Mother Hubbards Newsletter
April-May
2013
Firstly we
would like to Welcome you all back from the Easter holidays and we hope you all
enjoyed the break. We would also like to welcome back Rachel Hogge who has
returned to work after her maternity leave.
Birthdays
Fundraising
We would
like to thank you all for your participation and contributions towards The
National Pyjama Day 2013 which was held on Friday the 8th of March.
We raised an outstanding €555.80.
Dates
for your calendar
At this
moment we would like to take this opportunity to remind parents of our children
in Montessori that they will finish up on the 28th of June 2013.
Montessori class will also be going on a day trip to Grove Gardens & Open
farm before they finish up. Date, time and price to follow.
Toddlers
We would
like to welcome Ryan to our Toddler group who has started with us. This month
in the toddler room the children are busy having lots of fun being involved in
activities which implement Aistears themes into their curriculum. For Identity
and Belonging the children have been spending time looking at their family
trees, taking the time to talk, point out their families under the theme of
communicating. The children have fun interacting with one another through
movement and music also participating in group activities such as storytelling,
painting and play dough. Wellbeing is important for the children to develop
relationships and strong attachments with their peers. The children develop
these relationships during activities such as mealtimes and playtime. The
children go for walks and play outside in the garden a lot through this they
are benefiting from the theme of Thinking and Exploring. They also discover new
and different new things in their environments while participating in these
activities. The children will be planting seeds in the garden this term and will
have lots of fun doing so as they will be hands on in the mud. The toddlers are
still busy with their art and crafts basing them around spring.
Playschool
In
playschool the children have settled back from the Easter break and are looking
forward to enjoying some new activities. We would like to welcome Nicole and
Aidan to our group who have joined us from the toddler group. This term the
children will be part of a process and will be hands on planting flowers to
decorate our garden area. The children will also care for their flowers as they
blossom throughout the summer. This activity links into Aistears theme of Thinking
and Exploring, where the children get to enjoy the outdoors as well as
exploring their environments and discovering new textures. In playschool the
children will be learning about Farm Animals and we will base their arts and
crafts and songs on this as the children learn the nursery rhyme Old Mac
Donald. We all know this is an old favourite so sing along at home with them if
you wish. The children will go outside to our garden as much as possible as the
weather begins to pick up. We will implement some of our curriculum outside
also such as storytelling, which comes under the theme of communicating and
will play games such as ring-a-ring-a-rosie to encourage their social skills
and in turn build new relationships with one another and their key worker. The children will continue to add to their
spring displays with new materials and display these in their rooms.
Pre-Montessori
In April in
Pre-Montessori the children welcome a new face to their group, Conor who has joined
them from playschool. The children will be busy like our other groups planting
seeds and taking care of them, watering them regularly as they grow throughout
the summer months. The children will also incorporate Aistears Themes into
their curriculum as they implement their activities learning and developing
through the themes such as wellbeing, Thinking and Exploring, communicating and
identity and belonging. The children will be busy learning about the Farm and
the animals on the farm. They will also learn about things that grow on the
farm and with planting their seeds the children will gain the experience of
what farm life is all about. The children in Pre-Montessori will also be
looking at the theme ‘On the Beach’. Here the children will discuss the beach
and base their activities around this. Also in this theme the children will
learn about the different types of weather with hope that we will see some sun
coming our way soon.
Pre-Montessori
2
Welcome back
to all the children in Pre-Montessori 2 after the Easter break. We hope you all
had a lovely break and ate plenty of chocolate eggs and bunnies, Yummy. During
April Pre-Montessori 2 will be continuing on with their spring theme learning
about the life cycle of a frog and will be doing plenty of painting and
colouring linked to this. This is also linked to the implementation of the themes
relating to Aistear as the theme identity and belonging says children should see themselves as capable
learners. The children hope that the weather will pick up so that they can
get busy planting their flowers and enjoy watching them grow. During May they
have planned in their curriculum to learn about farm animals and the animals in
the Zoo. So in Pre-Montessori the children will be busy little bees learning
and having lots of fun as they do so. They hope to go outside as much as
possible also with the hope that the snow has finally gone.
Montessori
The
Montessori teachers would like to welcome all their children back from their
long Easter break. For April the children’s planned curriculum will involve
learning about the farm, but their main topic for the month being about the
body, the organs in the body and the functions of the organs in the body. This
topic relates to the themes within Aistear also as the theme wellbeing states
that children should be as healthy as
can be and that they should be aware
of their individual bodies and their changing abilities. The children will
also be learning about the Continents with Africa being the first one on their
list as they discuss and look at pictures of Africa relating to its culture,
food, music, clothing, tribes and animals. During the month of May the children
will be learning about summer with the beach being their theme of the month. In
this theme they will also learn about sea life and the animals that live in the
sea. The children will also look forward to taking part in their Sports Day
which is an annual event for the children in Montessori.
