Welcome and Stay & Play
We would like to say a big welcome to all of our new children and parents who have started with us this term. Everyone has settled really well and are all making friends.
If you have any questions about your child or about the preschool then please could we ask you to either talk to us at the gate, email us on pavilionpirates@live.co.uk or phone us on 07769 177701. Please can we ask that you do not send this type of communication via your child’s Tapestry account.
You are also more than welcome to come into preschool for a stay and play session with your child. Family members are also welcome to come in.
Reminders & Announcements
- PLEASE NAME EVERYTHING – especially lunch boxes, snack pots and water bottles. It is particularly important to save spreading germs around this time of year. Thank you to those of you who have already done so as it is much appreciated.
- Please may we remind you that children are not to have squash/juice in their water bottles.
- Please can you pack a spare set of clothing in your child’s rucksack each day in case of accidents.
- Just a reminder not to send your child into preschool if they have a continuous cough, heavy cold or temperature.
- Please remember we are a NUT FREE setting so please can you check the ingredients on any snack or lunch items.
- Please can we ask that children do not come in with any toys from home. We know this can be difficult, but it causes arguments and upset between some children.
- Please can we ask that you bring your child at the agreed start times of 9am or 9.30am. If you are going to be more than 10 minutes late then please can you give us a call.
Immunisations
We have been requested by Services for Young Children to remind all parents to check that their child’s immunisations are all up-to-date. This is particularly important for those children who will be going to school this year.
Please look out for a reminder from the Child Health Information Service who send out letters regarding the second dose of the MMR vaccine which children should usually be given around 3 years 4 months old.
Parent Meetings
We would like to invite all parents into preschool for a quick meeting with their child’s keyperson. This will be to discuss your child’s progress and next steps, and to answer any questions you may have. Your child’s keyperson will be in touch with you to arrange a mutually convenient time.
Fundraising Target £6,500
Total raised so far this year £2,967.02
BIKE-A-THON – £983.00
EASYFUNDRAISING COMMISSION – £131.61
SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE – £34.00
BAGS 2 SCHOOL CLOTHES COLLECTION – £57.00
CHRISTMAS FAYRE – £432.89
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE – £710.00
DONATION – £150.00
HAND/FOOT CAST DONATIONS – £359.48
CHRISTMAS PHOTO COMMISSION – £40.00
STIKINS LABEL COMMISSION – £14.04
PARENT FIRST AID COURSE DONATIONS – £55.00
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us raise funds for our preschool.
These monies help us buy the everyday essentials for your children as well as replacing toys and equipment.
Fundraising Events for Spring Term
100 SQUARE LOTTERY BOARD
We will be putting out a 100 square lottery board next week for your chance to win a prize of £50. Squares will be sold at £1 each and once sold we will draw the winning square. £50 will go to the winner and £50 will go towards preschool fundraising.
DRESSING UP WEEK TO CELEBRATE WORLD BOOK DAY – W/C 2nd MARCH
The children can come into preschool all week dressed up in their favourite characters to celebrate World Book Day. In exchange for dressing up, we would appreciate it if you can bring in a bar/bars of chocolate or small Easter Eggs each day that your child dresses up. We will then be able to make our Easter Chocolate Hampers for our raffle.
WORLD BOOK DAY – SPONSORED EVENT – THE SMARTEST GIANT IN TOWN
THURSDAY 5th MARCH PM (1.15pm)
We will be holding a sponsored event to celebrate World Book Day and the children have chosen ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ this year. More details and sponsor forms to follow.
BAGS 2 SCHOOL CLOTHES COLLECTION
FRIDAY 13th MARCH
Once again, we will be having a Bags 2 School Clothes Collection on Friday 13th March. Will be handing out bags to fill shortly but you can use any bin liners to fill.
Bags 2 School will collect clothes, paired shoes, socks, hats, handbags, jewellery, scarves and ties and belts so please have a look at you clothes and put any you do not wear anymore into bags to help us raise funds. Filled bags can be bought into preschool on Thursday 12th March or by 9am on Friday 13th March.
EASTER – W/C 23rd MARCH
We will be holding an Easter Egg Hunt each day on the w/c 23rd March and will be taking the children around the field to search for the Eggs. More details will follow.
On Thursday 26th March we will be having an Easter Bonnet Parade and a small cake stall/refreshments.
We are also hoping to have an Easter Hamper raffle. This event will be from drop off for around an hour and everyone is welcome to come along even if your child does not usually attend on that day.
Please can we ask that you help your child to make their own Easter Bonnet at home to then bring in for the Parade. We will have two prizes for the best decorated bonnets.
Tesco Community Grant
As most of you will be aware, we were awarded a grant of £1500 from the Tesco Blue Tokens Grant back in November. We would like to thank everyone for voting with your blue tokens in our local Tesco stores.
This money is allocated to help us improve our home corner and role play area, so we thought we would update you as to what we have purchased so far:
Wooden Vet Set; Dyson Hairdryer; Dressing-Up Costumes; Wooden Kettle & Mug Set; Wooden Sewing Machine; Baby Pushchairs x 2; Wooden Pizza Oven; Toy Car Engine; Wooden Cleaning Items; New Gopak Table.
Charity Match
We are reaching out to all our parents to see if any of you work for a company that offers ‘charity matching’ – where employers match donations or fundraising amounts that their staff help raise for registered charities like ours.
If your workplace does this, or if you would like to check with your HR Team, then please can you let us know or drop us an email with the details. We have had a parent do this for us a few years ago and they managed to double one of our fundraising events by just helping out on the day of the event. This would be really helpful particularly on sponsored events and doubles the impact of all our hard work.
Thank you so much for your support.
How Do We Run Our Preschool?
As most of you may know, we are a charity and run by a group of 5 Trustees. The current Government funding has remained far too low and has historically not covered the cost of delivering early education. This means that we are under even more financial pressure than before.
This is the reason why we have to raise as much money as possible through fundraising events to keep the preschool open. It is imperative that parents/family members come forward to help us with these events.
At present, we only have 2 parents and 1 member of staff on our fundraising team and so desperately need some more help. If you would be interested in joining the fundraising team or can help with our fundraising efforts in any way then please let us know. If you have any ideas for fundraising events too then we would love to hear about them.
ITEMS NEEDED – If you can add any of these into your shopping then we would be grateful to receive any donations of tissues, handwash and baby wipes. Thank you.
Little Buccaneers Baby & Toddler Group
This group runs upstairs at preschool on a Tuesday morning from 9.45am-11am. It is £2 a session on a pay as you go basis. Childminders are also welcome to come along – £1 per child.
If you know anyone who would like to come along then please let them know. It is open for all babies and toddlers up to preschool age and run by volunteers and two of our members of staff.
We are always looking for volunteers to help too if you would like to get involved. We would also be really grateful if you can let all your friends with little ones know about this group as we need to increase numbers to enable us to continue running each week.
The Three Peaks Challenge
Finally, as you all know, fundraising is crucial for our preschool to keep running. One of our lovely parents, Joe, together with his siblings, has decided that he will be taking on the ‘Three Peaks’ challenge on March 26 to help us raise funds.
We have attached a flyer with the newsletter showing how you can make any donation via Joe’s go fund me page or alternatively you can send your donation directly to preschool.
Every little donation will help and we would like to say a huge thank you to Joe and his siblings for taking on this challenge. We wish you lots of luck in your training over the next few weeks and look forward to seeing how much we can raise.
