The Jays Day Care Nursery, Pre-School and Outdoor Learning

We hope you have all had a lovely summer and made the most of the sunshine although it was a little while ago now. 

We have had some lovely new children and their families join us. We would like to welcome Arlo, Betsy, Elijha, Fionn, Henry, Joseph, Odin, Rocco, Rory, Rowan and Winston. We hope everyone has settled/settles well and enjoys nursery life.

Sadly, we have had to say farewell to Hazel our lovely Creative Workshop superstar who worked with all our children. We are missing her greatly and hope she is enjoying her retirement and cuddles with her Grandson.

We have been lucky to recruit Mollie who you have probably seen answering the door.



Mollie has experience working at another setting and is also qualified. Please do make her welcome.

We have found that children are finding it easier to settle at nursery with the current procedure of dropping off at the door. They also seem to get ready to go home far more easily for us than for parents and given the high number of children we now have at the nursery we are keeping the current procedure in place for the time being. 

We are more than happy for parents to come into the building if you wish as we are conscious that some of you are not familiar with the rooms your children are playing in. Please feel free to ask if you wish to come in.

We have noticed that it can get a bit congested at drop off and pick up time. For Pre-School children, please feel free to use the playground door.

An Important Reminder:

When dropping off or collecting your child, please can you ensure the gate is closed. It can be quite busy with parents now having to wait outside and we wouldn’t want a child to run out of the gate.

Sickness and Illness

If your child is ill please do not bring them in. 

If a child is suffering from sickness or diarrhoea our policy is that they are not to return until 48 hours after their last bout. Many thanks for your cooperation in this matter. 

Gardening

We would like to introduce a lovely lady called Liz who is working as a volunteer to give children opportunities to learn about the environment through activities such as making bird feeders, gardening etc. Prior to coming here,  Liz worked as a teacher in Plymouth and is now using her retirement to work with our pre-school children and will hope to incorporate the toddlers in the near future.

Don’t forget you can find us on Facebook. We have a username to make finding us easier fb.me/jaysnursery We try to update it regularly with news of what your children have been doing at Nursery. It is also a great way of receiving important information. Please do share with your friends and family.

Clare is back running her regular Forest School with both Pre-School Children and Toddlers. This proving very popular and we hope to add to the numbers going in the new year. Obviously it is only possible to go to the woods when there are no high winds but we are fortunate in having the wonderful Moorhaven grounds to access at all times.

Beach School is also a lovely experience but we can only offer this to a limited number of children each week and for Pre-Schoolers only. Again, this activity is weather dependent.

Blossom

We hope that you are all enjoying our online learning journal – Blossom. If you are not or are having problems with this, please do let us know. You are able to share photo’s and observations from home by clicking on ‘journey’ ‘add’ and follow the steps.  This helps us to work on our ‘In the moment planning’ process where we build on children’s learning through their interests. Should you wish to know more about this way of planning, please ask your child’s keyworker or any other member of staff.

It is really important for us to hold up to date information on

your child. We usually send out some update forms for you to check however, with Blossom, there is no need to do this. Please can you check information on your Blossom account via the 3 dashes  in the left hand corner ‘my profile’ and let us know if there is anything that needs changing i.e.change of address.

Many Thanks.

Outdoor Space

As some of you may know, we have registered with easyfundraising and we need your help!

easyfundraising is a great website where you can help us raise funds simply by doing your everyday online shopping with over 3,300 big name retailers like Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com, eBay, Boden, and M&S.

Every time you shop, we receive a small donation to say ‘thank you’ and it’s completely free too! We want to raise as much as possible so please sign up and help us at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/jaysdaycare/

Our contributions so far have helped towards our outdoor play structures. We are looking at what our next project might be and will keep you posted.

If you are entitled to and are planning to use the extended 30 hours funding, we have to verify your 11 digit code by end December (children turning 3 in the Autumn term). If you have not received your form, please let me know. Please return your completed form asap. Thank you.

To find out if you can get help with your childcare costs please visit the childcare choices website https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

You may be eligible for Tax Free Childcare, 2 year old funding, 3 and 4 year old funding, help through Tax Credits/Universal Credit or even Childcare support whilst you study. Do take a look now.

With the weather in mind and looking ahead to nearer the end of the term, please be careful on Bittaford Hill as this can get very icy. You may wish to use the lanes near Wrangaton. Should we have a lot of snow, it would be advisable to contact the Nursery before leaving home or check our Facebook page or your Blossom App. We will endeavour to keep the Nursery open as far as is reasonably possible. If the Nursery does need to close, unfortunately fees will still be charged as we still have costs to cover.

All Children

Please can you ensure we have plenty of spare clothes. We do try to protect children’s clothes as far as we can but we do messy/wet activities and along with nappy/potty accidents we do not always have enough spare clothing.

Please could you also ensure that we have plenty of nappies and wipes. Please note, there is a £5 charge should we need to provide a nappy pack.

Please bear in mind during potty training that tight clothes and dungarees can make it difficult for your child. We do encourage independence here at nursery and tight clothing is very difficult to pull up/down especially when desperate! 

Winter Clothing

Wet and cold weather is on its way so already please can you make sure your child has the following items every day:

• Warm, waterproof coat.
• Full change of clothes.
• Wellington Boots.
• Hat, scarf and mittens (please do not send gloves).

Please make sure ALL items are LABELLED.

Christmas Jumper Day

We shall be celebrating Christmas Jumper Day  but for the whole of December

If you wish to make a donation to ‘Save the Children, feel free to make a personal donation online.

New Babies/3 year old funding and securing extra sessions

As you may be aware, we are now quite busy at nursery and session availability is quite limited. If you know you are likely to require extra sessions in the future i.e. when becoming eligible for the early years entitlement funding or expecting a new baby, please do book in your requirements as soon as possible as we hate to disappoint.

Christmas Festivities

We will hold a Pre-School Christmas Party on Thursday 8^th December. The lovely Billy Wiz will make an appearance and keep the children laughing with his characters antics.

On Thursday 15^th December the Pre-School Children will perform their version of ‘The Nativity’ for parents to come and see. Watch out for your invitation. Unfortunately we will only be able to invite parents of the Pre-School Room Children only.

Please note – We will be closing at 4pm on 23^rd December and not re-opening until 8 a.m Tuesday 3^rd January 2023. We will adjust your invoice accordingly

Dates For Your Diary

Friday 18^th November 2022

Children in Need – Pyjama Week – details to follow.

December 2022

Christmas Jumper Day/Month

Come to Nursery dressed in your favourite festive wear or decorations.

Make your own personal donations if you wish to Save the Children.

Thursday 8^th December

Pre-School Christmas Party

Thursday 15^th December

Pre-School Nativity

Friday 16^th December 2022

End of Term for Term Time only children.

Friday 23^rd December 2022

Shorter hours - Closing at 4 p.m.

Tuesday 3^rd January 2023

Re-Open 8 a.m. for our all year round children

Wednesday 4^th January

First day of Spring Term for Term Time children only

Monday 13^th February – Friday 17^th February 2023

Half term for Term Time only children

Merry Christmas From Jacqui And the Team