22 Street Lane Nursery - August 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter August Play • Discovery • Growth

August Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, Welcome to our August Newsletter, and as always, we would like to welcome our new families who have recently joined us. A big congratulations to our Swans children who had their Graduation last month, we are all so proud of them and everything they have achieved during their time at 22 Street Lane Nursery. They all looked very smart in their uniforms and graduation hats when they went up to receive their certificates and books, and the celebrations continued into the afternoon with a special garden party for the children and their families. We wish all of our leavers the best of luck at ‘Big School’ and we will really miss them all. We have kicked off August with ‘Yorkshire Day’ where we celebrated all things Yorkshire! Oli cooked up a Yorkshire-inspired menu, which of course included Yorkshire Puddings! To find out more, please read on...

August Newsletter STAFF NEWS

Congratulations Emily and Mark We would like to say huge congratulations to Emily and Mark who tied the knot on Saturday 29th July, doesn’t she look lovely?! We wish Emily and Mark a lifetime of happiness together.

Congratulations Leah! We would like to say well done to Leah, who has recently achieved her Level 3 Diploma! Leah has been working so hard over the last 18 months and has built some fantastic relationships with the Duckling children and families. She is now officially a Qualified Practitioner, and we love having Leah as part of our 22 Street Lane Team!

Welcome to Emmy A warm welcome to Emmy, who has joined our Cygnets Room as an Apprentice Practitioner. “I am extremely excited to be joining 22 Street Lane Nursery to start my childcare career and feel lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch them progress every day. I’m looking forward to gaining new experiences working alongside the children and helping them grow and develop. In my spare time, I love to stay active and keep myself busy. I have four furry friends who keep me company, including my Cockapoo Mable and my three Labradors Tess, Molly and Nellie.”

August Newsletter STAFF NEWS Welcome to Abbey Abbey has recently joined the nursery as a Bank Staff Nursery Assistant, she will be working in all the rooms, and she is looking forward to getting to know all the children. "I am enthusiastic about working with children. Particularly, I enjoy watching their individual personalities flourish and develop. I have experience as a teaching assistant in primary education Specifically, I have worked in key stage one and key stage two. However, the majority of my experience is in Early Years, which is my main passion. I like being kept on my feet all day and inspiring creativity. From my experience, I have learned that every day is different working with children, which I enjoy.”

Welcome to Amy Amy will be joining our team as a Bank Staff Nursery Assistant. “I’m passionate about working with children and helping them learn and grow in a safe and nurturing environment. I’m excited to start my career here at 22 Street Lane Nursery. I’m currently studying sociology at the University of Leeds, and I love my degree as it gives you insight and understanding into people’s lives. I’m passionate about working with children, as I find having the opportunity to help them develop across all areas to be very rewarding. In my spare time, I love going on adventures and exploring new things - I’m always ready to learn something new!”

August Newsletter NEWS Country of the Month, August 2023: Italy Throughout July, we have been celebrating Greece as our Country of the Month! The children have enjoyed lots of fun activities including designing their own versions of the Greek flag using paint, coloured pencils, tissue paper and glue, exploring themed tuff trays containing a range of messy play materials, participating in Greek-themed sensory sessions whilst listening to some Greek music and lots of yummy cooking activities too. The Ducklings enjoyed making some feta pittas, which tasted delicious! Cygnets and Swans Nursery Uniform If your child is moving into the Cygnets or Swans Room in September, they will be required to wear a nursery uniform. This can be purchased from Rawcliffes Uniform Shop (617-619 Roundhay Road, Leeds LS8 4AR). If your child is leaving the nursery, we would be most grateful for any uniform donations. We will be holding a second-hand nursery uniform sale in August (date to be confirmed on Tapestry) to pass these items to other parents for a small donation, which will then be given to charity.

We are now looking forward to exploring our next Country of the Month through August, which is Italy! If you have any resources or books linked to our Country of the Month, please feel free to bring these in for the children to share.

Children's Room Transitions Throughout August, the children will start their transitions to their new rooms! Each child will have at least two settle sessions, you will be advised when these are by your child’s Key Person. There will be more information to follow, but the room changes are as followed:

Chicklets to Goslings Goslings to Cygnets Ducklings to Cygnets Cygnets to Swans

August Newsletter NEWS

Swans Graduation: Class of 2025 Thursday 20th July marked the Swans ‘Class of 2023’ Graduation from 22 Street Lane Nursery and what a fantastic celebration it was! We were so lucky with the weather and all the children did so well! It was so lovely to see how much the Swans children have blossomed as they are now ready to embark on their next exciting venture to ‘Big School!’ We wish all the children so much luck in September, and we will miss all of you.

