September Intake

We are now taking names for children to start with us in September.

We are able to offer places for children aged 2, 3 & 4 years of age. Funding is available for all 3 & 4 year olds and we can offer the full 30 hours funding for those who qualify. We are also able to offer funding for those eligible two year olds.

If you're not sure what funding you maybe entitled to we recommend you visit Childcare Choices.

We are open Monday to Friday with morning sessions from 9.15am to 12.15pm, and afternoons from 12.15pm to 3.15pm. We can also offer full days with parents providing their child with a packed lunch.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions we are unable to accept visitors at this time but we have lots of photos and a short video on the 'Our Pre-School' page for you to see what we 'look' like. You can also meet the staff by visiting the 'Who's Who' page.

Please give us a call on 07960 983423 (9am - 3pm) or drop us an email at springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk to find out more about us and what we can offer you and your child.

Re-opening Newsletter

Hello!

This is just a short 'newsletter' to bring you up to date with life at pre-school following our partial re-opening on 15th June 2020.

First here are some dates for your diary;

Friday 17th July - Last day of Summer Term

Wednesday 2nd September - INSET Day

Thursday 3rd September - Back to Pre-School

Wednesday 7th October - Photo Morning

w/c 19th October - Cake Sale Week

Friday 23rd October - Last Day of Term

Monday 2nd November - Start of Term

Friday 18th December - End of Term

Monday 4th January - Start of Term

As we start to plan more for the upcoming academic year there will be more dates to add to the above list. 

Thank You

We would just like to say a big thank you to all our parents for bearing with us over these last few uncertain months and for working with us to enable a partial re-opening this week for those children most in need of childcare. Due to the guidance issued by the Department of Education and Derbyshire County Council we find ourselves having to adopt to new ways of working and with a limit on numbers of children able to attend. As we move forward and new guidance is no doubt issued we will do our best to keep all parents as up to date as possible.

We would also like to thank all those parents of returning children for their prompt response to numerous emails, understanding the need for our new parent agreement and for doing their part to help ensure that our new routines run smoothly; these are certainly unusual times we all find ourselves in and we appreciate everyone's understanding and patience as we get accustomed to our new pre-school life.

'The Ladies' are getting to grips with a different approach to how we do things and as we move along we are sure we will become more adapted to our 'new normal'. This does mean changes to our usual routines and activities with a greater emphasis on the personal, social and emotional aspect of our curriculum. This time is all about re-introducing the children to pre-school after such a long absence and giving them chance to play and interact with others.

Fees

Please note that as from September our hourly rate will be increasing to £4.50 per hour. All other charges remain unchanged.

Sessions for September

Please keep an eye out for an email confirming your session allocation for September; hopefully these will be with parents by the end of this week.

We are also now taking names for those wishing to start with us in September - please email springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk for more information.

Contact Information

It is vitally important that the information we hold for you is up to date and accurate. If anything has changed please remember to let us know as soon as possible; this includes phone number, email, address and emergency contacts.

Going forward we intend to issue all newsletters, invoices and any other communications via email it is vitally important therefore that email addresses are correct and that pre-school is 'marked as a safe address' to avoid emails disappearing as junk! Thank you.

Changes

It is also vitally important that parents let us know of any changes that may affect their child's time with us; allergies/medical conditions, changes to home life, involvement of doctors/social care etc.

Claiming a Funded Place for your Child

If your child turns 3 between 1st April and 31st August then they will become eligible for a government funded place from September. 

All children aged 3 & 4 are entitled up to 15 hours of Universal Funding per week, with some children entitled to a further 15 hours of Extended Funding per week (often referred to as ‘30 Hours Funding’). We advise all parents to visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to find out what they are entitled to and how to claim it. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is that parents find out this information and action it promptly. Without correct codes, obtained within specified deadlines, parents may find they miss out on their full entitlement. The deadline for applying for the '30 hours Funding' for the first time is 31st August 2020.

Parents who already claim the Extended Funding are reminded of the importance of re-confirming your ‘30 Hours Code’ every 3 months as failure to do this will result in the funding being withdrawn.

We will need all parents claiming funding to complete an FE1 Funding Form which will need to be signed. We are currently assessing the best way to do this under the current circumstances.

