Stars Blog and Newsletter

October 2017 newsletter

Written by Louise Winter | 29-Sep-2017 09:58:00

Dear Parents and Carers of our Kingston and Worcester Park nurseries,

Welcome to our newsletter for October 2017.

We start this newsletter with a big, warm welcome to all the new children and families that have joined us in September, it has been great meeting you all.

September saw many celebrations. From Roald Dahl’s Birthday to designing our own jeans for Jeans for Genes Day, the children learned new and exciting skills like tea staining postcards and creating treasure maps for ‘Talk like a Pirate’ Day. 

          

      

October brings many new celebrations, as well as a change in season as we step into autumn. This month, the children will be exploring and celebrating The Harvest Festival, Halloween and Diwali, just to name a few.

The Harvest Time

To celebrate the Harvest Festival, the children will be planting vegetables in our garden and making their own scarecrows! Our pre-school children will also be purchasing their own vegetables at the local green grocers, which they’ll learn about at the Nursery.

We’ll be putting food boxes together too, ready to donate to food banks. Any donations of unwanted food in tins/packaging would be greatly appreciated.

Autumn Celebrations

Thanks to Autumn, October is the most colourful month. The children will begin to explore the seasonal changes including the change in the colour of leaves, the colder weather and the darker days.

4 October - World Space Week

With darker days fast approaching, it seems fitting for the children to celebrate and learn about the glorious night sky. World Space Week begins on 4th October, and the children will have the opportunity to look at the night sky during the evening to observe the stars and the moon, understanding the importance of the moon to our planet.

16 October - National Family Week

National Family Week begins on 16th October 2017. The children will need your help to provide family photos so they can share these with their friends and make family books to keep at the nursery.

Our Pre-School children will be looking at their family customs, making family trees, reading books about new siblings and creating self-portraits. Our younger children will be exploring with mirrors to distinguish between similarities and differences.

19 October – Diwali

In keeping with the winter themes, the children will be celebrating the Hindu festival of lights on 19th October. They’ll be exploring light and darkness using torches and will be making their own colourful splatter paintings and candle lanterns.

31 October - Halloween Celebrations

We see the month off with Halloween. The children will get the chance to explore pumpkins, letting their senses take over as they touch and smell the seasonal winter squash. They’ll also assist in carving pumpkins to make fun and spooky faces.

We’ll be hosting a Halloween party on Tuesday 31st October, too. We would like the children and team to come to nursery dressed in a Halloween costume as we make decorations to hang.

There will be a prize for the best costume! For more information, please read below.

Parent Partnership – Reminders and Notable Dates

Family photos for ‘Family Week’

Please could we ask parents to bring in photographs of your child’s family for National Family Week, which begins on Monday 16th October 2017. We will be making family books for the children to keep at nursery.

Halloween Party – Tuesday 31st October 2017

We’d like to invite the children and parents to our Halloween party on Tuesday 31st October. The party will begin at 3.30pm and finish at 5.00pm. Please can we ask that the Children, Team and Parents dress up in a Halloween costume!

If you would like to attend, please confirm your attendance by Monday 23rd October 2017 by emailing worcesterpark@starsdaynursery.co.uk or kingston@starsdaynursery.co.uk, or by contacting us here.

Please may I remind you there is a maximum of 2 guests per child.

REMINDERS

PLEASE CAN we KINDLY REMIND PARENTS

  • We have a no mobile phone policy at the nursery. Please do not accept calls in the nursery, this is in line with our safeguarding policy as mobile phones have cameras. If you need to take a call, please take this outside the nursery.
  • Please ensure the front door is shut properly behind you on your way in and way out of the nursery. Please do not let other Parents into the nursery, and make sure to kindly ask them to state their purpose of visit.
  • We have a no shoe policy in the Little Stars room. Please ensure you remove your shoes before entering.
  • Please ensure when dropping your child off in the morning that you put their bag and coat away in their cupboard or on their pegs. This will avoid items going missing.

Things to try at home

Wild art – spend some time in nature gathering leaves and twigs and stick them onto paper and cardboard to make your own wild pictures. We’d love to see them if your children can bring them into Nursery!

Autumn spice play doh – Why not make some play doh and add some of your favourite ground spices. We suggest nutmeg, cinnamon and paprika.

Here’s the recipe:

  • 2 cups of plain (all purpose) flour
  • 1 cup of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • 1 cup of warm water
  • 1 teaspoon of your chosen spice.