Closing for Christmas

The Nursery will close for the Christmas break on Friday 18th December at 12pm, and re-open on the 4th January 2010. We would like to thank everyone for their support in 2009, and wish everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The Nursery Staff.

Childrens Christmas Party

The Nursery's children's Christmas party this year will be held on the 4th December. It will be held in Banwen Rugby Club and start at 5pm -7pm. This year we are having a fancy dress party, both children and adults can dress up if they wish. See you there.

Dates for Diary

On the 1st December, Onllwyn Male Voice Choir, will be putting on a Christmas Carol service, in the Dove Workshop.Tickets are available at £3.00 each and it will start at 6pm, tickets are selling quickly, if you are interested please contact Lorraine in the main office on 01639 700024.

There will be a Winter food Fair held in the Dove Workshop on the 10th December there will be a range of locally made products i.e. cheeses, preserves and fruit & vegetables, from 12-6pm, everyone is welcome.

Nursery Raffle

Its coming up to that time of year again, and the nursery has already started selling their Christmas raffle tickets. All tickets must be returned by 27th November and also the raffle will be drawn on this date. This year we have 14 prizes,
1st Luxury Food Hamper.
2nd Chocolate Fountain
3rd Juicer/Blender
4th Bottle Wine and novelty stoppers
5th Digital salt &pepper set
6th High School Musical bag & purse
7th Bath Radio
8th Box Chocolates
9th Meal for 2 in Cafe Sarn Helen
10th Children's Christmas Book
11th Box of Chocolates
12th Travel Bag
13th Box of Chocolates
14th Make upset & toilet bag.
If anyone is interested in buying a raffle ticket please call in the nursery.Thank You.

Poem Competition

The nursery, was sent information to enter a competition, -My First Poem. Forms were given to the children with a poem on and they had to fill in the blanks and return them to nursery. Jill sent these off and we are delighted to announce that 4 of our children were succesful and will now be published in one of the regional books. Well Done.

Fun & Fitness Update

A big Thank You to everybody who helped us with the Fun & Fitness campaign to get free sports equipment for the nursery. I'm really pleased to announce that we reached the 100% target and are now waiting for the sports equipment to arrive.

Annual Inspection

On October 2nd the Nursery had it's annual inspection, with Elin Davies from CSSIW our registering body. We received the report from that inspection this week, for the second year running we have had no recommendations for any improvements to the nursery. To see a copy of our report you can go on to the cssiw website or for our parents it's on display in the foyer of the creche.

Vacancies

There are vacancies available in the nursery, for children aged from birth to five years. You may also be entitled to help with your childcare costs. If you are looking for childcare, please contact Jill Douglas the Nursery Manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.

Sports Equipment

The nursery has recently been sent information from Haven, who are giving away sports equipment free to nursery's/schools who register to take part. The Nursery has signed up, and at the moment are up to 50%, in order to get the free equipment we need to reach 70%, hopefully we will reach this target and get to 100%, where we will then get a bonus pack as well. Thank You to all parents/grandparents and relatives who have helped us so far.

Awning update

I mentioned in an earlier blog that the nursery had applied for a grant so we could get an awning to put over the outdoor garden area. At the moment we won't be getting the grant but it will be reviewed at the beginning of next year, hopefully we will be successful and be able to get the awning for summer 2010.

Maternity Leave

As our parents will know Stephanie is pregnant and expecting twins. Steph has now finished work and is off on maternity leave,we would all like to wish Steph well and await the arrival of the twins. All the best Steph.

New Supply

The Nursery now has two supply workers that can be called upon when needed, they are Kate Williams and Tiffany Figoni.

Monthly Theme

Last month, the theme was food. We looked at healthy food, eating out, our favourites and not healthy. The children did food tasting activities,e.g. different types of bread,fruit and Chinese food and various cooking activities. This month (October), the theme is animals, this is broken down into our pets, wild animals, nursery rhymes including animals and homes e.g. fish lives in a fish tank.