August Newsletter Carnival Week: W/C Monday 22nd August

As we know that many of our families attend the Leeds West Indian Carnival, we will be supporting this by holding our very own Carnival Week at 22 Street Lane Nursery! The children are invited to wear bright colours and carnival decorations to join in with the festivities. We will have lots of carnival music, dancing, mask making activities and children will be able to create their own headdresses with colourful decorative resources too.

August Newsletter

Dish of the Month

Turkey Meatball Pasta

See our past selections on: 22streetlanenursery.co.uk/dish-of-the-month/

Ingredients

• 500g turkey mince • 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley • 50g of breadcrumbs • 1 clove of garlic, white onion and lemon • Salt and pepper to season • 1 courgette, grated • 3g fennel seeds • Your favourite grated cheese to finish For the sauce: • 3 mixed peppers and 2 carrots • 1 spoon paprika and dried oregano • 1 clove of garlic

• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes • 1 small carton of passata • Half a bunch of basil • 500g of chosen pasta

Method

1. Finely dice your white onion and parsley, and zest your lemon. Save your lemon juice for later. Grate your courgette and mix it well with the turkey mince. 2. Then add the remaining breadcrumbs and begin forming your meatballs. Bake until they reach 75C degrees or above, with your oven set at around 180C degrees. 3. Finely dice a red or white onion and caramelise this in a pan to get some nice colour. Add your diced mixed peppers, carrots and garlic. Sauté for a further five minutes, making sure you don’t burn your pan. Add your chopped tomatoes and passata. Then add one vegetable stock cube with water and allow it to cook out further until your vegetables are soft. Add remaining spices. 4. Add your turkey meatballs to the tomato sauce and hidden vegetables, then finish with lemon juice and sliced basil. Taste and check for any further seasoning, like salt and pepper. 5. Bring your pasta to the boil and cook for 8-12 minutes. Drain and toss with oil and add everything together. Finish with freshly grated cheese or Parmesan.

August Newsletter Chicklets Room News

What a great month it has been this July! The Chicklets have been super busy exploring everywhere this month, we even had a trip to the Big Garden! Avoiding the drizzly days, the Chicklets have spent lots of time outdoors finding natural treasures like leaves and bugs. Some of the Chicklets were even brave enough to hold the creepy crawlies too! As part of our Country of the Month, the Chicklets have been listening to the Greek national anthem in our light sensory sessions and creating their own rendition of the Greek flag. On 1st August, we celebrated Yorkshire Day! We worked hard to create lots of crafts and pictures full of blue, green and white to show our support for Yorkshire. Over the coming month, we will also begin preparing the children for the move to the next room. We will work closely with the Goslings Room to start forming bonds with each child's new Key Person and start our ‘settling in’ sessions (we'll post about these on Tapestry over the next few weeks). We will continue to share lots of stories with the Chicklets to help build their vocabulary ready for the transition too.

CHICKLETS ROOM

August Newsletter

Ducklings Room News

We have been doing lots of different activities to celebrate our Country of the Month, Greece. The Ducklings enjoyed making some Greek Feta and yoghurt pittas, and they were excellent helpers at putting all the ingredients into one bowl and mixing it all together using their fine motor skills. The Ducklings even had a go at cutting the mint up into tiny little pieces, they all did a great job! We then used the ingredients to spread onto the pittas, popped it all in the oven and enjoyed them for our snack. They were so yummy! The Ducklings have also been enjoying lots of trips out to the park. We began our journey with a visit to the small lake and we were happy as we were lucky enough to see lots of ducks. The Ducklings had so much fun spotting them and making lots of ‘quacking’ sounds. We then stretched our legs and walked further into the park where everyone had a lovely run around in the sunshine. We have been looking out for things in the environment such as ‘cars’, ‘dogs’ and ‘buses’. The children have also been busy putting their baking skills to the test again this month. We baked some delicious raspberry cookies! Firstly, some of the Ducklings took a walk to the shop, they enjoyed picking the ingredients off the shelf and paying the man at the till. We then brought these back to the nursery to bake with our cookie mix. The Ducklings used their fine motor skills to mix all the ingredients together and watched how they formed into little balls which we rolled the ingredients. The children enjoyed cutting all the ingredients up and sharing, taking turns with their friends.

