KG Express 24.11.08

News from the nursery

Dear parents and carers,

Recently the children have been very interested in transport and vehicles. When using the large blocks in the garden the children have been building buses, trains, aeroplanes and superhero cars.

To develop and support this interest we have planned to take the children on short trips out on the bus and to Kings Cross train station to look more closely at the trains. Real life, first hand experiences are very important to a child’s learning and development. By developing children’s interest in buses and trains we are enabling them to become more deeply involved in construction and block play as well as introducing print and numbers in real situations.

If you would like to accompany us on any of these short outings please let your key person know.

Michele

News from the Community Services

Cost price art materials!

Young children learn a huge amount by playing with messy and sensory materials like paint and clay but we know that sometimes it can be difficult to offer these activities at home.

To help out, we run a dedicated Art and Messy Play Group at Vittoria Primary School every Tuesday afternoon in term-time (2-3pm). All children under five and their parents and carers are very welcome. From January the group will be running at Kate Greenaway.

For more information please ask Jan or any member of the Community team. We will also offer cost price art materials from our Art Shop at the entrance to Kate Greenaway every Thursday morning, 9 o’clock to midday. The materials we sell are most half the price of what you’d pay at the shops.

Jan

KG Express 17.11.2008

Visit from Sir Jim Rose

Thanks to the parents who talked to Sir Jim Rose who came to visit on Wednesday last week. He has been asked by the government to review the Primary School curriculum and he came to Kate Greenaway to find out more about early years. The curriculum your child receives at Primary School will be shaped by the Rose Review, and he was especially interested in our garden and how children learn outside, in play, and in Developmental Movement Play. After leaving he commented: “We came away greatly impressed by the quality of what we saw, especially the responses of the children and their parents to the dedicated staff and highly professional calibre of leadership that were all too evident. Please thank everyone on my behalf.”

News from the Community Services

Have you heard about our new service 'Parents as First Teachers' (PAFT)? If you are pregnant or have a baby or child under three and live locally to Kate Greenaway you can take part in PAFT. A project worker will visit monthly (or more often if you like) and bring a fun activity for you to do with your child/children which is closely matched to their developmental and learning needs. We will also bring along information about local services for families and about common childhood issues such as tantrums or toilet training.

Please ask Jan or Liz to find out more - jan.stillaway@islington.gov.uk or liz.dolan@islington.gov.uk

Kate Greenaway Express 10.11.2008

Monday 10th November, 2008
Dear parents and carers,

This is the first issue of KG express, which you can pick up every week from the nursery, or read online at www.kategreenaway.blogspot.com.

Review Day
We are returning to holding a Review Day every term, so you can be sure you get a chance to discuss your child's progress and wellbeing every term. This term's Review Day will be on the 2nd of December. Children with termtime places will have a crèche place that day i.e. your child will come into nursery during the meeting, and will not have their usual place.

What do you think of Kate Greenaway?

We hope that we are always open to feedback - where we do things well, it's good to hear. If we don't do well, we would like to improve. Over the next two weeks we will be distributing our Parent Survey. It’s anonymous, and is analysed by independent staff working for Islington's Children's Services. It really is a chance for you to get your views across. Also, by completing the survey, you will be automatically entered into a raffle with a top prize of £25.
Julian

News from the Community Services

We are offering the following NEW services:

Money Matters: starts Tuesday 11th, 1pm-3pm, for 4 weeks with free crèche.

Saturday Dads’ Club: first Saturday morning of the month, 10am-12pm, with brunch and lots of fun things for children to do

and don’t forget that our current programme has something on every day – pick a flyer up from the office

Jan

News from the nursery
The children are enjoying using recycled materials to create complex and exciting models, so much so that we have run out of things to use.
Could you please bring us your empty cereal boxes, kitchen roll tubes, yoghurt pots etc so we can continue to be creative.

Michele