News and Events
Pudding Our Guide Dog Puppy
18th January 2023
We are delighted to continue to sponsor Pudding, a guide dog puppy in training. We will follow Puddings’ journey as he grows from a tiny pup into a fully qualified guide dog and transforms the life of a person with sight loss. Ask the Wellie Jellies all about Pudding. They have been learning all about the importance of this charity. The Wellie Jellies also have their very own Pudding puppy who has been on lots of adventures with them! The other rooms have been taking Ziggy and Patsy Cline on adventures all over the place too! Watch out for them coming home soon and for their adventures on facebook. They have also been writing their very own storybooks to read to each other in class.
Staffing Update
18th January 2023
We have recently welcomed Gracie Melvin, Shona Lindsay and Eva Jirgena to the nursery. They have settled in very well with the Wellies Gang. Pedro has also decided to return to his job as a primary teacher, however will still work with us during all school holidays. Good luck Pedro. Also, a Big Congratulations to Samantha Fryers in our Wellie Jellies room on her pregnancy announcement we can’t wait to welcome him/her into the Wellie Gang. All staff photos are up in our reception area.
Topics for this term
18th January 2023
Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on a variety of topics in our playrooms. These will include: • KINDNESS – Are you a bucket filler or a bucket dipper? • The Scottish Daily Mile - we aim to jog, run or walk for up to 15 minutes every day! • Winter, Frost, The Arctic, Weather – LOTS of Science experiments! • Child-led improvement groups – Eco Group, Charities Group, Outside Play Group, Jellies Expansion Group, Gardening Group and Buddies Group will continue to work hard • New beginnings, Time, Months of the year, Birthdays • All about me and my family and friends • Rules, Rights and Responsibilities – Why do we have rules? What can we do better? We will be revising our Nursery Golden Rules. • LOTS of Reflection Time in our interest groups; talking about our learning and what we would like to learn with our key workers • Chinese New Year – The Year of the Rabbit. • Grow well choices – making healthy decisions • Makaton – we are getting good at using this sign language! • 17th January – Kids Inventor Day • 18th January – Winnie the Pooh Day • 23rd January – Handwriting Day • 24th January – National Compliments Day • 25th January – Robert Burns Day • 25th January – Opposites Day • 27th January – International Chocolate Cake Day • 29th January – Puzzle Day • 30th January – National Croissant Day • 21st January – Backwards Day • 3rd February – Carrot Cake Day • 5th February – National Weatherperson Day • 7th February – Send a card to a friend day • 9th February – National pizza day • 11th February – Make a Friend Day • 14th February – Valentine’s Day • 14th February – Library Lovers Day • 17th February – Random Acts of Kindness Day. What could we do? • 20th February – Love your pet day! • 22nd February – International World Thinking Day • 26th February – Tell a fairy tale day. Bring in your favourite fairy tales! • 28th February – Floral Design Day • 1st March – St David’s Day (Wales) • 1st March – Pancake Day • 1st March – Food waste action week – Our ECO group are going to be busy!
Wellie Jellies Extension
18th January 2023
We are delighted to confirm that the Wellie Jellies room is currently being expanded. This expansion is making use of the adjoining space within the Prime Four Management Suite. This will enable us to provide additional high quality accommodation for around another 24 children in our 3-5 age range. It will also allow for more space in the Jellies room, create a nurture space for our children and spread out the play areas. We are hoping to open this new space around Easter 2023. In the meantime, the children have really enjoyed visiting their new larger playroom and will be fully involved in choosing and ordering resources for it and planning how it will be laid out. We will keep you informed of progress and will ensure that all works will be carried out with extreme sensitivity to the health and safety needs of our children. Staffing will be confirmed at a later date although the current Jellies team will remain in place. If you know anyone who will be looking for a space for their child, please let them know that additional spaces will be opening up soon.
Room Transitions
18th January 2023
Transitions to the next room will be planned depending on the individual child’s needs. Room staff will discuss all transitions in depth with you in plenty of time.
Play On Pedals
18th January 2023
Two of our staff (Connor and Jenny) will also be participating in a very exciting new national initiative called Play on Pedals. They will be undergoing training in order to become Play on Pedals Instructors, this term. We have just taken possession of a fleet of brand new balance bikes, helmets and one pedal bike. The bikes have been purchased following a successful grant application to Cycling Scotland by ACC. We will be using these with our children to support and develop their gross motor skills. VERY exciting! More information and lots of photos to follow.
Staff Training Update
18th January 2023
Individual staff will continue to attend a variety of very valuable training courses. We work hard to ensure that all staff are confident, competent and knowledgeable and that we keep up to date with all new developments. Staff all meet monthly for a series of collegiate meetings and all staff participate in a very comprehensive continual professional development programme. 90% of our staff have achieved / or are working towards accredited SVQ qualifications also. ALL Staff will all participating in Thinking and Talking Floorbook Training on 28/1/23. This will inform our future planning of learning and teaching. We are all really excited to get stuck in to this course. Look out for more information and please have a look at our Floorbooks which are hanging up outside our rooms. We will also be focusing on Curriculum for Excellence this term with a particular focus on Literacy, Health and Wellbeing and Numeracy. This is one of the main priorities within our Improvement Plan. We will keep you informed of our progress. Have you got any ideas on how to better improve our learning and teaching? We will be asking our children too.
Charities
18th January 2023
We will be fully involving our Pre-School Charities Committee to help us to plan our campaigns for the coming year. If you would like to nominate a particular charity for us to focus on, please let us know.
The Scottish Daily Mile
18th January 2023
We will continue to aim for all of our children to walk, jog or run for at least 15 minutes each day. Most children can average around a mile in that time! Keep going gang!
Chinese New Year
18th January 2023
We have been extremely busy planning our celebrations for The Year of The Rabbit. This year Chinese New Year lands on 22/1/23. Last year we even opened our very own Chinese take away – KINGS-WOK-AWAY. It was a great success. Our chefs cooked up a storm and fed the entire nursery. Look out for lots of exciting activities for this year’s celebrations. If you would like to come in to speak to us about how you celebrate different family or cultural traditions, please let us know. We would LOVE to invite you in.