Breakfast Club

The nursery, now has a breakfast club, which is used by a number of our children. The children are offered a different cereal each day and a piece of fruit with milk to drink. It has been very successful.

Training Program

As the Meningitis Trust evening was a success previously, Jill (Nursery Manager), is planning on running another evening for parents. Also, as part of the training program the next evening tobe arranged will be Healthy Eating. More details of this evening will be posted soon.

Children leaving

This month a few of our older children, have left nursery,as they will be attending school full time after the holidays. Here are some pictures they drew before leaving. Flynn drew this lovely picture of his house and a picture of Jill. Maddi drew a picture of a rocket.

Children's art work

Here are some of the childrens pictures, they did string painting, texture painting and handprint painting.

New Arrival

In the early hours of this morning, Heather the deputy manager had her baby. Lili weighed in at 7lbs 11.5 ozs., both mother and baby are well. Everybody at the Dove sends their love and congratulations to Heather, Dale and Lili.xx

Training Programme

As mentioned before, the nursery has put together a training programme for parents. The First Aid Course will be taking place on Monday 6th of July, there are places still available if you are interested please get in touch with Jill the nursery manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.

Nursery Awning

The nursery has applied for a grant, so that we can have an awning put over the outdoor play area to shade the children in the hot weather. Hopefully we will hear soon, wheather we have been successful or not. The children love to go outdoors, all wear hats and have suncream applied but can't go out for long in this very hot weather.

Car Boot Sale -Update

Unfortunately the car boot sale planned for Saturday 4th of July, has had to be cancelled. Sorry for any inconvenience, hopefully it can be re-arranged for another date.

Romania Appeal

Recently the nursery were involved in the project Reaching Romania. The parents were asked if they wanted to help, they were given an empty shoe box covered in Christmas wrapping paper and given a list with many items on it, (some essential). The parents then filled them and returned them to the nursery, in total 64 boxes were filled for children/adults in Romania. We also enlisted the help of the crochet class held at Dove Workshop, 36 blankets were made, also scarfs hats and slippers.

Trip to Cantref Farm

On Tuesday 9th June, the nursery ran a trip to Cantref Farm, Brecon.A total of 25 adults and 20 children attended, a very enjoyable day was had by all, and the weather was lovely for the children to play on the outdoor activities. I think the favourite event for most was watching the pig racing.

Roots,Toots and Froots Fair

On 16th July, there will be a Roots, Toots & Froots fair held in the allotments in Roman Road Banwen from 12-7pm. Come and join in, in a gardening fun day.

Car Boot Sale

On July 4th, there will be a car boot sale held at the Dove Workshop, booking is essential. There is a charge of £5 per car. Payment is required in advance please contact Lorraine/Kate in the main office on 01639 700024 ext 1.

Training for Parents

The nursery has arranged a training programme for parents /family members and friends to attend (booking essential). The first of which is a baby massage course, held on the 10th & 17th of June, which many attended. The following have also been arranged -First Aid,Positive Behaviour, Oral Health, Healthy Eating and Sibling Rivalry.There is a charge of £5 and there are still spaces available, the first aid training will begin on the 6th of July, if anyone is interested please contact Jill the Nursery Manager .

Monthly Theme

Through the year the Nursery follows a curriculum, which is broken down into a monthly theme, one activity a day is related to the topic. This month the theme is Safety - this is broken down into weeks, these being, ourselves, outdoor, indoor and symbols.

Tesco vouchers

The Nursery joined the Tesco voucher scheme this year, we needed to collect 3430 and the total we collected was 3522. A huge Thank You to everyone who helped us reach our target.We are now going to order a Dark Den and accessory kit to go with it.

Vacancies

There are vacancies available in the nursery, for children aged from birth to five years. You may also be entitled to help with your childcare costs. If you are looking for childcare, please contact Jill Douglas the Nursery Manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.