Acorns Nursery News
March/April 2013.
Dear Parent/Carer
It looks like spring could well be on the way, and I don’t know about you but I am definitely looking
forward to some warmer and sunnier days. Please remember that even on the days where it is slightly
wetter and colder the children will still be offered the opportunity to go outside so please make sure that
you send them in with adequate and appropriate clothing. We would like to wish you all a lovely Easter
and hope you enjoy the long weekend.
Staff news
We are pleased to be able to share with you the exciting news that both Helen and Chloe have had their
babies. Helen had a little boy called Alfie Leonardo Guerrini, and Chloe had a little girl called Mollie Grace.
Sadly Thareak’s last day with us is on Thursday 28th March 2013. We will miss him lots but wish him and his
family all the best with the move and their new life. With regards to staffing once Thareak has left us we
would like to inform you of changes which we will be implementing. As things are a little quieter during the
Easter holidays these changes will be taking place from Monday 8th April 2013. Mel Underhill, who is
currently working in our Pre-school and has been with the team for 3 years, will be moving through to
work in the Toddler room. She will be replaced by Hanka Klimesova who has been doing some lunch cover
and cover work for us, within the nursery, she will be increasing to work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday in Pre-school. We hope that these changes will all run smoothly and cause as little disruption to
the children as possible. If you do have any concerns then please do not hesitate to contact us.
As I am sure a lot of you are aware unfortunately we no longer have the ducks. This is a great loss to the
nursery. However we are hoping that we will be able to keep some of the chickens from the Pre-school
“Living Eggs” programme. This will enable the children to nurture our new hens from eggs to chicks, to
being big enough to transition to the outside coop, to becoming hens themselves, to beginning to lay eggs
of their own. We hope this will be a fantastically hands on learning experience for the children. If we are
lucky we may end up with some extremely friendly hens that are very used to the company of children and
will become an important part of nursery life for many years to come.
It is that difficult time of year when we need to inform you that the fees are increasing by a, hopefully
quite manageable, £1 per day/session. We hope you appreciate our continued investment in Acorns
including the continued professional development of the staff and training; this includes us embarking on
The Bristol Standards Quality Assurance programme, new double glazed windows throughout Toddlers,
and the planned refurbishment of the Pre-school toilets.
Acorns Fees from 1st May 2013:
Children under 3 years (includes all nappies and food)
8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
£42.50 per day
9 a.m. - 3.30 p.m.
£35
8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
£27
£202.50 per week
1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Additional hours
£27
£5 per hour
10% sibling discount
Children aged 3 and over (includes all food)
8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
£40 per day
9 a.m. – 3.30 p.m.
£33
8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
£24
1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
£24
Additional hours
£190 per week
£5 per hour
10% sibling discount
Baby Acorns
We would like to welcome Emma, Jarrett, Cody, Hector, Henriette and Eleanor to the Baby Room. And say
goodbye to Lexie, Rebecca, Hector and Lily and wish them lots of luck with their move to the Toddler room.
We will be focusing on the theme of “Spring”. We will be looking at a variety of plants and flowers, and
growing our own cress and sunflowers. We will be making birdfeeders which we will then be distributing
around the garden. We will be celebrating Easter and the children will be making chocolate nests to take
home. The children will also be able to enjoy a range of messy activities such as: painting, clay, mark
making and sticking using a variety of different tools and textures. If you have any resources which you
would like to contribute towards any of these activities then please feel free to do so, or if you would like
to come in and help with the activities then you are more than welcome to do so. We will be sending home
the children’s information sheets and asking you to make any updates to your child’s routine and/or any of
their personal information. Could we please ask that you co-operate with us and complete this as quickly
and effectively as possible.
Toddlers
We would like to say ‘Goodbye’ to Thareak, he will be sadly missed by both the staff and the children. We
would like to welcome Lily, Hector, Lexie and Rebecca to the Toddler room.
We will be focusing on the children’s physical development, we will be looking at balancing, obstacle
courses and throwing and catching games. We will also be working together in groups. We will be using
one of the children’s favourite books “Oh dear” as a focus; this will lead onto looking at different animals,
painting and drawing animals, constructing animals form junk modelling, making animal masks and going
on a hunt to look for eggs. We have celebrated Mother’s Day and will be celebrating Easter by making
cards and having an Easter egg hunt, also designing our own Easter eggs. If you have any resources such as:
egg boxes, toilet roll, contents for our junk modelling, they would be gratefully received.