DUCKLINGS ROOM

August Newsletter Goslings Room News

What a busy month of fun in the sun the Goslings have had. We started off by enjoying some festivities related to Greece, as it was the Country of the Month. We explored a blue and white rice-themed tuff tray, where we enjoyed pouring and emptying using different containers. We also enjoyed making some yummy tzatziki, which is a popular dip in Greece! The Goslings enjoyed chopping up the mint and mixing in lemon juice into the yoghurt. They enjoyed having this for their snack later in the day. We also enjoyed spending lots of time in the outdoors, splashing in the water and making lots of sandcastles in the sand pit. The Goslings have been very busy exploring the different kinds of mini-beasts in the Baby Garden. The Goslings have enjoyed making their very own ladybirds using paint, black and red tissue paper to take home! As our Shake, Rattle & Boogie sessions have been moved to Thursdays, the Goslings have enjoyed learning the dance moves and singling along to the music. We have also enjoyed walks to Roundhay Park this month on sunny days and have loved chasing each other and looking out for animals at the park. As the Goslings are preparing for their move to the Cygnets Room, they have been showing such great independence during mealtimes, like using a knife and fork to cut up pieces of their meals. They enjoy asking for utensils which encourages them to dish out their own food and help their friends too!

GOSLINGS ROOM

August Newsletter Cygnets Room News

We’ve been focusing on Greece as our Country of the Month throughout July and even recreated the flag using lots of different resources. The Cygnets also had lots of fun making crowns using natural materials. We used our imagination in the tuff tray to pretend to make some traditional Greece dishes using a variety of resources. The Cygnets children have really enjoyed going on multiple outings in July. Some children went on a walk to Roundhay Park and whilst they were there, they drew some lovely pictures of objects they could see in the environment, such as ducks, dogs and the blue sky. Some of the other children went on a trip to Tropical World, where we had lots of fun looking at all the insects, fish and meerkats, as well as learning some facts about each of them. A big interest in the Cygnets Room recently has been pretending to paint nails, therefore, we set up our own nail salon, where the children used their imagination to design their own nail art. Another big interest has been learning about different animals and insects. We have been reading lots of stories about different types of animals and learning all about where they live and what they like to eat. In the creative area, we have been making giraffes, spiders, bees and dinosaur pictures. Next month the children will be beginning their transition to the Swans Room. All the children are very excited and looking forward to their next adventure!

CYGNETS ROOM

Swans Room News August Newsletter

Over the past month, we have been very busy enjoying wowing our teachers, braving the wet July and having had lots of fun. One week we were set a funny challenge - Paint with anything but a paintbrush. The children came up with some great ideas. Some worked well and others left us a bit messy, but we loved figuring it all out. We used feathers, leaves, pinecones, lots of different shape blocks and even string. We also looked a lot at healthy foods this past month and were so excited to try the potato curry that Chef Oli made using the potatoes grown in our planters. We also tried lots of different fruits and made fruit kebabs. This past month we also learnt about the Country of the Month ‘Greece’. We used lots of different materials and ideas to make our own versions of the Greek Flag. We listened to some traditional Greek music and saw a video of a plate smashing. We also looked at pictures of Greek mosaics and used real mosaic tiles to create two as a class. The children did a fabulous job of taking their time, placing them carefully. The result was beautiful! In and amongst all of that learning the Swans also managed to learn their Graduation songs and dances and wowed their grown-ups. The ceremony went very well with the children all doing a superb job. The grown ups even joined in with some of the singing and dancing. Thankfully the weather was perfect, and we all had a BBQ outside to celebrate the children’s preschool achievements. What a lovely day.

SWANS ROOM

August Newsletter

Upcoming Events

W/C Monday 22 nd August Carnival Week Monday 28 th August Summer Bank Holiday, Nursery CLOSED

Friday 15 th September Rosh Hashanah Celebrations

W/C Monday 25 th September Grandparents Stay & Play Tea Party Friday 29 th September Macmillan Bake Sale

August Newsletter

*ATTENTION* Important Information - Please Read

Car Park Please can we kindly ask that parents ensure they are only parking in a single car parking bay. As you are aware, we have very limited space, and it is very busy a peak times. Thank you for your support.

HMRC Additional Funding Code (3- & 4-year-olds - 30 hours) If you are eligible and in receipt of additional 3- & 4-year-old funding, look out for a prompt every three months from HMRC to reconfirm your details so that your eligibility can be re-assessed. If you do not do this, please note that we are unable to claim the funding on your behalf. Absence Please note that we are unable to swap days or offer an alternative day if your child is absent from nursery. We are now extremely busy, and it is impossible for us to do this for all children. This is stated in our terms and conditions. Thank you for your co operation. Labels in Clothing To avoid items being lost, please can you ensure that your child’s uniform is clearly labelled including their coats, hats, scarves and wellies. If your child brings gloves to nursery, we strongly advise for these to be attached and threaded through their coat to avoid any gloves going missing. Drop Off and Collection Can we kindly remind you that we open at 7.30 am and close at 6.00 pm and any parents who pick up after this time will be charged.

CONTACT US 0333 043 22 22

www.22streetlanenursery.co.uk info@22streetlanenursery.co.uk