This stated that working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of subsidised childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old until they start school.

This will be introduced in stages:

From April 2024- all working parents of 2 years olds can access 15 hours funded childcare per week.

From September 2024- all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 4 years old can access 15 hours funding per week.

From September 2025- all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 4 years old can access 30 hours of funded childcare per week.

Please be mindful that just because you are entitled to it does not mean that we will have the availability to offer it.

School application

For children due to go school in September 2024, this is children that turn 4 before 31st August 2024, the deadline to apply is 15th January 2024. This can be accessed via https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-primary-school-place

Preschool

For children that are due to start school in September, we will be focusing more on phonics, numbers, letters, name writing and skills of independence such as; putting on shoes, fastening clothing, using cutlery, toileting, holding a pencil correctly. Children should no longer be using dummies or bottles as this impacts upon children’s speech, language and overall health and development. Children will be participating in small group activities learning rhymes to support their development with letters, sounds and numbers.

Children with EAL and SEND will also be doing some small group activities to support their individual learning targets including the use of widget cards and Makaton.

Dates to remember

12th-16th February- no funding for 15 hour funded children

25th March-5th April– no funding for 15 hour funded children

29th March– Good Friday, nursery closed

1st March– Easter Monday, nursery closed

27th May– Bank holiday nursery closed

27th May-7th June– no funding for 15 hour funded children  

June- Parent consultations to be confirmed

Thank you for your continued support.

Many thanks

Sam and Clare