Pre-school
We would like to welcome Ted and Xander to Pre-school. In Pre-school the children made Mother’s Day
cards and presents and we will be celebrating Easter by having an Easter egg hunt. We will be continuing to
look at the weather and measuring this in a variety of different ways. We will be using rain gauges and
wind catchers to make weather charts. We will then use the charts to determine how often it rains. We will
also be focusing on numerals and would like to ask if you could please take a photograph of your front
door with the house number, and then bring this in so that we can use it for a display. This month
environment day will be on
On the 8th April we will be receiving our annual “Living Eggs” project, this is where we have chicken eggs
delivered with an incubator and the children get to watch them hatch and grow. Therefore we will be
talking about the life cycle of chickens.
Medicines
We are only able to administer prescribed medicines to the children. We do not give them Calpol or
Nurofen. May we also remind parents that if you feel it necessary to give your child Calpol or Nurofen
before coming to nursery it is likely that they should be kept at home.
If your child has had to visit hospital within the last 24 hours, either with you or our staff, then can we
please ask that you keep them out of nursery for at least 24 hours.
Parental Involvement
At Acorns we want you to feel included in your child’s day with us. You can do this by sharing information
with us or coming in. We want to let all parents know that you are always welcome to come in and share
your skills with us. This can be anything from reading a story to the children to carrying out an art session
with them. All you need to do is talk to a member of staff and then we can arrange a suitable and
convenient time and date for you to come in. Thank you.
Wow vouchers
It is important that we have strong links with home in order to maximise the potential for your child's
development. For this reason, we have downloadable 'wow' vouchers on the website (along with a sample)
and also 'this is what I've been doing at home' forms for you to complete and hand to your child's key
person. Please do take the time to have a look at the parent's area and fill them in for your child:
(http://www.acornscirencester.com/parents-area/?page_id=30 )
Nursery Funding
Your child is eligible for nursery funding up to a maximum of 15 hours a week. This may be spread across
the week, but can only be up to 6 hours in any one day. The funding is for 38 weeks of the year only (our
academic year is 39 weeks) and funding starts in the term following your child’s third birthday. If you have
any further questions about this, and about how it is shown on your invoice, please email Jill on
info@acornscirencester.com
Fees
Please remember to write your child's name on the back of any cheques so that we know whose account
to credit. Alternatively if you are paying via a BAC’s payment please make sure that you include your child’s
name as the reference.
A polite reminder, that payments are due by 15th of every month. If full fees are not received by this date
then there will be a late payment charge of 2.5%, of the outstanding amount, added to your next invoice. If
there is an ongoing query regarding your invoice which is being dealt with by Jill, the late payment fee will
not be added.
Contact details
Please make sure that we have up-to-date contact details and emergency contact details for your child.
Clothing
Please do remember to send your children with clothing that is appropriate to them spending lots of time
outside in all weathers. Please do remember to clearly label your child's belongings.
Availability
Baby places at Acorns are now oversubscribed till January 2014 and extremely limited for April 2014. If you
wish younger siblings to gain a place please submit a booking form as early in your pregnancy as possible.
The situation is similar in Toddlers and Preschool.
Dropping off/collecting your child/children
Can all parents please remember that both entrances and exits to the nursery lead onto busy roads so
please make sure that your child is supervised when entering and exiting the nursery.
French
Dear Parents, Friends, Family!
Whilst also celebrating 30 years in early language learning, La Jolie Ronde has been nominated for 3
awards in the What's on 4 International Junior Awards 2013! As you know I am truly passionate about
EARLY AND FUN language learning and it would mean so much to win this award! (We won it in 2011 so
lets win it again in 2013!) Every vote counts and only 1 vote per email address.
If you/your children love my classes then..... PLEASE PLEASE VOTE FOR LA JOLIE RONDE!!!
It will only take a few seconds and here is how to do it..... Please be sure to vote for all 3 categories
ESPECIALLY 2 - 5 years and 5 - 12 years! Thanking you in advance :-) MERCI!
For the UK Awards log onto or copy and paste this url into your browser:
www.whatson4littleones.co.uk/awards-voting-2013.asp
Book People
We currently have a selection of books left on site for a week at a time for us to look through and order if
we would like. We thought that we would open this up to you and offer you the opportunity to look and
order if you wish. The books will be in the staff room (the shed over the end of the garden) placed on the
table, if you would like to have a look then please feel free to go over. Please try to avoid going in if staff
are on their lunch, and please make sure that the door is closed behind you.
Other Messages
Can we please remind you to try and discourage your child/children from bringing their toys into nursery.
If it is a comforter, then this should be able to fit into either their bag or tray. Alternatively if your child
brings home any of the nursery toys could you please make sure that these are returned to us. Can you
please make sure that your child/children do not have any sweets or chocolate in their bag.
As always, if there is anything that you wish to discuss, please see a member of the Acorns team as soon as
possible.
Many thanks,
The Acorns Team