Welcome back to the Spring term.
A big welcome to our new children and parents!
We also welcome Norwich City College students Tara Baxter (Wednesday) and Ryan Cambridge (Thursday) to Cottontails. They are both studying a Diploma in Health Studies and will be with us until July 2017.
Safeguarding Policy
Please let us know if your child is going to be absent from the session and the reason for their absence, either medical or holiday. This can be done via text or phone call on 07880 592862 or email
In the interests of the children and our records our safeguarding policy states that we will contact parents if a child is absent and the parent hasn’t contacted us with a reason.
Charity Number: 1072330
January 2017
Learning opportunities this half termWe will be learning about Chinese New Yearand getting involved in activities around this.
We also planan open-ended activity each week where children can take the activity and play to where they want it to go, ask questions of themselves and take risks, for example last week we had a pendulum set up with boxes. The children worked out how to knock the boxes over and think about where the boxes needed to be, how to knock over more than one etc.
We will be reading stories and looking at books for World Book Week and planning activities around them.
Easter will be upon us before we know it so we will be making Easter crafts and preparing for the Easter crown parade and Easter egg hunt. Sound of the Week rota will continue!
Sound of the Week
Sometimes the children’s objects get tidied away with our toys so instead of putting Sounds of the Week objects onto the table in the hall I will be putting a basket into the Parent room for your child to put their Sound of the Week in, ready for us to look at during Circle times! Please put all toys that your child may bring to show in here too, thank you!
Wednesday afternoons at the school
The children have to carry their bags, lunchboxes, wellies etc themselves when we walk to the school so can we please ask that they have suitable size bags that they can manage. It would also be great if Sound of the week objects are small on those afternoons so we can pop them in their bag, if not we have to leave them in the cupboard at preschool. If anybody is able to help walk us down to the school at 1.20-1.30 we would be really grateful. Please see Vicky or Theresa .
Thank you! / Uniform
Don’t forget uniform is on sale so please see Vicky if you would like to buy a Polo shirts and/or Sweatshirts. We have stock in the cupboard.
Sweatshirt £7.00 Polo-shirts £6.50
Sainsbury ‘Active Kids’ vouchers
We have received our Sainsbury voucher collection box so look out for it in the foyer soon! In the past we have been able to get lots of outdoor toys and equipment so please ask Nannies & Grandads, Aunties & Uncles to collect the vouchers too!
Thank you.
Learn, Play, Grow
Sheila will be coming in for a few more sessions. The children are really enjoying it and getting a lot out of it. They are listening and responding to instructions, developing their self-confidence, working as a group and moving their bodies. The last session will be the week after February half term.
Diary Dates
Thursday 27th February
World Book Week
Week beginning 20thMarch –
Keyperson Chats
Thursday 30th March –
Easter Egg Hunt & cake sale/Grandparent week
Break up for the Easter holidays
Monday 11th April –
Summer Term starts
Future dates for your information
Thursday 15th June
Deena, the photographer in
Saturday 1st July
Cottontails Sports Day & BBQ / Easter Crown Parade & Egg Hunt
We will be having an Easter Crown Parade (crowns will be made at preschool) and Egg Hunt for Parents/Carers to join in with on the last day of the Spring term, Thursday 30th March at 11.30am. Those children who do not usually attend a Thursday morning session are welcome with a parent/carer.There will be a cake sale at the Parade so any donations of baked goods will be very welcome! This week will also be Grandparents week, all grandparents are invited to come along to a session and play! Look out for a sign up sheet nearer the time!
Easy fundraising
When you are buying online you can raise funds for Cottontails by clicking on with an email address and choose 'Cottontails Preschool - Norwich' as your fundraising cause. Then by going through the site (or handy App) to make internet purchases, registered retailers (a huge variety of shops such as Amazon, supermarkets, eBay and many smaller ones) will donate to Cottontails. If you use this referral link to sign up then Cottontails will also receive an extra pound when you start to use easyfundraising:
We have already raised over £60 from Easyfundraising so please help us to increase this even further!
