22 Street Lane Nursery - February 2024 Newsletter

Newsletter December Play • Discovery • Growth

February Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, Welcome to our February newsletter, and as always, greetings to our new families who have recently joined us. It was so lovely to see all the children back after the New Year and hear about everything you had been up to over the Christmas break! We kicked off January with lots of fun activities for Burns Night, including creating the Scottish flag, the children designing their very own tartan patterns and a delicious Scottish-inspired feast cooked by Oli. We have a very busy month ahead of us for the children, starting with Lunar New Year celebrations, followed by Shrove Tuesday, Valentine's Day and Random Acts of Kindness Day. To find out more, please read on...

February Newsletter STAFF NEWS

Welcoming Laiba Nasir to the Ducklings Room We would like to give a warm welcome to Laiba, who has recently joined our Ducklings room as an Apprentice Practitioner. “I am looking forward to starting my childcare career at 22 Street Lane Nursery as an Apprentice. I am very passionate about creating a safe and welcoming environment for the children. I am eager to channel my passion into fostering a positive and enriching environment where I can contribute wholeheartedly to their growth and development. The prospect of making a positive impact on children’s lives brings me great joy, and I am enthusiastic about the learning experiences and connections that await us on this shared path. I am eager to embrace the challenges and triumphs that come with working with these young minds, and I am confident that this experience will be as enriching for me as it is for the children under my care.”

Goodbye Izzy Sadly, we said goodbye to Izzy at the end of January. Izzy has left to go travelling, before starting a new role working for the NHS. We wish Izzy the very best of luck in the future; she will be missed by all the staff and children.

Congratulations Laura! We are so pleased to say that Laura gave birth to a beautiful baby

named Oscar on 15th December weighing 7lb. Both Laura and Oscar are doing really well.

February Newsletter NEWS Country of the Month, February 2023: China Throughout February, we will be exploring the country - China, which links to the celebration Lunar New Year. The children will be creating their very own Chinese dragons, as 2024 is ‘Year of the Dragon’, having a go at writing some of the Chinese alphabet, and we will be going on a trip to the Oriental Supermarket to collect ingredients to make some delicious bao buns! Did you know? The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia. It’s also known as 'Chang Jiang' in Chinese, which means 'long river' and is also the third longest in the world. One of the most spectacular sights to see whilst taking a river cruise on the Yangtze is the Three Gorges. If anyone has any resources to support our Country of the Month, we would be most grateful.

Burns Night Celebrations The children had lots of fun celebrating ‘Burns Night’. They painted pictures of the Scottish flag, explored Burns Night-inspired tuff trays and enjoyed a traditional Burns Night lunch of Lamb stew, ‘Neeps and Tatties’, followed by a scrumptious trifle. Some of the children also made some yummy Scottish shortbread and a traditional soda bread called ‘Fife Bannock’.

February Newsletter NEWS

Our Core Books We have chosen five core books to focus on as a Nursery, based on both the children’s interests and each developmental stage. Each of the books is a children’s ‘classic’ story, so throughout your child’s time in each room, they will learn all about the story, including the setting, plot and characters and the children will have the opportunity to develop their understanding of each story through focused, themed activities. We will be spending a week celebrating each of the core books each month, starting with the Gingerbread Man. We will then begin to explore some of the children’s other favourite stories.

National Storytelling Week: 27th January - 4th February Throughout this week, the children have been enjoying celebrating National Storytelling Week. Various themed activities and tuff trays were set up daily linked to some of the children’s favourite stories, and we also spent the week focusing on one of our Nursery Core Books - The Gingerbread Man! The children enjoyed creating their own versions of the Gingerbread Man, using natural resources such as cinnamon sticks, twigs and buttons. We also baked some delicious gingerbread men as a special treat. Many of our Swans and Cygnets can join in with the key phrases from the story such as "Run, run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man". Well done everyone!

Random Acts of Kindness Day: Friday 16th February In support of random acts of kindness day, each room will be thinking of random acts of kindness, which we will share on Tapestry.

February Newsletter NEWS

We Love Our Community! The children have been enjoying trips out within our local community! Some of the children have visited the care home, the library, the pet shop, our local Nisa shop and the park.

