Sports Day & Cake Sale

Well the British weather got in the way of our Sports Day the other week so we are going to try again on Tuesday 24th May at 2pm...so please keep your fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us.

We will also be having a Cake Sale Week starting on Tuesday 24th May. All donations are gratefully received and cakes will be sold at the end of each session all week or until we run out. Proceeds will go towards some improvements that we are currently making to our sensory garden area.

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Easter Eggstravaganza Success

So on the last day of our Spring Term we held our Easter Eggstravaganza. We had lots of entries for our Easter Bonnet parade as well as a ton of chocolate for our tombola. We had cakes, crafts, games and hot dogs too!

A big thank you to everyone who helped to organise this event and to everyone who came out and supported us on the day as we managed to raise an amazing £560!!! This is a fantastic result and we can't thank you all enough.

It is only through fundraising events like this that we can continue to offer the high standard of care and education that your children deserve.

This money will support our recent improvements to our home corner area as well as fund some expansions to our creative resources.

Thank You!

Easter Eggstravaganza

On Thursday 24th March from 2.45pm till 4.30pm we will be holding our Easter Eggstravaganza! Lots of Easter themed fun for all the family and hopefully we will raise a few pennies too.

There will be a BBQ, cake stall, raffle, Easter egg hunt, tattoos, Hook-a-Duck, Easter Chocolate Tombola, refreshments, Name the Lion and an Easter Bonnet Parade!!

We are really looking forward to seeing your Easter Bonnet creations and judging will take place at 4.00pm. All children who take part will get a small treat, and there will be prizes for the top three creations.

All money raised from this event will go direct to pre-school and help us to continue to provide a wide range of exciting and stimulating activities.

Thank you for your continued support!

Important Changes

At Springfield we are always looking at what we do, why we do it and whether we could be doing it better!

This has led us to start thinking about the potential impact of the government's plan to introduce up to 30 hours per week of free childcare and education for children aged 3 & 4 years of age in September 2017. As we strive to offer our parents the best service we can we want to be in a position to be able to provide those 30 hours of childcare and education per week. But this will mean a change to our opening hours as our current sessions will need to increase from two and a half hour sessions to three hour sessions.

So that we can be best prepared we have decided to bring in this change early and so from this September we will have a new set of opening hours and as a result some of our fees will change too. Please note that we will only be able to offer 15 hours of government funded childcare and education this September and that the increase to 30 hours will not come into effect until September 2017. Please also be aware that there will be certain criteria to meet in order to qualify for the new funding and we will ensure that our parents are kept informed as soon as we know anything more!

Our new opening hours from September 2016 are;

Morning Sessions - 9.15am - 12.15pm

Lunch Club - 12.15pm - 12.45pm

Afternoon Sessions - 12.45pm - 3.45pm

Sessions for two year olds will cost £8.50 per session.

Sessions for children aged over three and who choose to take their funded place elsewhere, or who wish to attend for more than the 15 hours per week (equivalent to 5 sessions) the cost will be £10.50 per session.

Lunch Club will remain unaffected and cost £2.50 per lunch club with parents providing a packed lunch.

Should anyone wish to discuss anything in this post in greater detail please speak to Jayne either in person at pre-school or email springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

We hope that this change will meet both the current and future needs of our parents.

Healthy Eating Week

As part of our current topic of 'Our Bodies' we will be having a 'healthy eating' week for the week of the 1st February.

We would like to encourage all those children who attend our lunch club sessions to bring in really healthy lunch boxes and we will be awarding prizes for all those who have lots of healthy foods!

We hope our parents will support us with this topic and we can recommend having a look at 'Henry' a website that supports families with healthy eating and exercise for the really young www.henry.org.uk

Newsletter - January 2016

Here is our first newsletter of the new year;

Hello

Welcome back we hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Important Dates for your Diary

w/c 8^th February                 -           Cake Sale Week

Friday 12^th February           -          End of Term

Monday 22^nd February        -           Start of Term

Wednesday 9^th March         -           Inset Day – pre-school will be closed

15^th, 16^th & 17^th March       -           Parent Evenings

Thursday 24^th March          -           End of Term

Monday 11^th April                -           Start of Term

Session Fees

Invoices for session fees, lunch club and snack have been issued; all invoices are issued for the term up to the 12^th February and should be paid by Friday 15^th January 2016.  Late payment of fees will automatically incur a £7.00 penalty fee and continuous failure to pay fees could result in the removal of your child’s place from pre-school.  Please speak to Jayne regarding any payment issues so that this can be avoided – many thanks.

Primary School Applications

If your child was born between 1^st September 2011 and 31^st August 2012 they will be due to start Primary School in the academic year September 2016 – August 2017.  Applications for your child's place at Primary School need to be made through Derbyshire County Council (for those living in Derbyshire) and Nottinghamshire County Council (for those living in Nottinghamshire) by midnight on 15th January 2016.  If anyone has any questions please speak to Jayne.

Term Dates

Please be aware that we follow Derbyshire County Council term dates and as such the dates for our Easter breaks are different to those for Nottinghamshire County Council.

Upcoming Events

Committee Meeting – our next meeting is on Tuesday 12^th January at The Risley Park pub at 7.30pm and we will be discussing future fundraisers. Everyone is welcome J

Cake Sale Week (w/c 8^th February) – we will be having a cake sale all week (or until we run out of cakes!) so please bring in your donations from Monday 8^th February.  Cakes will be on sale at the end of each session – thank you.

Parent Evenings – these will be held in March and more details will be available after half term.

Staff Update

Delia has resigned due to health problems. We would like to thank her for all her hard work and wish her a speedy recovery. We will be having another new face join us in a few weeks as Suzanne Tracey joins as one of our supply cover.

How to Contact Pre-School

Our phone number is 07960 983423 or email us at; springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk and check our website www.springfieldpreschool.co.uk and Facebook page for up-to-date information. 

Christmas Fair Success

Well we had a fantastic day yesterday as we had our annual Christmas Fair at pre-school.

Santa was in his grotto and we had lots of helpers that made the day a great success. A big thank you to one and all who supported this event whether it was helping to organise it, manning a stall, clearing away or most importantly spending your pennies!!

We raised an astounding £1169!!! WOW!!! Our best ever fair! We will now be able to give our home corner the make-over it so very much needs.

Thank you so much, we really do appreciate your generosity and support.