Advice Corner
A Parent’s Guide to Travelling with Children
As we’re approaching the summer holiday
season, lots of Mum’s have been asking us
about keeping their children occupied whilst
travelling, so here’s some handy holiday season
advice for stress-free travelling by air, car
and train.
Flying with young children for the first
time…
Check how much extra luggage you are allowed
for young children when you book – e.g. push
chairs, also check whether sky-cots are
provided for babies and reserve one.
Split the family clothing between all your
bags, just in case one case goes missing – and
buy comprehensive travel insurance. Check
with the local health centre about whether
your children need vaccinations for your
intended destination.
At the airport be prepared for your children
to be security screened – shoes off, coats etc,
so dress them in easy to remove items of
clothes. Take toys and books in your hand
luggage and ask for seats near to the toilets
and galley at the check-in desk which will
usually mean extra space for you.
Preparing for a long car journey
If possible, travel when the children are due
to be sleeping – work out the length of your
journey and add an extra hour for nappy
changes and toilet stops etc.
Mints, ginger biscuits and a cool facecloth
can all stave off the effects of carsickness – playing story CD’s and childfriendly music is more conducive to avoiding
car sickness than a portable DVD player.
AND FINALLY OUR
PICTURE FILE
Keep an eye on children by attaching a small
mirror to the passenger visor rather than
having to repeatedly turn around. Playing
the tried and tested games from your
childhood like ‘I spy’ or ‘Who am I’ helps the
time to pass quickly.
Use a sun shade in the rear to encourage
sleep and to stop direct sunlight shining
into your baby’s eyes.
Travelling on the train
Our Boroughbridge Mad Scientists!
Be prepared for lots of walks up and down
the carriages – that it the attraction of
being on a train. Pre-book seats together
as a family around a table and plan the most
direct rail route to avoid having to make
changes - better to be on one comfortable
train for an hour longer than having to
change half way, especially if there is a
delay and you miss the connection. Think of
your fellow travellers around you and avoid
using noisy games and toys.
Above all, plan and prepare well in advance
and have a glorious holiday, wherever you
decide to go. Don’t forget to send us a post
card for our displays!
Newsletter 42
Well, it looks like summer is finally on the way – with abundant hay fever and Royal Baby fever seemingly gripping
the nation! Every new baby reminds us of the importance of families and the summer season is a fantastic time to
enjoy family fun and create lasting memories with your children. If you are going on holiday don’t forget to send
us a postcard – the children love learning about the different places in the world. If you’re staying closer to home
then have fun in the park or the garden - it’s amazing how much we can laugh together when we concentrate on the
simple pleasures around us. Summer-time blues? Not with us!
*STOP PRESS*
YORK NURSERY IS OUTSTANDING
Hand-print painting is really good fun!
Just as we go to print, Ofsted have carried out their
inspection at York and decided that our standard of
childcare is no longer good…its OUTSTANDING! The
Inspector praised staff for their practice with children of
all ages and the ways in which the children learn and develop
by incorporating all aspects of the curriculum. Nursery
Manager Gemma said,’ this top grading is a testament to all
the hard work put in by the team at York and is a reflection
of the way we carry out our care and duties with the
children – I’m very proud of them all.’ And so are we – well
done everyone!
Ready for School – or Not?
The Batley girls dress the part for World Book Day!
Giving a helping hand with our home-made pizzas…
Chinese New Year was great fun!
Around
240,000
new
primary school places are
needed by 2014/15 to meet
increased
demand,
according to research by
the National Audit Office –
that’s from next year Dave
and Nick in case you’re
listening!
Despite
the
increase in funding to local
Authorities from the Dept for Education and a net increase
of almost 81,500 school places in the past two years, there
are indications of a real strain on school places. So we can
look forward to class sizes of 40 plus, lack of school
resources, crumbling classrooms and over-stressed
teachers – who will no doubt still find time to go on strike!
Why can’t they protest during the summer holidays?
All the colours of the rainbow
It’s Red Nose Day!
