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

Welcome to the Spring and Summer Newsletter. As we head into the Summer Term it was clear time had run out for our Spring Newsletter so we have amalgamated the two together. 

We start by saying a very sad farewell to all our school leavers and others going off to pastures new; Emily O, James, Artie, Esmae, Max, Austin, Indy, Amber, Jack, Harvey, Emily, Haydn, Harper Y, Lilly, River, Archie, Gwen, George L, Jessie and William A. We wish them all lots of luck and happiness in their next stage in life and we are sure they will all love and relish their new big adventure. We will miss each and every one of them greatly.

As well as saying goodbye we are also lucky to welcome some lovely new children and families to The Jays; Hilda, Jago, Woden, Louis, Ophelia, Poppy W, Luca C, William A, Ginevra, Harper H, Mia, Wren, Reuben, Gabriel and Louie. We hope everyone has settled/settles well and enjoys nursery life We hope everyone has settled/settles well and enjoys nursery life.

We also have some staff change and would like to welcome Elleesse and Becca to our staff team. Elleesse has previous experience and is continuing her apprenticeship here. Becca is qualified and also has experience.  Please do make them welcome.

Jack will be going off to America mid-May to gain experience working in Summer Camp. He will be missed here but we wish him well and may see him back in the future. 

Sickness and Illness

We seem to have a lot of illnesses lingering and would be very grateful if you could be vigilant and ensure that children do not come to nursery if they are poorly particularly with high temperatures. If they are suffering from sickness or diarrhoea our policy is that they are not to return until 48 hours after their last bout.  We don’t want to be in the position of having to close due to too many poorly staff having picked up the children’s illnesses. Many thanks for your cooperation and understanding in this matter. 

All Pre-school children are required to bring a water bottle with them. A sports bottle is best as the children find them easier to drink out of. This is so that they are able to access a drink whenever they want one in addition to the milk and water we offer at all meal/snack times. We will fill the bottle with fresh drinking water throughout the day. The bottle should be labelled with your child’s name. Please ensure this is taken home and washed at the end of the day. NB Babies and Toddlers are offered water throughout the day.

As we head into the warmer weather, please make sure your child has all of the following items every day and that these are labelled:

Full change of clothes

• Sunhat
• Jumper
• Lightweight waterproof coat (just in case)
• Wellies

Could you also make sure that all T-shirts and dresses have a sleeve so shoulders are covered please.

Many thanks to all of you who have helped raise money for our outdoor learning space. We have raised £1,078 so far!

If you are not already signed up to help, please do take a look – through easyfundraising 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/



We are continually trying to add to our outdoor resources so help like this, that is free too, is invaluable

Outdoor Learning

Clare continues to run Forest School with both Pre-School Children and Toddlers. This is proving very popular and we are planning sessions to try to ensure that all children who wish to take part are able to at some point. 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.

Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather as we do go out come rain or shine and providing it is safe to do so. Ensure your child has:

• Full Change of clothes
• Jumper/Fleece
• Long sleeved tops/t-shirts to layer up
• Coat, Wellies and woolly hat

Refunds are not possible for sessions cancelled on safety grounds as high staffing ratio’s will already have been accounted for.

If you are interested in your child being put on the waiting list for either Toddler (age 2-3) or Pre-School (age 3-5) Forest school sessions then please let a member of staff know. 

Just a little note to remind you that you are able to collect your child any time during their session. We do go for walks so if you are likely to arrive mid-afternoon and it is not your normal pick up time, it is worth letting us know so that we can make sure your child isn’t too far away.

Please could you also not drop your child earlier than your session time or collect later. This is having an impact on our staff ratio’s as we have part time staff who have either not yet arrived or are waiting to go home. We may have to re-instate early drop off/late pick up fees in order to re-imburse staff.

You should all have had an email regarding our fee increase from April. It is, unfortunately, necessary for the reasons already explained .  We have kept it to a minimum and have sent out revised terms and conditions. Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you not have received the information.

Help Paying For Childcare

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 Childcare support whilst you study. Do take a look now.

We do our best to check emails throughout the day, however, there are occasions when we are with the children and it has not been possible to get into the office. If anything is urgent and you haven’t had a reply, please do telephone. 

New Babies

We would like to congratulate those families who are expecting a new addition in the not too distant future and congratulations to those who have delivered their little ones safely. We do need to let you know that we are very busy and only have selected sessions in our rooms and our baby room has limited spaces until March 2024. If you would like to book your baby in and would like days guaranteed, please do book as soon as possible.

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. Parents are now able to comment and like observations. This is a very welcome update which is something we requested and hope you will enjoy. 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. 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/telephone number.



Many Thanks

ITMP can often mean spontaneous activities occur along with access to messy/sensory resources.

From experience, many children refuse to wear an apron and could possibly never engage in messy activities. When a child comes to a messy activity and starts to become engrossed with the resources. As educators, we might notice they haven’t got an apron on.

This little learner is totally engrossed in his play using their imagination and freely expressing themselves using their whole body; deep level thinking is happening at this moment in time. He is curious about the marks made in the tray/puddle/on paper etc. Curious to investigate and find out what happens.

The synapse in his brain is on fire; brain development is happening at this very moment! ⭐️

Please see attached on how you can help your child enjoy and learn from this type of play.

Dates For Your Diary

Monday 29th May – Friday 2^nd June

Half Term for Term Time Children

Friday 21st July

Last day of Summer Term for Term Time children

Save the Date

Friday 7th July

Tea Party

Bank Holidays (Closed Days)

 Monday 1st May

Early May Bank Holiday

Monday 8th May

Bank Holiday King’s Coronation

Monday 29th May

Spring bank holiday

Monday 28th August

Summer bank holiday

Christmas Closure

4 pm Friday 22^nd December 2023 – 8 am Tuesday 2^nd January 2024 (Wednesday for Term Time children).

Enjoy The Summer From Everyone At Jays!