What a fabulous week we’ve had! We are so glad the weather the children associate with winter made a brief appearance to strengthen our area of interest. The children had so much fun making snow angels, sledging, throwing snowballs and filling my pockets with snow! I rescued the camera just in time!
We have also been making volcanoes with a little red paint, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to link in with the letter sound of the week, the children loved making the mixture fizz and found tubes to make their volcanoes even bigger when they decided the playdough volcanoes on their own were not big enough! We also used the mixture to send a rocket to the moon, vroooooom!!
After the half term holidays we will be exploring ‘me and my family’ as the children have been role playing family life and as we discussed who we love this week, there has obviously been lots of family members discussed. We will give you lots more details after we have had the first week back and held discussions with the children about what they already know and what they would like to know more about.
The letter sound for the returning week will be ‘y’. You can support your child at home by discussing words that start with y, (yellow, yo-yo, yacht, you) and spotting y’s when you are out and about on number plates, on packaging in shops, in books and on signs and notices. Don’t forget anything you can find that starts with y, the letter monster would love to eat for lunch!
If we are forced to close due to bad weather we will update the website and facebook first, then start ringing people who normally attend the sessions we are closing for, so please ensure you check the website regularly for updates.
Do you know what sessions you would like after Easter? If not don’t worry we are here to help and advise you to make the best choices for your child and family. To help with the decisions about sessions I will provide you with some information now, then I will be following it by having a chat either in person or via phone with every family between 10th and 14th March. We now need to hold a copy of your child’s birth certificate on file for the funding, if we are asked to produce a copy of the birth certificate by Northumberland County Council and are unable to funding will be withdrawn, so please bring it in so we can copy it and return straight away. Thank you
If your child meets the criteria for two year old funding they will receive 15 hours of funded care per week, so all that is left to pay is consumables and lunches! It is always worth checking this link to see if you are eligible, if you have any questions about this please come and see me or ring me. That’s the equivalent of two full days and an afternoon session for free with just consumables and lunches to pay for, or five mornings and lunch sessions for less than £16 per week. For those two year olds not in receipt of funding there is no upper limit to the hours you can access per week, our hourly rate is £3.25 plus 50p per session for consumables, that’s a total of just £21.31 for a full day including consumables or three mornings a week would cost £28.32 per week including consumables. Our costs are kept low as we are a charity and pass any savings onto our customers!
For three and four year olds (must be three before 31st March) we guarantee you will be able to access your child’s funded 15 hours per week at Pre-school. This equates to two full days and an afternoon session or for less than £16 per week your child could attend three full days a week as you would only pay for the extra morning and lunch session and consumables. Like the two year old, there is no upper limit for three and four year olds, we also aim to support working families through flexible hours to adapt to shift patterns and extra hours wherever possible.
If you or your partner are employed check out this link for advice about Childcare Vouchers from your employer, they save money as they are deducted from your wages before tax so you effectively get more for your money. We will work with whichever scheme your employer uses please get in touch for more details. If the half termly bills are difficult to manage please speak to me to discuss monthly or weekly payments and we will aim to help ease the situation.
For children who may be attending school half days after Easter (must be four before 1st April 2014) we offer collection of your child from Allendale Primary School for the afternoon session at Pre-school, the session will be charged at our normal rate £8.13 plus consumables. Children attending other schools are welcome to attend for afternoon sessions or days depending on the offer from the school of your choice, however schools will be awarded the funding, if they attend school for less than 15 hours we may be able to claim the remainder, we sadly cannot offer the collection service from other school locations.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch, if you want to discuss your session requirements with me before I contact you (10th-14th March) then I am available at the beginning and end of every session, Monday morning 9-1.30am and all day Friday. Many thanks Dani
Please can we have any socks returned that may have been loaned out, we are currently down to one pair of spare socks!
Happy half term holiday! We will see you all when we return on Monday 24th February.
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