February Newsletter NEWS

First Aid Update! Mini First Aid

The Swan's children have recently taken part in a ‘Mini First Aid’ class. The children learned how to look after someone who had an accident, how to call 999 in an emergency, and how to put someone in the recovery position, well done Swans! Defibrillator To enhance our First Aid, we have recently purchased our own defibrillator which is displayed in our reception area, we are of course hoping that we never have to use it but it’s reassuring that by having it, we could save a life. Parent First Aid We are looking to offer some parent First Aid classes; we will be posting some suggested dates on Tapestry so please look out if you are interested. Millie’s Mark Award Did you know that the nursery has been accredited ‘Millie’s Mark’ meaning that we go above and beyond in Paediatric First Aid?

February Newsletter Pancake Day / Shrove Tuesday: Tuesday 13th February Oli and Kim will be cooking up a pancake feast for the children where the children can choose their own toppings. We will also be exploring flour and water messy play as well as taking part in ‘pancake tossing’ competitions and reenacting the story of the ‘Runaway Pancake’. Traditionally, Pancake Day is the time that people use up their leftover sugary foods before starting their fast for Lent. Did you also know that in other countries, this time is referred to as ‘Mardi Gras’, which translates as ‘Fat Tuesday’.

February Newsletter Valentine’s Day: Wednesday 14th February

Love is most definitely in the air at 22 Street Lane, and we have some lovely Valentine’s Day activities planned for the children! The children will be encouraged to speak about who they love and why, as well as share photos of their special people on Tapestry. The children are also welcome to come to the nursery dressed in red or pink!

February Newsletter

Dish of the Month

Chickpea and Sweetcorn Falafel

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

• 1 tin of sweetcorn (around 200g) • 1 tin of chickpeas (around 240g) • Fresh herbs of choice • 1 small piece of garlic • Lemon juice to taste • Half a teaspoon of cornflour

Method

1. Wash and drain the sweetcorn and chickpeas, making sure they are as dry as possible. 2. Finally dice the garlic and any herbs you want to add, i usually as some mint and coriander from our garden. 3. Add a little lemon juice, but not too much as it will make the mixture wet. add any other ingredients you wish to get creative. (this also works well with peas and beetroot, carrots, not just corn). 4. Roughly blend the mixture this works best with a hand blender. don’t blend it all too much leave some chickpeas whole and rustic. 5. Add the cornflower this should make the mixture thinker, behind creating your falafel balls. Line the parchment paper on straight onto a baking tray, the falafel will benefit from a good freeze before baking to remain firm. 6. Bake around 210 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Is there a particular dish that your child enjoys and that you would like the recipe for? Please email: alexandra@22streetlanenursery.co.uk

February Newsletter Chicklets Room News

Welcome back, everyone! We hope you all had a lovely break, and we are so glad to have the Chicklets back and busy. This month, we have welcomed lots of new Chicklets into the room and they have already begun joining in all our activities. We look forward to our journey together through the rest of the year! With such cold weather, this January, the Chicklets have been wrapping up extra warm and heading out into the garden where they have explored lots of natural resources such as; different leaves and sticks. We have also taken this opportunity to challenge their physical development on the push-along bikes and the steps. We have started introducing more light sensory sessions where the Chicklets get to explore different sensory toys such as the light-up balls and the bubble tube. We hope to carry out more of these across February and play some of the Chicklets’ favourite nursery rhymes alongside having a good boogie. As always, the Chicklets have loved exploring lots of different messy play activities, including shaving foam for Burns Night. We will be seeing lots more of this throughout February as we explore lots of ‘love’ themed activities for Valentine's Day as well as playdough pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. We can’t wait to see what February brings!

CHICKLETS ROOM

February Newsletter

Ducklings Room News

The Ducklings have had a brilliant start to the New Year! We have been celebrating Scotland as our Country of the Month. We have been exploring different tuff trays looking at the colours of the Scottish flag and even had a go at making shortbread! All the Ducklings took it in turns to mix all the ingredients and use their fine motor skills to roll the shortbread out - they were so yummy. As one of the Duckling's main interests has been cars, we then decided to set up a car wash. We explored cloths and sponges using them to clean the cars. We used our emptying and filling skills to fill the cups and wash the soapy water away, which was so much fun. The Ducklings have also had a trip out to the Library. We all got on the bus outside the nursery together. While we were on the bus, we looked out the window to see what we could see. The Ducklings spotted some cars, dogs, and trees. When we arrived at the library, we all sat and had some snacks and then we explored the Library where all the children got to pick books of their interest, there were so many to choose from. We read about animals, cars, and people this was so much fun. We can’t wait to visit the Library again soon! Following on our interest in one of our favourite books ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ we set up a playdough session for the Ducklings to enjoy. The Ducklings used their fine motor skills to roll the playdough into tiny balls making their own caterpillar. We are looking forward to lots more fun next month!