Outdoor garden
The Village Hall committee have agreed to let us have sole ownership of the garden. This is really exciting for the preschool. We will be clearing some of the plants and creating different spaces and areas within the garden to develop the children’s outdoor experiences and learning.
We have arranged two clearance weekends so if any parents / family members are able to come along and help we would be really grateful. The more hands the better. Also if any of you know a landscape gardener or garden enthusiast who could help us plan it out we would love their help!
The clearance dates are Saturday 4th February @ 9.30 & Saturday 4th March @ 9.30.
Please bring spades, forks etc!
This will be our fundraising project so all monies raised from fundraising events will go towards the outdoor garden.
Upcoming!!!
Cottontails Quiz night fundraiser
Details will be appearing in emails and flower pots soon! Watch this space!!
World Book Week
World Book Day is Thursday 2nd March so we will be having a World Book Week the week beginning 27th February. We will plan activities around books and stories. We will also be inviting children to come to preschool dressed as a book character for a donation of £1 – monies raised will be going towards the outdoor area.
Mornings
Please put yournamedchild’s hat, scarf and gloves in the blue tub in the mornings or with their coatson the stage, this helps greatly and saves a lot of time when getting the children ready for outdoor play! This will allow the children to access the outdoor area and outdoor learning to begin as soon as the session starts! As the children have freeflow access to the outdoors please ensure they have suitable clothing & wellies. The park is very muddy.
Snack time
We are very fortunate that Budgen’s donate £5 worth of fruit/vegetables for our snack time and we make it up to £10. However, we do rely on donations of breadsticks or something similar for the children to have after their fruit/vegetables.
Cottontails Library
Have you visited ‘Cottontails library’ yet? It is open from 8.45 in the pink/parent room. Each child had a book bag to carry their books backwards and forwards. If any of you have any spare bookbags from previous years we would be very grateful of them so we can use them for the library!
There is a sign in and out book for you to jot down details of the books taken and brought back.
Story Sacks to borrow
The story sacks include a storybook, the characters to act the story out and a non-fiction book. Inside each sack will be a contents list, please check all the items go back into the bag when you bring them back. More story sacks will be coming soon!
Thank you!
Snow
As it is that time of year when we might get snow I just wanted to let you know the procedure. In the event that we have to close we will put a notice on Facebook and an email will be sent out so please make sure you check these in the event of snow. We will rearrange your child’s missed session/s when and where possible.
Parent Helper rota
Please sign up on the list which can be found in the Parent room. We ask all parents/carers/grandparents to sign up for at least 2 sessions per half term, we ask for help with preparing the fruit before the session starts or to come back at 11.45 to play outside allowing a member of staff to start tidying up, siblings are welcome too! If you are not able to help because of other commitments you can make a donation in a sealed envelope and give to Vicky. All donations will go into the fundraising pot!
If you would rather sign up with another parent that’s fine!
If you would like to stay for the whole session you are very welcome to too – it’s always lovely to have parents in to see what goes on and for parents to see what their children are doing.
Feedback on Stars of the Day
This is working really well. Parents have told me that their children have been talking about it at home, so thank you! We can see it having an effect during the session so this is great! We asked the children what rules we should have at preschool, these are what they came up with! We talked about each one and why we have to have them so they understand why they need to follow them.
Our Rules
Kind hands
Play nicely with our friends
Have little voices inside
Do what the grown ups ask us to do
Look after our toys
Help tidy the toys away
Walking feet in the hall
Illnesses
We would like to remind parents about our Illnesses policy –
If your child is unwell and needing to have medicine (e.g Calpol) then please do not send them to preschool. We will ask parents to pick their child up if they become poorly during the session.
Sickness & Diarrhoea
- Where children have been prescribed antibiotics, parents are to keep them at home for 48 hours before returning to the setting.
- After diarrhoea, parents are to keep children home for 48 hours after or until a formed stool is passed.
- After sickness, parents are to keep children home for 48 hours after they were last sick.
- Conjunctivitis is a highly contagious infection. However, children are still able to attend preschool once they have been prescribed treatment from the doctor or from the pharmacy.
Story Café
We will be holding another Story Café this term. I will let you know the date and time as soon as I have been able to arrange this with the school.
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