Planning our menus with the children’s help.
Make it easier with a DD – or a CC
Cut down on your bank charges by
paying your fees with a direct debit –
ask us for a form and we will do the
rest – it’s as easy as that! Plus we can
now take credit and debit card
payments if you prefer – just ask us
for details.
A project to explore how babies see colour is being
undertaken by researchers at the University of Sussex.
Staff are recruiting local children as young as four months
old to take part in the study known as the ‘Rainbow Project.’
Researchers hope to study around 400 babies aged four to
six months over a two year period to determine how they
group different colours and thereby understand how they
structure their visual world.
Here’s a story worth repeating...
Enjoying our York tractor…
Excercising with Gavin March.
Harry and Laura enjoy visit to the park.
Summer 2013
A new study shows that repeatedly reading the same books
to children helps them to retain new words. Researchers
created nine picture books with made-up words for two pairs
of unfamiliar objects. The books were read to 16 three-year
olds over the course of a week. One group were read three
different stories with the same new words; the other group
only one story with the same new words. Children in the
latter group were much better at recalling new words than
those in the first.
More Great Childcare? Think Again GOVT
Having led the Government-commissioned review of early
education and childcare which was published last year,
Professor Cathy Nutbrown has now launched a highly critical
response to the ‘More Great Childcare’ report. ‘As I read
through the report, I realised that most of my
recommendations had in effect been rejected,’ said the
Sheffield University academic. Well, are you surprised we
ask? Government doesn’t like what is being recommended?
Tough – here’s the policy we’re implementing – like it or lump it!
In the news recently…
A nine year old girl has had a
dinosaur named after her reported
the BBC. Daisy Morris picked up
the fossil from the beach near
Southampton
and
academics
discovered it was a new species –
now
called
Vectidraco
daisymorrisae!
A three year old boy has had his first hair cut so that his 2ft
long locks can be made into a wig for children with cancer,
reported the Daily Express. Elijah Edney is donating his
golden tresses to charity and has raised more than £1,000
for the wig to be made.
Men are worse than toddlers at eating
fruit and vegetables, according to a
study carried out by drinks producer
SaVse. While the average toddler
eats 12 different types of fruit and
veg per week, men only manage a
measly six.
So, no more telling
children to eat their vegetables so
that they’ll grow up to be like daddy!
A toddler has helped her paralysed
mum to learn to walk again. Sam
Furniss, 35, was diagnosed with
aneurysms when her daughter was
just ten months old. Against the odds
she survived and slowly learnt to walk
again by copying young Ella.
A primary school pupil’s balloon, which was one of 300
released as part of a school geography project, has been
found in a back garden in Sydney, Australia, reported the
Times. The balloon, which six year old Joshua Blackaby
launched from Wyndham Primary in Derby, was found 10,500
miles away and the finder promptly contacted with school
from the label attached to it!
A nursery in France looks set to be a beneficiary of David
Beckham’s salary from Paris St Germain football club. The
Gateway Kindergarten, which is under threat of closure, is
the favourite to bank part of the footballer’s £100,000
weekly (yes, weekly!) pay packet, reported the metro.
~ News from our Nurseries ~
Boroughbridge
We had a visit from two Pets at
Home ladies who brought us rabbits
and guinea pigs to look at. We had
lots of fun petting them and learned
about how to look after them and
what food they eat.
Farming came to us at nursery when
Isabelle’s dad brought his tractor
for us to look at and sit in the cab
whilst singing – altogether now,
‘bouncing up and down on a big red
tractor...’
Dance class was even more fun
recently, when Stephanie and
Sportacus from Lazytown joined
teacher Lisa to show us a great new
dance – we liked it that much we
asked them to do it twice!
To celebrate science week we all
dressed up as ‘mad scientist’s and
carried
out
some
crazy
experiments. We made lots of mess
making ‘gloop’, we made magical
flowers that opened in water and
turned orange juice into slush
without using the freezer and lots Batley
more throughout the day.
