Nursery News June 2010

1. Nursery News June 2010 Another busy year is almost over and it’s time for our final newsletter of the session. It has certainly been a busy year including our very successful HMIe report based on the inspection team’s visit in November. Thank you to all our parents and families who supported us this year. Visitors There have been lots of visitors in the Nursery this term. Sonia McCathie from Integrated Community Schools began a 5 week course for parents wishing to explore positive parenting on Thursday mornings during the nursery session. It was such a success that the Time Out 4 Parents Group have been nominated for a learner’s achievements award and will be presented with their certificates at an event in the Glen on Wednesday 23rd June. Congratulations to them all. Our active schools co-ordinator, Roger Arnott, provided us with transition sessions for both the pre-school children and Primary 1 pupils in the hall. He was ably assisted by some buddies from upper school who supported the children with the tasks. The Childsmile Team have been busy again with both toothbrushing and fluoride varnishing. They will be back next session to continue with the childsmile programme. Lorraine Taylor, our Speech and Language Therapist, has trained staff and a parent in signalong to support our children with hearing impairments or communication difficulties. Staff are now using signalong in the nursery to support all the children. PLP Parent Talk for New Entrants Thank you to everyone who came along to the informal talk with Mrs Marshall in the parent room to find out about the new PLPs for children in the nursery now that the Curriculum for Excellence is being implemented throughout Scotland. Cuppachats Cuppachats with key workers were well attended this session. There will be cuppa chats again next year for all our current ante pre-school children. If you would like to take a family time and/or a star moments worksheet to fill in for your child’s PLP please help yourself from the table in our foyer. PLPs If you still have a PLP folder at home please return it as soon as possible so that staff can continue to update your child’s records. Pre school children will take their PLPs into Primary 1 so that their new teachers can use them. They will be sent home to parents during the P1 session. Congratulations Imogen Prescott became a big sister to Tamsin who was born on 24th May. Congratulations to the proud parents.

2. Fundraising – New Equipment Thank you to everyone who donated money for our sponsored share-a-story week in March. The grand total raised was £354.00. Thanks to Pitcorthie Nursery we did not have to buy new kitchen furniture for the home corner as they passed their old units to us after Mrs Marshall helped them with their HMIe Inspection in March. We have therefore thrown out our old units in order to completely revamp the area. Children now love playing in their new kitchen! New equipment is very expensive to buy and staff continuously want to provide good quality resources which are durable for 60 children playing daily in the nursery so, Pitcorthie’s kind gesture has helped us stretch our budget slightly. We have now ordered some new resources for the nursery and you will see them in place once they arrive. We have ordered a wooden letter box and large storage unit to enhance the writing area and 4 new sets of play food and a 170 piece kitchen set (cups, saucers, plates, cutlery etc) for the home corner. We have also bought some dressing up costumes and books to complement our topics in nursery. Staffing Mrs Gregge, the Depute Headteacher in charge of Nursery and Early Years, is taking early retirement this summer after 16 years here at Lynburn. We will all miss her and wish her a long and happy retirement. Mrs Yarham, the headteacher, will be taking over responsibility for Nursery and Early Stages from August 2010. With changes in the structure of staffing in nurseries throughout Fife, Mrs Marshall will be the nursery teacher both here and at Kinghorn Nursery next session. You will see her 2-3 days each week in Lynburn enhancing the learning and teaching for all children. We will therefore be getting a new member of staff joining our team next session and she will take on Mrs Marshall’s keyworker children from August. Once we have the new staff member’s name we will announce it on the noticeboard and give the ante pre school children a letter home to advise of their keyworker changes. Party Day Thursday 1st July is of course our Sunshine Party Day! It is the end of session party and children can dress up in hot colours to help the sun shine brightly for the occasion. Nursery restarts on Wednesday 18th August 2010 at 8.50am and 12.30pm. Our new entrants all have individual start dates for nursery and parents will begin to see new faces around from 19th August onwards Thank you very much for your continued support. Happy Holidays to all our families, Mrs Marshall and the Nursery Team