DUCKLINGS ROOM

February Newsletter Goslings Room News

What a great start to 2024 it has been in the Goslings Room! The Goslings have come back excited to learn and develop more at nursery. We have been enjoying looking at what the children have been up to during the holidays using our scrapbooks. As it was Burns Night on the 25th of January this month, the Goslings enjoyed exploring all things Scotland. This included various activities including making Scottish flags and cooking some yummy Scottish shortbread! We also have been enjoying tuff-trays filled with blue-coloured pasta and lentils alongside blue coloured playdough. The Goslings have also enjoyed getting messier! They have started to use all their senses to really get that sensory experience. A favourite has been feeling the different textures of the resources such as cold paint with pasta shells and foam. This month we have also been focusing on promoting kindness and sharing by using a lot of positive reinforcement along with visual picture cards and hand gestures/actions. We have noticed that the Goslings have been showcasing their lovely sharing and turn-taking. Good work Goslings. The Goslings team look forward to creating many more memories with the children in the coming year.

GOSLINGS ROOM

February Newsletter Cygnets Room News

It was lovely to see everyone after the New Year and Christmas celebrations, the children enjoyed sharing their festive pictures and adventures with each other. This month we have welcomed a new addition to our room, we now have 3 fish and 2 snails as our nursery pets. The Cygnets have all enjoyed learning about the different animals under the sea and have been doing a very good job at helping feed our new pets and taking care of them. January’s County of the Month was Scotland so the Cygnets have all been busy creating their own Scottish flags and learning all about the traditional tartan pattern. We have explored through weaving our own designs and using objects to make the pattern. We also used forks to make the feather of the 'golden eagle' which is a Scottish bird, and created some very yummy Scottish shortbread. We have also been continuing our piano sessions this year and the Cygnets have enjoyed learning 'Twinkle Twinkle' and are beginning to get familiar with the different keys. We look forward to another fun-filled month with our curious Cygnets. As we have a lot of children showing an interest in building and how things are made, next month we will be starting some woodwork sessions with the children and can't wait to introduce them to the tools and how to work them. Please continue to upload your weekend adventures and share special moments, as the children really enjoy showing and speaking about their time outside of the nursery with their peers.

CYGNETS ROOM

Swans Room News February Newsletter

Throughout January we have been celebrating Scotland. The Swans have loved learning all about Burns Night as well as taking part in lots of fun activities. We compared the Scottish and English flag, before the children made their own Scottish flags in the creative area using tissue paper, while other children decided to make a flag using the peg boards! Emily then talked to the children about white water rafting. To follow on from this some of the children made a river in the creative area, using building blocks to create their own raft. Some of the Swans and Cygnets children had a trip to the local care home. The children enjoyed getting to know some of the lovely ladies and enjoyed talking about what they had been up to a Nursery that morning. The children also handed out some beautiful pictures they had made for them and sang some nursery rhymes that we had been learning at Nursery. Some of the children even did some brilliant dancing! Throughout January the Swans have loved taking part in our weekly baking activities. We have made pizza, Scottish shortbread and Scottish soda bread called ‘Fife Bannock’. We can’t wait to continue with our baking next month. In the Swans Room, we have also started woodwork! Lucy has been teaching the children skills, such as hammering nails and sawing wood, which are all skills the children will use when we begin to make our fairy house. As part of our woodwork the children have decided what they would like our fairy house to

look like, we can’t wait to see the result. We look forward to more fun next month!

SWANS ROOM

February Newsletter

Upcoming Events

W/C Monday 12 th February Lunar New Year Celebrations Tuesday 13 th February Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day Wednesday 14 th February Valentine’s Day Celebrations Friday 16 th February Random Acts of Kindness Day Wednesday 1 st March St. David’s Day Thursday 7 th March World Book Day

February 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