We said a sad farewell to all of our big school children who left over the summer and have started school this September, we wish them all the best in their big schools. I would like to say a great big welcome to all of our new children who have started in our nursery, we have 2 new babies in our under two’s and 6 new children in the over two’s room. They have all settled in well and are enjoying their time at nursery.

In our under 2’s room we are looking at Transportation. We are learned some new nursery rhymes and we are reading some lovely books about all different types of transportation. We have made a lovely display using a range of different creative materials, we did sticking with sequences, different material and wool, hand printing, splash painting to decorate our display.

The under 2’s have been having lots of fun playing with leaves and conkers and also with their treasure basket.

The over 2’s have been very busy with a range of different activities over the past few weeks. They have been looking at small insects that we can see around us. All the children went to our garden with their own magnifying glass to explore and to find what insects we could see around us. They spotted a ladybird, a spider, a worm and ants. We looked at mini clips on the internet about insects that we spotted, we also has a group discussion about all other insects and the children made their own collages of the insects to show there parents.

The children have been looking at books about autumn; we have talked about all the changes that happen around this time of the year. The children and parents have been busy collecting different coloured leaves and conkers for our activities. The children have also enjoyed using the conkers for counting, matching and sorting activities and we have been mixing colours to match the ones from the leaves. There have also been role playing autumn stories at circle time and they have loads of fun.

Staff News:

We would like to congratulate Mihaela Gheorghe (our NVQ Level 3) on the birth of her beautiful healthy twins, born 29th September 2011. We hope that she enjoys motherhood and that she has a great time with her two new borns.

Diary Dates:

Friday 28th October 8 – 10am: Parents coffee morning
Thursday 22nd November 6.30 – 8pm: Parents evening with key persons
Friday 16th December 2.30 – 5pm: Children’s Christmas party
Wednesday 21st December 11.30 – 1.30pm: Children’s Christmas lunch

We will be closing for Christmas on Friday 23rd December at 6pm and will re-open Monday 3rd January at 8am.

We would like to welcome back Tania Jorge to the nursery as our new manager for The Vale, we wish her all the very best on her new role.

We are happy to welcome to our staff team Dolvy Colaco  in our baby room and Mekeisha Loving in the over 2’s (who is starting her NVQ level 3 in March).

We extend a warm welcome to our 6 new children.

We had an Ofsted inspection in January and we are very pleased to share that we scored GOOD in all areas, I would like to say a big thank you to all the Vale staff for all their hard work!

We celebrated Chinese New Year by making Chinese lanterns, lucky red money envelopes and we enjoyed doing Chinese dancing. We had a wonderful tea party with traditional Chinese food and we all enjoyed our Chinese fortune cookies!

Some of their interests are fruity foam play with glitter and shredding and tearing paper which is great fun and ends up in lots of fun mess.

In the under 2’s room all children and staff have enjoyed  finger painting, sticking shapes and mark making for their new displays, as well as being busy doing body painting.

The staff are going to be setting up a part of the garden with the learning areas for the under 2’s to explore all their senses, also they are turning their cosy area into a baby sensory cosy area with every thing white, black and red  for the babies to be able to explore and develop all their senses .

In the over 2’s room over the last term the children were learning about the solar system. The children had group discussions about the planets as well as watching a clip on the internet of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. They all did their own chalk pictures of the moon and painting of the sun.

This term they are learning about the life cycle of frogs and butterflies.

The children have made lovely pond picture using paper plates and oil painting; they make 3D butterflies using clay, colourful glue and glitter.

The children also have watched clips on the web about the life cycle of frogs and butterflies; we also did some butterfly spotting in the garden. We are now waiting for our very own real life caterpillars set so that we can look after them, feed and care for the caterpillars and hopefully see them changing into beautiful butterflies! We will keep you updated on this project. We are developing our outdoor area into all 6 areas of child development: Communication, Language and Literacy, Creative, Personal, Social and Emotional, Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy, Knowledge and Understanding of the World and Physical Development areas.. All the staff and children are getting all the parents to be involved in this project.

We hope to see you all at our various nursery events,

Many thanks

Tania

In this lovely hot weather we have been enjoying lots of outside play especially in the water. We have been having lots of fun in the water trays splashing each other and the teachers -even the babies have been enjoying a splash.

We have welcomed many new children to the baby room and we are preparing to say farewell to some of our children going to school. We wish them all the best and hope that they will come back and visit us in their holidays.  We have also said farewell to Lucia who has been with the Vale Day Nursery for 6 years. We wish Lucia all the very best in her new position and for the future.  

We recently had a Fancy Dress Day where we raised £20.00 for Momentum Charity – Brain Injury Centre; we also raised £40.00 in our penny draw for Sunny Days Children Charity.

The Over Twos’ room has been doing a lot of gardening recently and all the children have been given the opportunity to plant some carrot seeds or green beans. Several of the children from the Under Twos’ room have also enjoyed helping plant the seeds. The children have all enjoyed the responsibility of watering and taking care of their plant and they have taken pride in showing many parents what they had achieved. The Over Twos are also helping to keep our flower boxes at the front of the nursery looking lovely by watering them and removing the old flowers and weeds.

