Weekly Bulletin 25 September 2024

25th September 2024

Dear Parents and Carers

We hope you and your children have had a good week.

The children are all starting to settle in well at Homerton.  Please be reassured that it is very normal for some children to take longer than others to settle. Please don’t worry if your child needs some extra time to get to know us all and the routines of Homerton. I thought it might be useful for you to have a look at this helpful tips sheet below.

Homerton Early Years Centre – How to settle children- tips for parents

If your child has difficulty separating from you don’t worry, this is a normal part of their development. Some take longer than others to settle, and a child who appears confident may experience problems later e.g. just after a holiday. All staff are very experienced in supporting children (and their parents!) through separation issues, and are on hand to advise you.

Do:

·         Tell staff your child’s favourite activities so they can prepare for her/his arrival.

·         Talk to your child positively about coming to Nursery e.g. “It’s time to go to Nursery now, I wonder if there will be painting out today?” (Substitute with favourite activity).

·         Make your expectation clear to your child e.g. “We’ve talked about what a lovely time you’ll have, we have to get ready now.”

·         Try to arrive on time so your child sees you leaving with other parents.

·         Keep to the same routine every day.

·         Your child’s staff will greet you at the door, focusing on your child.

·         Tell him/her that you are going and that you’ll be back later.

·         Give your child a kiss and a cuddle and leave promptly.

·         Your child will then enter the classroom (do support at this stage if still needed), hang up their coat and find their individual name card – staff will support with this where needed.

·         Please feel reassured that staff have years of experience in how to best settle children and will work with you to provide the support they need.

Your positive attitude and having a familiar routine will be reassuring for your child.

Please try to avoid

·         Taking off your own coat.

·         Engaging in lengthy conversations with your child about leaving.

·         Picking your child up or keeping cuddling him/her.

·         Talking about separation issues in front of your child.

·         Saying goodbye and then coming back repeatedly.

·         Being in an area where your child can see you if staff have asked you to stay on-site during initial settling period but not to be in view.

Often these actions give your child mixed messages

Drop off and pick up points and times for children

Nest parents and children please come through our main entrance and through the Centre for drop off and pick up. Please be here promptly at pick up times. 

Nursery parents and children

East, South Red and West classes please use the park entrance for both drop off in the morning, and pick up in the afternoon. Afternoon pick up for Nursery classes is either at 3.00pm, or 3.45pm.  Please choose either of these times to collect your children.  Classes have a taught Circle time at the end of the session so it really helps the staff, and children, if the Circle time isn’t  interrupted.  Just a reminder as well that the green exit button is just for adults to press (please don’t pick your children up and get them to do this).

Breakfast Club at Homerton

If your child is coming for breakfast please be aware that food is served between 8.00-8.30am, this is followed by a play session prior to children going to class.  (Please be aware Breakfast club needs to be booked in advance).

Snack time

Children at Homerton enjoy sharing snack together during their session with us.  Please can you send in a snack either weekly, or daily, for the children to enjoy at this very sociable time. We aim to make the snack very healthy so fruit, vegetables, bread sticks or oatcakes are very welcome.  Please don’t bring in salty or sweet treats like crisps, chocolates or sweets and please be aware we are a nut/sesame seed free school due to possible allergies.

Birthdays

We enjoy celebrating your child’s birthday with the class at Homerton and have a special pretend cake with the appropriate number of candles on it for their age. If you would like to bring in some special fruit for all the children to enjoy on their birthday then please do. Due to potential allergies we cannot accept cakes or biscuits from home. We are also always delighted if your child is able to give the class a gift of a book to enjoy together on their birthday and during the coming year.  Please do put a dedication in the front of the book so we all know who has given it to the class.

Please let class teams and the office know if your child has any particular allergies or dietary needs.

Peanut Allergy Warning:

You may have seen on the news recently that the advice if you, or your child, has a peanut allergy, is not to eat mustard products currently as there may be a contamination issue.

As I mentioned last week we are focusing on our Core story of Owl Babies by Martin Waddell this half term.  Perhaps you would enjoy sharing the story through pictures with your child – they may even be able to tell you the story!

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

In class we are enjoying reading and exploring our core story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell – a warm and reassuring book about separating from loved ones, finding ways to cope and being reunited again. A story about owls is also a nice way to start the year since the Homerton logo is an owl. In the story we encounter …

a Mummy owl             and some baby owls         who live in a

nest       in a tree . One day, the babies wake up to find their

owl mother is gone. After worrying a bit,   (“I want my Mummy” says Bill, the youngest owl), they guess she has gone to find some miceto eat and she does soon comes back   to feed them. The youngest owl is delighted to see her and ends the story saying “I love my Mummy!”    .

You and your children might like to chat about this story together – they might be able to share with you what they remember or like about the story or you could use these pictures as a prompt to talk about it.

You might also like to look at some pictures of owls in a wildlife book or online together. www.rspb.org.uk has some lovely pictures and information about owls in their Bird Guide.

Half Term holiday – Monday 28^th October-Friday 1^st November.

Holiday club will be running during half term week and we will be emailing you to let you know when you can book this.

Please note the Centre is also closed on Monday 4^th November for a Staff Training day on Performance Management.

The first day back for children after half term will be Tuesday 5^th November.