Transition to Reception Year

We are in touch with most of the local schools with regard to which children are moving where. Ordinarily schools would be visiting us during this term but as this is not possible this year, we will liaise with them over email and phone. We would advise all parents of children leaving for Reception Year to look at Derbyshire's Ready for School - https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/early-years-childcare/ready-for-school/ready-for-school-in-derbyshire.aspx# We are confident that all our school leavers are achieving all of these 'keys for unlocking school readiness' and more besides.

Should you have any questions regarding moving into Reception year please email (springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk) or use Tapestry to chat with your child's keyperson.

Tapestry

Parents are encouraged to share with pre-school the activities that their children are getting up to at any time. Tapestry can also be used as a means of communication between parent and keyperson. We will be issuing a link to all parents in the coming weeks so that you can download your child's learning journal for the last academic year.

Any questions please drop us an email 🙂

Thank you

Newsletter - 25th March 2020

Hi all,

We just wanted to take the opportunity to write to all our parents/carers and their families and say 'Hello'. We hope that everyone is well and is staying at home as much as possible.

It was a really hard decision to close pre-school last week and it was not one taken lightly. Like lots of businesses out there we want to make sure that the safety of our staff and children is paramount whilst at the same time ensuring the long term future of our pre-school. This is a delicate balancing act as we are sure you can all appreciate, but we strongly believe that the only way we are going to get through this situation is by pulling together, staying home as much as possible and supporting those businesses who may need it the most for when this is all over.

We have had very little information from our county council and have only been provided with the daily government updates for the education sector. We are in direct contact with the very few key worker parents that we have at Springfield and would like to thank them for their understanding and patience at this time.

As this is an ever evolving situation we will attempt to keep everyone updated as and when we have information to share, but we have to presume that we will not be open for the foreseeable future.

But we can keep in touch with each other. Parents can create their own 'observations' on Tapestry; let us know what you have been getting up to as well as asking questions and we will do our best to get back to you.

If you have found any good online resources that maybe beneficial to other parents then please let us know we can then share via email and our Facebook page.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/ is a great source of free activities

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyCLoPd4VxBvQafyve889qVcPxYEjdSTl - Joe Wicks is doing PE classes each day

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCU05kJzPa-6fzHJ8_lMm00A - Pennine Gymnastics with a special pre-school workout

https://www.familycorner.co.uk/ - ideas from the Early Years Alliance

Please send any ideas/links via email to springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk and we will share from there. Please do not post direct to our Facebook page as unfortunately these will not appear in our timeline, so email or message on Facebook and we will share to the page for you.

Please take lots of care, and look after your familes.

See you all soon, sending love and hugs.

Jayne, Julie, Katie, Sylvia, Sarah, Mel, Sarah & Suzanne

Update

We are in ever evolving times and our routines could change with very little notice. We ask all parents to please ensure that we have your correct contact details and to check both this website and our Facebook page for regular updates.

From today we will no longer be allowing parents into the pre-school building during drop-off and collection; this is to reduce the number of people together in close proximity at one time. We will also be applying hand sanitiser to all children upon arrival at pre-school.

If you, your child or a family member have a new dry, persistent cough or a temperature then you should follow the government guidelines and remain at home for 14 days.

Any child who develops any of the above symptoms whilst at pre-school will be sent home immediately and should remain away from pre-school for 14 days.

We would like to thank all our parents for their co-operation and understanding during these unprecedented times. With lots of unknowns ahead these are concerning times, not only for the safety, health and well being of all but also the financial implications and impact that may come our way. Our aim is always to provide the best possible childcare and education for your children in a safe and stimulating environment and we will do everything in our power to ensure this continues whatever comes our way.

Important Notice

At the moment we are in unprecedented times as the country begins to take stock of the situation around Coronavirus - Covid-19.

Here at Springfield we want to do everything in our power to ensure that everyone is safe and healthy. We respectfully ask that parents, carers, children and those who ordinarily drop off or collect children follow the most recent government advise and stay away from pre-school if they have a dry, persistent cough or high temperature. We would also ask that anyone who has recently returned from a country with an infected area also remain at home.

We are currently receiving daily updates from Derbyshire County Council via the Department of Education and will endeavour to keep everyone as up-to-date as possible with what maybe a quickly developing situation.

We will, as always, encourage high levels of hygiene with staff and children and would ask that this be replicated at home. Hand washing is vitally important and children should be made aware of this without scaring them.

Parents will be advised of any developments via text alert, our Facebook page and this website. It is therefore imperative that if you have changed your mobile phone number recently that you let us know.