We have seen some staff changes in February – we said farewell to Cristina who left to further her experience and qualification and we wish her all the best in her new adventure. We send big congratulations to Janka and her partner Patrick who welcomed their lovely daughter to their family. We welcome back Mihaela who has returned from maternity leave. We also welcome Nicole and Mekeisha to our team whose faces you will see occasionally throughout the nursery.

With the warmer months approaching the children have thoroughly enjoyed being able to play outside more often and we look forward to having our new canopy and soft play area that we will be getting shortly. This will provide the children with the opportunity to access the outside area more often.

During the winter it was difficult for the children to play outside however the children and staff thoroughly enjoyed playing in the snow. Many staff found themselves as targets for snowballs which the children made. The children enjoyed making snowmen and then jumping on them soon after they were finished.

We would like to thank all our  parents and carers who took part in the penny draw raising funds for Sunny Days’ Children’s Fund – we raised £40.00. We would like to also send a big cheer to Colin the Clown (who came to the nursery for our 20^th Birthday Party and also our Christmas party) Colin recently took part in the London Marathon with the aim to be the first pensioner to juggle through the marathon.  

The under two’s room have been developing their areas and has developed a new Sensory Wall. Their wall includes many different textured materials and mirrors. All the children have enjoyed exploring this area. 

The Over two’s room have been focusing on their families and we thank all the parents who bought in family photos to share with the nursery. They made a photo album for each child to keep at nursery. The children have enjoyed sharing their photos with friends and also completed their own family portrait to display on their family board.

The over twos have been looking at Autumn They have put a lovely display together using leaves and conkers that the children have collected. Children from both the over twos and under two’s room have been able to enjoy walks to the park where they have collected everything they need to make their autumn corner.

Thank you to all families who continue to bring in bits ‘n’ pieces for our junk modelling. Recently the children have enjoyed making models which are now on display in the foyer.

A BIG thank you to all the Children, Parents and Staff who have and continue to   take part in our colour days. We still have many colours to come but so far we have seen everyone wearing brown, yellow, orange and pink. We look forward to seeing you all wear white, purple, black, blue, green and red

Wednesday 18th November – White Day

Thursday 26^th November –Purple Day

Friday 4^th December- Black day

Monday 7^th December- Blue day

Tuesday 15^th December- Green Day

Wednesday 23^rd December – Red day.

Party plans have started ready for Christmas, We look forward to seeing Colin the Clown on the 18^th December at 3pm. At 4pm all the children will enjoy a party tea and a few party games followed by a very special visit from Santa at 5pm.

Christmas dates.

We will be closing on Christmas Eve at 6pm and will re-open on Monday the 4^th January at 8am.

In November we welcome 4 new friends to the baby room and hope they all enjoy spending time with us at The Vale

We will sadly be saying goodbye to Joanna on the 26^th November and wish her all the best for the future. Joanna will be missed by all

In December we will be saying goodbye to Janka who will be leaving us to have her second baby. We would like to wish Janka and her family all the very best.

We will be holding our sports day on Friday the 28^th of August starting at 10:30 am. We will break for lunch and a rest and will then end our day with celebrations to wish a happy farewell to all the children who will be leaving. In the afternoon we will be able to enjoy activities like jumping castle, ball pool, duck pond, music and face painting

In September we look forward to a fancy dress day. We will be holding this on Wednesday 23^rd September. This is being held for charity and donations are welcome on the day. All monies raised will go to a feel good charity for brain injury centres. In the afternoon we will enjoy a party tea and party games.

In the under twos room the children are busy with many different activities the children have enjoyed reading many of their new books.  Over the coming weeks the children will have the opportunity to learn about numbers 1-10

In the over twos room the children have been enjoying building and playing in many different dens. We thank Brent council for providing us with many ideas and materials to improve our den building. The children have been continuing their work on being healthy and all about themselves. The children have and will be looking at healthy eating, our body, clothing and much more.

Recently the children have either done a hand a foot print painting. The children will then tell us what they use their hands and feet for. Some children have told us they use their hands for : ‘catching balls’,  ‘for painting and washing’ and ‘to cover mouth when we cough’. The children also told us what they use their feet for: ‘climb and pedal the bike’, ‘run outside’ and ‘walking and stamping’. 

In the Over 2s the staff have been teaching the children how to stay healthy. Many children now understand the concept of ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ and will happily tell you why we must do this. They are currently learning a lot of healthy eating and the children all bring in fruit and discuss with their friends what fruit they have brought in and why it is good for them.

At three o’clock we all sat down for our tea. All the children enjoyed their yummy party food. Colin the clown joined us at tea to help sing happy birthday and play on his guitar. He also made the children balloon animals.

