CONGRATULATIONS

I am delighted to let you know that Alison(buttercups) has completed all her work for SVQ III Children's Care, Learning and Development and is now a fully qualified Early Years Practitioner . Any of you who have undertaken qualifications whilst working will appreciate the amount of hard work , discipline and dedication this requires . Well done Alison - we're all so proud of you :-)

Marion

Charity Event

Hello everyone,

Katy Holt , mum of one of our sunflowers, is involved in organising a charity event to be held at Kippie Lodge on Saturday 27th November 10am to 1pm . This is to raise funds for Cherish Uganda . There will be a silent auction , a raffle with some super prizes and various stalls offering a variety of  goodies that will make excellent Christmas gifts.And...wait for it.... Santa's grotto!!!!!! So take the children along - you'll also be offered a coffee and delicious homebakes included in the entrance fee of only £2.00(children free). Tickets are available on the day at the door or contact 07540222667. Enjoy!

And while we're on the subject - I am appealing for donations for our Christmas Hamper . This will be raffled after the Sunflowers Concert on Friday 17th December. Tickets on sale soon - anything you can donate will be gratefully received. The proceeds from this will go towards our Staff Development Fund.

And finally - its Parents Evening tonight 6pm to 7:30pm - hope to see you there!

Marion

Congratulations!!!!!

To Suzanne and Doug on the safe arrival of their daughter Esme. 7lbs 4oz.
All well if a little shellshocked :)

Christmas Appeal

Hello everyone ,

I realise that its far too early to be thinking about this , but as every year we are supporting The Giving Tree Christmas Appeal . This distributes presents to children in the local area who would otherwise miss out on a visit from Santa . Please pick up a gift tag and full info in your child's department . Please take the time to donate a gift for a child less fortunate than your own- I promise you'll feel good :)

Also , the report from our recent CC inspection has just been published - this will shortly be on display in all departments or you can view it at www.carecommission.com . Graded inspections have been with us for 3 years now , and each year we have been awarded grades 5 and 6!

We are still awaiting the arrival of Suzanne's baby - but probably not as much as she is!!! I'll let you know the moment I hear anything.

Please feel free to leave your comments on- I like to hear what you think of the blog and if there's anything you'd like added to them

IMPORTANT INFO

Hello everyone ,

Just a very quick post today. Along with other schools and nurseries across the city and shire , the winter tummy bug has arrived early this year . This is highly infectious and affects all the children, families , staff and visitors to the setting(some of whom may be pregnant or elderly) . Please do not bring your child to nursery if they show symptoms . If we call and ask you to take them home , please do so ASAP. The child cannot return to nursery until they have been clear of all symptoms for 48 hrs . Please help us to keep the nursery as free of illness as we can .

Thanks ,

Marion

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all of you who have registered to follow our Blogspot- spread the word please!

We had a very exciting Halloween at Craigton Lodge. Witches and wizards , an amazing array of superheroes , skeletons , pumpkins , cats and other spooky creatures - well done to you all for the lovely costumes...and to the staff who made a great effort this year!

Today of course is Bonfire night and the children have been creating some beautiful firework pictures which you can admire all over the nursery. The older children have also been learning how to be safe with fireworks...so I hope that you're all going to an organised display where you can oooh and ahhh at the sights and sounds safely- I hope the rain stays off for all the bonfires that are planned over the next few day.

The older children have also been learning about road safety. We have some new storybooks with road safety themes- some of these have been sent home. We hope that you find them useful and share them with your children - they are certainly enjoying the stories and discussions at nursery!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Parents Evening - Thursday 18th November 6pm to 7:30pm

Preschool Xmas Concert- Friday 17th December 2:30pm- more info at later date

Xmas Party - Tuesday 21st December 2-4pm - more info at later date

We will close at 6pm on Thursday 23rd December and re-open 8am Wednesday 5th Jan 2011

More next week - hope you all have a great weekend - don't forget to tell about it in the children's journals!

At last

Hello everyone , yes I have finally managed to get the hang of this blog thing and now hope to update it on a every week .

You'll all be aware that its Halloween soon(how could you fail to notice all those pumpkins and costumes in every single shop you go into!) and all the Craigton children have been involved in Halloween activities - I hope you've all seen and admired the spooky decorations in the nursery. Children are welcome to come along in their costumes , but please remember to bring a change of clothing for outdoors- we don't want to ruin those beautiful fairy wings or spiderman outfits!

*****Important news: Parents Evening will be on Thursday 18th November 6pm to 7:30pm.

This is an informal evening , with wine and nibbles on offer , where you can look at your child's folio , try out some of the activities, chat with he staff and other parents. Please let the staff in your department know if you'll be coming along - look forward to seeing you all!

All the children now have journals to take home- this gives us a great link between home and nursery - please make sure you take these home with you at the weekend and let us know what your child has been doing at home - these are shared with all the children and they all really enjoy sharing their home experiences with us all - you don't need to take them every weekend or write a novel - just a few words and a picture is all we need!

And finally........don't forget the clocks go back this weekend- winter is coming!

More next week , Marion