Newsletter - Settling in at our New Building

Well, we have completed our first week in our new building and we would just like to thank everyone for supporting us through this transition.

Everyone involved in the move has worked extremely hard and we are really pleased with how everything has gone. A big thank you to Lou for loaning us her van, to Aaron for the use of his van and extra manpower and to all the staff and their partners who did an amazing job to get everything moved in only a matter of hours!

Now we are in there is going to be a period of settling-in and getting used to the building, it’s layout and how that affects our routines and procedures. So we really appreciate parents ‘bearing with us’ while we iron out the wrinkles and tweak as we go along!

So just a few things for parents to be aware of;

• We are not currently using the area to the side and rear of the building; both areas need some work before we can happily use them. Plus we are still waiting on Erewash Borough Council to give us the go-ahead on where we can site a much needed storage unit. So please ensure all children are prevented from accessing these areas.
• The area to the front of the building is a mixture of grass and hard paving; at the moment we are NOT using the grassed area due to the wet conditions as well as the siting of a ‘memorial tree’. The children have been told about this and have been amazing at avoiding the grass! We would ask parents to avoid the grass as well and ensure that their children when with them do the same.
• Memorial Tree - as just mentioned in the grass area to the front of the building there is a tree planted with a plaque. This is in remembrance of a former guide leader and we would ask parents and their children to be respectful of this.
• Spare Clothes - please remember we DO NOT have any spare clothes at pre-school. Please ensure ALL children are sent with at least two changes of clothes; this is in case of both toileting accidents or getting ‘messy’ during water and investigation play. If a child needs a change of clothes and has been sent without any spare we will have to contact parents and request that dry/clean clothes be brought in. 
• At the end of the afternoon session parents are invited into the main room to collect their children. Please give due care and consideration to other parents as well as the staff whose main priority at this time is ensuring the safety of all children. Parents should refrain from calling out or beckoning to their child as this can be distracting to other children and staff alike. Our main priority is to ensure that the correct child and parent are reunited safely and efficiently.
• Suggestions - if you have any comments or suggestions (good & bad!) about the new building and the knock-on effect on our provision then please let us know. You can speak to either Jayne or Julie or better still drop us an email at springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk. We will take on board all suggestions and use these to ensure that we can continue to provide the best possible care and education for your children.

Newsletter - 21st February 2020

Important Dates for your Diary
Monday 24th February - Inset Day
Tuesday 25th February - Inset Day - Open Day
Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
w/c 30th March - Easter Fun Week
Friday 3rd April - Last Day of Term
Monday 20th April - Start of Term

Session Fees
Invoices for fees will be issued shortly; all invoices are issued for the term up to the 3rd April and should be paid in full by Wednesday 11th March 2020. Late payment of fees will automatically incur a 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.

Cake Sale Week
Many thanks to all of you who baked and bought cakes during the last week of term you managed to raise a fantastic £84.80

Sponsored Bounce
We were blown away by the generosity of our parents, their friends and family; the total raised was an outstanding £909 - simply WOW!!

Premises Update
As you will all be aware we will be moving into the Scout Hut, Stanton Road, Sandiacre with effect from Monday 24th February 2020. Please note;

• Monday 24th February - pre-school is closed for an INSET DAY
• Tuesday 25th February - pre-school is closed for an INSET DAY - but between 10am and 2pm parents, carers and children are invited to pop along and see what the new building is all about. All staff and some of our committee will be there to answer any questions and we will have tea/coffee and some nibbles laid on.
• Wednesday 26th February - fully open, normal operating hours
• Please ensure that all children are sent to pre-school with at least 2 changes of clothes (including socks!) in case of getting messy or toileting accidents. This is extremely important as in our new building as we will not have the space to store any of our spare clothes; therefore parents who fail to provide changes of clothes will run the risk of a phone call asking for clothes to be brought in.

Breakfast Club & After Pre-School Club
From Monday 2nd March we will be operating a Breakfast Club between 8.45am and 9.15am and an After Pre-School Club between 3.15pm and 4.00pm; if parents are interested in either or both of these please let us know as soon as possible. Please email springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

Future Inset Days
A couple of dates for your diaries; the last two Inset Days of this academic year will be Monday 20th July and Tuesday 21st July.

How to Contact Pre-School
Our phone number is 07960 983423 (between 8.30am and 3.30pm) or you can email us at; springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

Please check our website www.springfieldpreschool.co.uk for up-to-date information. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.