Afterschool
With the
Easter break out of the way the afterschool children will be back in action
completing their homework and with First Holy Communion getting closer for some
of our children they look forward to doing various FUN activities of their
choice which involve song and dance and arts and crafts. With the weather
picking up the children will be participating in a lot of outdoor games and
sports. We hope you all enjoyed your Easter Holidays.
Feedback
of Satisfaction Surveys
In relation
to the feedback from the satisfaction Surveys it has come to our attention that
many parents do not know what Aistear and Siolta are. Therefore below is a
summary of both Frameworks. We have also noted that parents do not know where
the following folders are located;
·
Health
& Safety
·
Policies
and Procedures
·
Comments/Complaints
Folder
All the
above can be found on the table on the left hand side in our reception area.
Aistear
What is Aistear?
Aistear is
an Early Childhood curriculum framework that presents children learning and
development using four themes. These themes are Well-being, Identity and
Belonging, Communicating and Exploring and Thinking. These themes are designed
to describe what children learn, the dispositions, attitudes, value, life
skills, knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Here is a small
summary of what the themes are and there aims.
·
Well-being- this theme is about children being happy,
healthy and confident
Aim: children will be healthy and as fit
as can be.
·
Identity and Belonging- this theme is about children
developing a positive sense of who they are, and feeling valued and respected
as part of a family and community.
Aim: children will have strong
self-identities and will feel respected and affirmed as unique individuals with
their own life stories.
·
Communicating- this theme is about children sharing
their experiences, thoughts, ideas and feelings with others growing confidence and
competence in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes.
Aim: Children will broaden their
understanding of the world by making sense of experiences through language.
·
Exploring and Thinking- this theme is about children making
sense of the things, places and people in their world.
Aim: Children will learn about and make
sense of the world around them by engaging and exploring the environment in
which they are in.
Siolta
What is Siolta?
Siolta is
the National Quality Framework for Early year’s children services. Siolta sets
out national standards all of which are vital areas of importance for
children’s services. The 16 standards are as follows;
1. Rights of the child- Ensuring each child’s rights as human beings are being met
2.
Environments- Ensuring Environments both indoors
and outdoors are well maintained and safe.
3. Parents and Families- Valuing and involving parents and families.
4. Consultation-Ensuring
inclusive decision making.
5. Interactions-Fostering
constructive interactions between both children and adults.
6. Play- Ensuring
each child has ample time to play.
7. Curriculum- Encouraging
each child’s holistic development and learning.
8. Planning and Evaluation- enriching all aspects of practice within the setting
requires observation, planning, action and evaluation.
9. Health and Welfare- promoting health and welfare requires protection from harm in partnership
with trust and respect.
10. Organisation-
organising and managing resources effectively requires clearly communicated
policies and procedures.
11. Professional Practise- Practising in a professional manner requires that individuals have
skills, knowledge and values within the setting.
12. Communication-
communicating effectively is I the best interests of the child with respect and
confidentiality upheld.
13. Transitions-
this requires policies and procedures that promote sensitive management of
transitions
14. Identity and Belonging- the promotion of this standard also requires policies and
procedures clearly defined.
15. Legislation and Regulation- Being compliant requires that all relevant regulations and
legislative requirements are met or exceeded.
16. Community Involvement- this requires the establishment of networks and connections
evidenced by policies and procedures and actions which extend and support all
adult’s and children’s engagement with the wider community.
Siolta
challenges everyone working in the ECCE sector to think about the quality of
experiences we provide for young children. Within each of the standards there
are components set out also.
Reminder
to all parents
We would
like to take this opportunity to remind all parents of sessional/part-time
children to please ensure that they adhere to the set times allocated to them
for their children and collect them on time in order for our centre to adhere
to Staff/child ratios. As it has come to our attention that sessional part-time
children are not being collected on time. If sessional/part-time children
arrive late some mornings and although this may be the case, children still need to be collected at
their agreed time regardless of what time they came to the setting at. This
is stated in our parent’s handbook which all parents must read and sign when
their children first attend this setting. Therefore when children are not
collected on time parents are in breach of their contract with Mother Hubbards.
We would like to remind parents of our full-time children that we close at 6:00pm sharp.
Mother
Hubbards, 56 Blackcastle Demesne, Slane Road, Navan.
046-9059967