World book day was great fun when
we all dressed up as our favourite
To celebrate Easter we had an book characters – see our photos of
‘Eggstravanganza’ Day. We had an Noddy, Snow White and loads of
Easter bonnet competition and Gruffaloes!
made chocolate buns. We also had a
‘guess how many eggs in the jar’ We all dressed up in red and had
competition and a ‘name that bunny’. wacky hair for Red Nose Day – preThe pre-school children also made school did an Obstacle course,
Easter biscuits that were then used Tweenies did some Welly Wanging
to decorate the shop window of and Babies did their own dance. We
raised over £350, so a big thanks
SUGARFUN in Ripon.
goes to everyone for their generous
support.
York
Healthy Body, Happy Me Week was
a great success in pre-school when
we learnt all about what we eat and
how it makes us healthy. Plus we
also did our hand washing practice
and even squeezed in some yoga
lessons to learn how to relax – just
the thing after a busy day in
nursery!
It’s really green and growing in our
Nursery Garden where we have
planted Beans, Broccoli, Parsnips,
Spinach, Tomatoes, Peas, Onions,
Leeks, Rhubarb, Strawberries and
Redcurrants. Wow, what a crop!
Scarborough
Our French lessons are going really
‘tres bon’ as our children learned
animal
names, numbers
and
greetings with our new instructor
Amanda, whilst fitness instructor
Gavin came in to show us how to do
some exercises and stretches to
keep our bodies in good shape!
Disney Day was great fun when we
all got dressed up as our favourite
character and nursery became
Disney-land for the day and held a
cake sale and raffle which raised
over £200 for red nose day –
thanks to everyone who contributed
wonderful prizes for us!
Thanks to Noah’s Dad, who came in
to talk about police community work
and let us have go with the lights
and siren in the car – don’t know
what our neighbours thought, but
we enjoyed it!
PARENTS EVENING
Thank you to everyone for attending
our Parents Evenings in May and for
your kind comments which we have
passed onto the staff concerned.
One parent asked us which nursery
evening manages to get through the
most beer, wine and food and the
answer is…well, that would be telling
now wouldn’t it?! Needless to say,
everyone we saw seemed amply
refreshed and we’re glad you all
enjoyed the hospitality. As usual,
we’ll be doing it all again in
November and dates will be sent out
nearer the time.
SUMMER RECIPES
Guaranteed to get the taste-buds going, try some of
York’s Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding…
You will need:
2 oz butter
8 slices brown bread
1 pint milk
2 eggs
1 ½ oz soft brown sugar
3 oz chocolate
2 oz raisins
Butter the bread and cut into triangles. Place half in a
greased oven dish and sprinkle with the fruit, chocolate
and half of the sugar. Top with the remaining bread,
buttered side up and sprinkle with the rest of the sugar.
Beat eggs and mix with the milk and pour into dish over
the bread. Leave
to stand for 30
minutes to allow
the
bread
to
absorb some of the
liquid then bake at
170 degrees, gas
mark 3 for an hour
so
that
the
pudding is set and
crispy on top.
Meanwhile Chris’s moussaka at Scarborough is one of our
favourites…
For a family mean you will need:
1 cloves garlic
2 aubergines thinly
sliced
1 onion chopped finely
1 tin tomatoes
1kg minced lamb
3 tblspns tomato puree
1 pints lamb stock
Cheese sauce
Potatoes, sliced and partly cooked
Fry the aubergines and leave to one side. Then
fry onions and garlic until soft and add
the lamb then add tomatoes,
stock and puree. When the lamb
is brown, layer the mixture in an
oven dish with the potatoes and
aubergines and then pour cheese
sauce over. Bake in oven for an hour
until golden brown.
Letters from our Parents...
What
our children
say...
During February, it started snowing
again and Max said to his Dad as he
came to collect him, ‘it snowing so we
need to get the Christmas tree out
again ready for Santa coming!’
Just as the window cleaner was
finishing off in the dining room, eagle
eyed Leo pointed his arm at the
window and said to him, ‘Oi, you
missed a bit!’
