Welcome to the other half of term. How the days go quickly!

We have some important notice to bring to your attention:

Colder weather

As the weather is getting colder and wetter, kindly ensure your children have appropriate clothing. Wellies, boots, coats, hats, gloves and scarfs if needed. We have wet suits at the pre-school for outdoor play on wet days but you are welcome to provide one from home. Also, please provide spare clothes so children have change of clothing if needed.

Oral hygiene

For children staying for lunch, we would like to provide them the chance to brush their teeth after lunch. If you and your child would like to do this, then please bring a toothbrush in a resealable bag. Due to current Coronavirus restrictions and guidelines we will be doing only ‘dry brushing’ at the moment. This is where children will use the toothbrush with no water or toothpaste. Toothbrushes will be rinsed afterwards. This activity still gives the children the opportunity to practise brushing independently and also to develop their fine motor skills and good oral hygiene. We will also use this opportunity to discuss the importance of brushing and talk about its benefits. From September 2021, promoting good oral hygiene will be a requirement: we will be asking all parents to provide a toothbrush and hopefully toothpaste!

Healthy packed lunch

As we resume this half term, we are asking parents to support and work with us in promoting healthy eating in children’s lunches. At snack time we will be exploring new fruits and experimenting different ways of eating them i.e. smoothies. Packed lunches can contain:

  • a sandwich (please no chocolate spread), crackers and cheese/ham/chicken, soup, beans, or a meal that we can heat up in the microwave oven (please make sure this has NOT been reheated already as we cannot then heat it again due to health and safety).
  • A yoghurt or similar
  • some fruit
  • healthy snack.

If you are providing grapes, please cut them into halves as these can be a choking hazard. We also politely ask parents not to provide food that contains nuts or kiwi fruit because we have some children who are allergic even to the smell of these allergens. No popcorn please, as this can also be a choking hazard. We appreciate your support with this.

‘All about me’ on Tapestry

By now, we assume all parents have activated their Tapestry accounts to help them monitor their children’s learning and development. Could you please fill out your child’s ‘All about me’ profile on their Tapestry online journal? This would help us know more about your child and avail us the opportunity to support them better. If you need to reset your password please email us via [email protected].

Guidance on COVID-19

Lastly, we would like to thank parents for their support and understanding for abiding with the restrictions and guidelines that we have put in place. These are for your health and safely as well as your children’s and our staff’s. As a reminder, could we please stick to one adult per child at drop-off and pick-up? No congregating for small chats in front of the nursery. Please be reminded that all children should be picked up by 2.45 pm to provide staff the opportunity to clean, sanitise all toys, and prepare the furniture and equipment for the next day.

Thank you for all your support.

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