Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been such a pleasure getting to know you and your children this year and being part of their learning journey.
We really value your feedback and we would appreciate it if you could complete a short survey to help us be even better next year. This will be available on our website shortly and we will text you a link.
As we are moving towards the end of this busy nursery year and starting to plan for the next, we are sharing some important news and updates.
Staffing
At the end of this term we will be saying goodbye to some staff and others will be changing roles or sites.
- Nicola will be leaving us after 12 years, to spend more time with her family. We will miss the invaluable support she has given our children, particularly those with additional needs, and the children will miss her exciting bucket time activities! Hopefully we will see her again soon as she will be helping out with supply cover.
- Congratulations to Natalie Williams, the teacher in Oak room, for the successful completion of her SENDCO qualification. From September she will be sharing her expertise across the federation taking on the SENDCO role on both sites. We will miss her as a class teacher in Oak room but will see her regularly as she leads the support for our children with additional needs.
- Donna, who has previously taught at Speedwell Nursery School has been appointed as the new class teacher in Oak room at the start of the week. We look forward to welcoming her to Little Hayes and enjoying all her fun circle times.
- Welcome to Athena who will be joining the Willow team as a lunchtime assistant working alongside Joy.
- Thank you and goodbye to Vaughan who has been working as long-term supply in both Oak and Willow room. You will be missed by both the staff and children, and we wish you well in your future legal career.
End of Term Dates
| Date | Event |
| Wednesday 17th July 11am – 2pm | End of Year family picnic for all children and families. Come and join the fun. Bring your own picnic and blanket. There will be a short graduation ceremony for children moving on to reception. Please note that there will be no nursery sessions that day. |
| Friday 19th July | Last session for option B (end of the week children) |
| Tuesday 23rd July | Last session for option A (start of the week and 30 hours children) |
End of Year Celebration Picnic and Graduation – Wednesday 17th July 11am to 2pm
We will be having a family picnic in the garden to celebrate all the fun and learning this year. We will also be saying goodbye and good luck to the children moving on to reception with a graduation ceremony. Come along with your picnic (no nuts please) and a blanket to join in the fun. All families are invited. There will be no nursery session that day.
September 2024 Settling in Plans for Returning Children
We are already looking forward to next year. We are excited to be welcoming new families and staff, settling our returning children and supporting some of our Willow children in their transition to Oak room.
During the first week in September we will be going on home visits to meet and get to know our new families. We have found that a gradual return to nursery helps all the children to feel settled, happy and ready to learn. All the returning children, including those moving rooms, will have been given a letter outlining their settling plan. Please see your key person or class teacher if you haven’t seen your child’s settling in plan, or have any questions.
Nursery Places for September
We do have a few nursery places available for September 2024. Please tell your family and friends. They can complete the application form on our website, or pop in to arrange a show round and speak to the team.
Visiting Performers
This term we have been lucky to secure funding for visiting performers to work with the children. We would love to be able to offer similar opportunities next school year. Your invaluable voluntary contributions of £1 per week would help us to pay for these brilliant experiences for the children.
- Music with Ellie – Ellie is an early years music specialist from Bristol Beacon. She has been joining us on Thursday mornings for musical exploration across the nursery. We have been learning new songs, playing instruments together and dancing in lots of different ways whilst listening to live music being played on the flute, piano and ukulele. See Tapestry and our website for photos and more information.
- Little Lights – Mike and Rebecca from Travelling Light Theatre Company have been at Little Hayes over the past few Mondays, delivering some creative arts and storytelling activities for the children. The project, called ‘Little Lights’ came about after some families from Little Hayes attended performances of the Travelling Light show ‘Igloo’ at the Oldbury Court Children’s centre in the spring. This production was a non-verbal story about two siblings waiting for it to snow. Rebecca and Mike from Travelling Light brought some of the props from the show into the Nursery as a starting point and have since been exploring imaginative play, visual arts and non-verbal story with groups from across the setting. We will be adding some more photos to our website shortly.
Job Opportunities
See the opportunities page on our website for the exciting job opportunities available at Little Hayes from September 2024.
East Bristol Children’s Centre (EBCC) Summer Events
Checkout the free local events being run by EBCC this summer
https://www.eastbristolchildrenscentre.co.uk/_files/ugd/200b36_963e4a5d88314fefa0bf714c596b4e5f.pdf
They are also hosting a free 4 week parents group called Parenting Puzzle. See our website for details and how to sign up.
Wishing you all a wonderful summer from the Little Hayes Team,
Jet Davis
Headteacher, Little Hayes and Speedwell Nursery School Federation