After tea all the children, parents and staff enjoyed a fantastic show by Colin the clown where we watched him playing many musical instruments, juggling, doing magic tricks, fire juggling and games. All the children and parents watched in amazement as Colin juggled with fire in the back garden.

After Colin the clown we all got up to have a play on all the fun games. We had hook the duck outside where the children won lots of prizes. We had a disco inside and all the children enjoyed dancing and trying to catch the bubbles. Inside we also had bouncy castles and a ball pool.

We would also like to thank all our past and present students who came in to help us celebrate. Their help and interaction was greatly appreciated.

You can see pictures of the party at Vale by downloading this PDF.

We have had to say a very sad farewell to Tom and Jerry our pet Terrapins. Tom and Jerry were growing very quickly and needed a lot of attention that we could not provide for them. Kandie took Tom and Jerry to a pet shop where they have put them in a bigger tank, Kandie stops by to see them both regularly and tells us how happy they are.

In the over two’s room they have been focusing on gardening and Me, Myself and I. In their gardening the children have planted Daffodil bulbs for Marie Curie Cancer research they children have enjoyed watching there daffodils grow, the children have also planted carrot seeds and are patiently waiting for them to start growing.

The children have also been learning about their body parts and senses. The children have all had the opportunity to draw their own portraits in front of a mirror to put on display and are also learning about their family backgrounds.

In the under two’s room the children have been looking at animals. All the children have enjoyed many different kinds of art work on different animals whilst looking at the animals. They have done collage, block printing, string painting and sticking on all their favorite animals. They have also been looking at fruits including many cultural fruits.

We hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas Break and Happy New Year; we have started off the year busily taking down all our Christmas decorations and preparing for another busy year.

We would like to start off by welcoming some new faces to Nursery, and sadly say to farwell to some children. We say farewell to 5 children.  We welcome one child to the under twos room and Cristina to our over two’s staff team.

The over two’s room has been focussing on developing some of its area’s within the room. Staff have been introducing more mark making for the children to help encourage to learn recognise the alphabet and to be able to recognise their own names. Name cards have been made for all children, with use in the mark making area.  . Name cards are also being used throughout the day in simple acitivities to encourage children to recognise their names.  Children have all been provided there own book which they can use in the mark making area and are able to take home to show there families what they have been doing.

The Under two’s have just learnt about all things red, the children have collaged, painted, coloured many things that are red including Strawberries, bus, Cherries, Apples, and many more. Next the under two’s will be looking at all the different farm animals noises they make what colour they are.

Some important dates to remember for 2009,

• Friday 2^nd January 2009 Nursery re-opens at 8am
• Wednesday 28th January Open day
• Thursday 9^th April Easter tea party 3.30-4.30

    Nursery closes at 6pm

• Tuesday 14^th March Nursery re-opens at 8am-
• Wednesday 25th March Open day
• Friday 24th April Parents assessment evening
• Friday May 8^th 20^th Birthday Celebration
• Friday 24^th July Sports afternoon/family picnic
• Wednesday 29th July Open day
• Wednesday 28th October Open day
• Friday 23^rd October Parents assessment evening
• Tuesday 22^nd December Children’s Christmas lunch
• Friday 18^th December Children’s Christmas party
• Thursday 24^th December Nursery closes for Christmas at 6pm

Congratulations to Mihaela who works in our over 2′s room, who has recently tied the knot. Mihaela and her partner got married on 26^th July in Romania and we would like to wish them both the very best for the future and hope they had a fantastic day.

Sadly we have had to say good-bye to a great member of our team, Monika, who is returning to Poland to further her studies into childcare/teaching. Monika will be greatly missed and was a great member to our team she will be missed by all. Good Luck Monika!!

The under 2′s room would like to welcome Joanna as a permanent member to their team. Joanna has been working in both Over and Under 2s for the past several months and we would like to now officially welcome her to the Under 2s room and we hope she enjoys her time with us.

At the moment the Under 2s are focusing on Under the Sea. All the children have enjoyed decorating all different kinds of under the sea creatures such as jelly fish, octopus fish etc and we now have these up on display.

In the Over 2s room they are currently focusing on insects and bugs. The Over 2′s are busy working on their display where they plan to have a range of 3D insects made from Paper Mache.  The children have also been enjoying many cooking activities where they have made things like smoothies, pizzas, cakes etc.

Recently 4 children from the Over 2′s room visited the Science Museum, where they enjoyed a train ride both to and from the museum. Whilst at the museum the children showed keen interest in the space shuttles and astronauts. The children then went to the switches room where they enjoyed pushing buttons and pulling levers to see how different machines operated. The children finished off their day in the gift shop where they were all able to buy a souvenir to remind them of their visit to the museum.  

Also whilst the weather has been nice all the children have been enjoying the outside play, especially on the bikes with our new Traffic lights and Street Signs.

We are now looking forward to our Sports Day which will be on Friday 15^th August from 3- 5pm and a special celebration for our school leavers on the 14^th August from 3 – 4.30pm.