When we had a fire evacuation drill
one morning, on hearing the alarm
sound Effie announced, ‘Oh - oh,
Chris must be burning the shreddies!
When Sophia was asked which book
she would like to take to nursery for
World Book Day she answered, ‘the
Argos catalogue!’
At lunchtime, staff member Sam
said to Bradley, ‘use your fork please
Bradley,’ to which Rebekah then
echoed, ‘yes use your fork please
Broccoli!’
Kelly said to Ollie, ‘please don’t pick
your nose,’ to which Ollie replied, ‘I’m
not picking my nose, I’m putting it
back in!’
Whilst picking his son up from
nursery, William’s dad said to him,
‘you’re getting too big for your
boots,’ to which William replied, ‘yes
I know, can you buy me some new
ones?’
So many letters to choose
from that it’s been tough
to pick between them –
here’s just a sample:
“Dear All,
A huge thank you for all the help
and support you have given Ralph
during his almost two years at
Happy Jays. He will miss everyone
a great deal but we hope to see
everyone soon with the new baby!
Much love, Steph & Richard.””
“To Kaley and everyone in Babies 1,
Thank you so much for looking
after James. I can’t believe he is
moving on already – he loves coming
to nursery and I know he is so
attached to you. Thank you for
making my return to work so much
better for knowing James is happy
and cared for. We will all miss you
so much but will still see you and
James will give you cuddles! I just
wanted to say a massive ‘Thank
You’, take care,
Lynette & Graeme.””
“To Everyone in Tweenie 2,
A great big thanks for all your help
– you are all just the best! Redon
loves coming to nursery and it’s all
thanks to you! He is really happy in
pre-school because you have
prepared him for that next stage
so well. Thank you so much!
Joanne.””
“To all the wonderful gang at
Happy Jays,
What can we say other than a huge
thank you!! You have been with us
for so long that we feel you are all
Summer Songs to sing
Whilst we’re busy with our gardening, we love to
sing:
Old MacDonald’s Garden
Old MacDonald had a garden, ee-i-ee-i-oh;
And in that garden was a spider, ee-i-ee-i-oh;
With a scuttle, scuttle here and a scuttle,
scuttle there,
Here a scuttle, there a scuttle, everywhere a
scuttle, scuttle,
Old MacDonald had a garden, ee-i-ee-i-oh;
Old MacDonald had a garden, ee-i-ee-i-oh;
And in that garden was a bee, ee-i-ee-i-oh;
With a buzz, buzz here and a buzz, buzz there,
Here a buzz, there a buzz, everywhere a buzz,
buzz, …etc
part of our family. We
explain how much we will
you all, thank you
everything. Huge hugs
sloppy kisses,
Matty, Sal & Roxy.””
can’t
miss
for
and
“To Everyone at Happy Jays
Just a note to say a big thank
you to all at Happy Jays for the
care and education you have
given to James over the past 4
and a half years. He’s turned
out to be a bright and
confident little boy, purely I
have no doubt to you all. James
has always loved to come to
nursery and I’m sure he will
miss you. Thank you and best
wishes to everyone, Carolyn and
George.”
“Dear All
We have been delighted with
Happy Jays – our daughter
loves coming in every day and
she is being taught all the
values that we would want and
expect and she is so obviously
loved by the staff; it is a warm
nurturing environment and it
has been to her positive
advantage to be able to learn at
Happy Jays – keep up the
exceptional good work! Love,
Annie & Chris.””
Thank you to everyone –
remember there’s lots more
letters in our Parents file at
each nursery. Your comments
make us feel very proud
about how we do our jobs – as
we say this is not just
childcare, this is Happy Jays
childcare.
Ask the children to add other creatures – bird,
worm, mouse…and so on.
And if we’re at the seaside let everyone on the
beach hear us sing:
My bubbles flew over the ocean
My bubbles flew over the sea.
My bubbles flew over the rainbow,
Oh come back my bubbles to me.
(Altogether now..)
Come back, Come back,
Oh Come back my bubbles to me, to
me…