Dates For Diary

The children's Christmas party will be on Friday 17th December, 12 -2pm.
The nursery will close on 21st December 2010, and re-open on Tuesday 4th January.

Toothbrush Club

The toothbrush club has been up and running since September and is going very well. All the children enjoy cleaning their teeth after they have had their morning snacks.

After school club

The after school club is now up and running. At the moment there are 13 children using the service and there have been a few more enquiries. The club will be open for 2 days during the half term period Monday and Thursday from 9am-3pm, the cost will be £20 per day. If anyone is interested in this or the after school club please contact Jill the nursery manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.

Visits to the Nursery

In the month of June, the monthly theme was people who help us. Jill arranged a number of visitors to the nursery. Gaynor Smith a nurse at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, came and showed the children how to clean and bandage somebody who was hurt, all the children really enjoyed using the stethoscope and bandages, some were a little squeamish with the fake blood. Two officers from the local police station came with helmets and handcuffs for the children to try on, and their police van which all the children had a turn of sitting in. Gentlemen from Glynneath fire brigade visited with a fire engine, talked to the children and then let them have a turn of spraying/holding the hose with water, and all sat in the engine and tried on their helmets. We would like to Thank everyone who visited, the children really enjoyed and learned about people who help us.

Return to work

As most of our parents will know Stephanie has been off on maternity leave, she will be returning to work the beginning of July.

Drop off and Pick up service

The school drop off and pick up service is now in operation, if any parent would like to use this service please contact Jill Nursery Manager.

New Service

From September the nursery is setting up an After school Club for all children in the local area who attend full time education. We will pick up children from school and transport them to the club, if parents prefer they may bring them up to the club themselves, for further information please contact Jill Nursery Manager.

Toothbrush Club

To support our Healthy Eating ethos we are starting a toothbrush club for the children, this will promote children's awareness of oral health and assist in their health and well being.

Availability

There are spaces available in both the under 2's and over 2's room if anybody is interested/ looking for child care please contact Jill, nursery manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.

School Transport

The school drop off and pick up service is going very well. We have one child using us 3 days a week, with 2 more this month. Come September the numbers are rising again. If anyone is interested in their child attending nursery and using this service, please contact Jill, nursery manager on 01639 700024 ext 3.

Staff Leaving

Donna who has been working in the nursery for a number of years, has finished and left to work in a new job. We are very sorry to see Donna go but wish her all the best in her new job. All the best Donna, from all at the nursery.

Tesco Vouchers

The nursery would like to say thank you to everyone who gave tesco school vouchers to the nursery. We did set ourselves quite a high target of 6,400, but we only reached 3,700,which was brilliant and we have managed to request quite a number smaller items, for the children to benefit from. We have chosen quite a few things to be used outdoors. Once again Thank You.

Competition

The Nursery receives a magazine each month, Small Talk, they have competitions in them and Jill regularly tries her luck, by entering these competitions to win things for the nursery. Well, this month we have been successful and have won 25 large shopping bags. The children will be able to do a small picture/drawing, which will be printed onto the bag.

Return to work

As all our parents will know, Heather has been off work for the last couple of months on maternity leave. Heather, returned to work the beginning of April, everyone would like to welcome Heather back. Kate Williams who was working to cover Heather, has now finished, due to Heather's return. We would like to Thank Kate for her hard work and covering for Heather when off on leave. Kate will still be in the Nursery 2 days a week on placement, as she is now doing her NVQ level 3 in childcare.

Travel cot update

We mentioned in an earlier blog, that we had a travel cot for sale, this has now been sold and the funds have been put towards buying equipment for the Nursery.

Staff Training

Staff in the nursery, regularly do staff training which is relevant to our work, below is a list of what staff have undertaken so far this year.
Jill - Paediatric Life Support (Renewal).
- Fire Safety.
Beth - Neglect.
- Fire Safety.
Donna - Advanced Child Protection.
Clare - Neglect.
Steph - Advanced Child Protection.
Heather - Paediatric Life Support (Renewal).

Awning

As mentioned before the nursery had applied for funding, to have an awning fitted in the nursery garden. We received the funding and the awning was fitted last week, and works very well. Hopefully we will have some nice weather, during the summer months to use the awning.

Nursery Transport

As mentioned before, the Nursery is starting a drop-off and collection service to school. It will start this month(March), with 1 child and then in May, 2 children, with more pencilled in for the following months, by September we will have 4 children using the service and hopefully, some new children. If you are interested in this, or need more information please contact Jill Douglas Nursery Manager on 01639 700024 ext3.

Arts and Crafts

The Nursery would be very grateful for any donations of wallpaper, washed out yoghurt pots, metal jar lids, oddments of wool etc. which we can use for art activities. If you have anything, please drop it into the Nursery. Thank You.

Tesco Vouchers

The Nursery is collecting the Tesco school vouchers, if you wish to donate these please drop them in to the main office or the Nursery, we would be very grateful for any donations,Thank You.

Parent Training

The Healthy eating event which was scheduled for the 23rd of February, unfortunately has had to be re-arranged for March 9th. If anybody is interested in attending this evening please contact Jill Douglas Nursery Manager on 01639 700024 ext.3.

Nursery Awning

As mentioned before in the blog, the Nursery applied for a grant to have an awning placed outside, to provide shade for the children when out in the warm weather. We were disappointed when we were told we had to wait a little longer. But, i am pleased to say we have now received the grant money and hopefully, weather permitting the awning will be put up on Friday 26th February.

Haven Sports Equipment

A couple of months ago, the Nursery received information from Haven holidays, to receive free sports equipment. We had to register with them and, get our parents, friends and family with children attending the nursery, to sign onto the haven website and pledge their support (giving their e-mail address), and if we reached 100% we would get the equipment. We are extremely pleased to announce that we reached the target, and the beginning of this month we received the sports equipment, which the children have had great fun using and playing with. A BIG Thank you to everybody that helped us reach the target.

New for 2010

The Nursery is offering a new service starting this year, of drop-off and pick-up from school. We will be offering this to all schools in the Dulais Valley. We are registered for children aged birth-5 years, and our opening hours are 7.30am - 6.30pm. If you require this service and are interested please contact Jill Douglas, Nursery Manager on 01639 700024 ext 3 for more information.

New Year

The nursery would like to welcome everybody back for the start of a new year. We hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and New Year.