HOLY ANGELS PRE-SCHOOL
C/o our Lady of the Angels Catholic Primary School
Chelston
Torquay
TQ2 6DP
01803 613095
Angie Baldwin Manager Ofsted No:EY425658
Julie Hanlon Supervisor
www.holyangelspreschool.org.uk 16th October 2017
Dear Parents/Carers,
After an extremely busy start to the new term, I am delighted to say that the new children are all settling well. They are beginning to show an awareness of the Pre-school routines and boundaries and the older children, who are now entering their second or even third year with us, are enjoying telling the new little ones how things should be done!!
Sad news
I am sorry to report that Anna Szymaniak a member of our team is leaving us this Friday, to return to Poland, for personal reasons. After initially starting with us as a placement student, Anna has been a valued member of staff for nearly 5 years. We shall all miss her very much and I would like to thank her for all the hard work, dedication and commitment she has displayed whilst working with us.
Good news
I am delighted to welcome a new member to our team, Susan Watson.
Sue has many years’ experience as an Early Years Practitioner and will introduce herself to the parents of her key children during the first week back after half term. We are all looking forward to working with her.
Half term
A reminder that we are closed for half term from Monday 23rd October – Friday 27th October.
We are also closed on Friday 3rd November 2017 for a non-pupil day as four of the staff are attending a safeguarding conference in London. Neither Breakfast nor After school club will be available for pupils from our Lady of the Angels
Holy Angels pre-school will be open as usual on Monday 30th October when Our Lady of the Angels is closed.
Pre-school Admissions 2018
We now have very few spaces available and expect to be full by January. The introduction of 30 hours of funding for some children inevitable means that we now have less spaces to offer. If you have a child that will require a space next September, please complete an application form as soon as possible. We would be very grateful if you could pass this onto friends and family who may be considering Holy Angels Pre-school for their child in the future.
Primary school admissions 2017 – 2018
If your child was born between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014 you will be able to apply for a school place between 15th November 2017 and 15th January 2018. Applications can be made online. Further information can be found in TIPS booklet which is available from http://www.torbay.gov.uk/primary-school-admissions.
We are very happy to support parents through this process. I will send out further information during the first week back after half term.
Safeguarding
We have a duty of care to safeguard every child that comes into Pre-school. If we find bumps or bruises on children, that have not occurred within the setting, we have a statutory duty to record them. Parents are then asked to sign the recorded information and if possible explain how they happened. Children can of course bump or injure themselves without informing an adult, so please do not be upset or worried if we speak to you about an injury that you were not aware of. If your child has an accident or injury at home, even if it just results in a small bruise or bump, please let us know so we can make a note of it.
In some rare instances our duty of care may extend to passing concerns onto the Local Authority safeguarding team.
Packed lunches
There are healthy eating guidelines regarding children’s packed lunches. We ask that the number of crisps, salty snacks, sweets, cakes, chocolate bars etc are limited, if at all. It is very difficult to encourage a small child to eat their savoury items when there are sweet sugar coated items or crispy snacks in their lunch box. Children do not need a packed lunch that is full to the brim with lots of different foods. In general, a sandwich/roll/pitta with filling or a tub of pasta/rice or raw cut up vegetables, along with a piece of fruit and a yoghurt type dessert is ample enough for a small child. We tend to find children eat a quarter of a packet of crisps then scrunch them up and throw the packet away. There are some leaflets with ideas for packed lunches available from the display board by the front door.
Labels
Some children are having a little trouble remembering which coat, jumper, lunch box etc. is theirs. We are only entering the seventh week back and already the lost property box is filling up.
Please could you ensure that any items of clothing which a child may easily remove are labelled with their name, it is surprising how many young children do not know which jumper, cardigan or coat are theirs. Lunch boxes and drink bottles also need labelling.
Listening skills
From the minute a child starts at pre-school we focus on two main areas of development: Personal, Social and Emotional (PSED) and Communication and Language (CL).
For a child to progress in both of these areas, requires the child to have good age appropriate Listening and Attention skills. Even from an early age children need to be able to listen, to know when to listen and when to pay attention. Children are not born knowing how to do this. Without these skills, some children may struggle to make age appropriate progress within their learning and development.
As with everything there is always lots of advice and tips available. One of the most useful we find is allowing a child time to process information. Parents often say to us that their child does not listen at home or takes no notice of them. Children need time to both process information and follow an instruction. A child who doesn’t respond to a request to put his coat on, either, may not have heard the request or may need up to 10 seconds for their brain to process the request. Our advice would be wait 10 seconds then use the child’s name first and repeat the request.
There are lots of easy listening games and activities that can be played anywhere: at home, whilst you are in the car, at the park or out shopping with your child. If you would like some more information please come in and chat to myself or your child’s key worker.
Talk Boost
‘Early Talk Boost’ is a Pre-school language intervention that has been designed for children aged 3-4 years who have delayed language development. It focuses on some of the foundation skills in speech, language and communication that children need for learning and understanding new words as well as conversation. This 9 week intervention has been proven to narrow the gap.
Julie Hanlon and Wendy Elliott have recently attended training to deliver this support. Each Pre-school child will be assessed, if we feel they will benefit from this intervention we shall invite parents in for a short presentation.
Finally, I would like to ask for your help and support on behalf of one of our families. The baby sister of one of the children who attend pre-school is very prone to picking up bronchial infections and any bugs that are going around. As a result of this, the child has spent most of the first year of her life in and out of hospital. To try and help the family, can I just remind parents and carers of our sickness policy. If you think your child is under the weather and maybe coming down with something please keep them at home and crucially if your child has an upset tummy keep them at home until they have been clear for 48 hours.
If you have any queries or concerns, or require this newsletter in larger print, Braille or a different language please come and chat to a member of staff.
We wish you all a lovely and restful half term
Angie Baldwin
Manager
DIARY DATES 2017-2018
Autumn term 2017 Monday 23rd October - Friday 27th Oct Closed forhalf term
Friday 3rd November Closed for non-pupil day
December (date to be confirmed) Nativity dress rehearsal
December (date to be confirmed) Nativity Play
Wk beg Mon 18th December Stay and Play
Wednesday 20th December Finish for Christmas break @3pm
Spring term 2018 Monday 8th January Re-open for Spring term Monday 12th Feb - Friday 16th Feb Closed for half term Wk beg 26th March Stay and Play Thursday 29th March Finish for Easter break @ 3pm
Summer term 2018 Monday 16th April Re-open for Summer term Friday 4th May Closed for non-pupil day
Monday 5th May Closed for Bank Holiday
Mon 14th May – 23rd May Duckling eggs for hatching
Monday 28th May – Friday 1st June Closed for half term
June (date to be confirmed) Leavers photograph
Wk beg 12th June Sponsored bounce
July (date to be confirmed) Sports day
Wk beg Mon 23rd July Stay and Play Wednesday 25th July Leavers Zoo trip Wednesday 25th July Finish for summer break @ 3pm
Please note that we always finish at 3pm on the last day of a term.
· Our Lady of the Angels are closed on Monday 30th October and Friday 24th November for non-pupil days. We are NOT closed on those days. We have 2 non-pupil days these are Friday 3rd November and Friday 4th May
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