Keep up-to-date with the latest news and images online at www.lancaster.ac.uk/pre-school

NDNA Nursery of the Year 

We Won
A huge thank you to everyone who voted for us. We really appreciated the warm messages of congratulations received, not only from past and present parents, but also from the University and sector as a whole.
Please see the article below from The Marketing and Communications team:
Congratulations to the Pre-School Centre who recently won 'Nursery of the Year (North)' at the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Awards 2018.
Staff from the Pre-school travelled down to Coventry on Friday 22^nd June to attend the awards and were delighted with the successful outcome. They fought off some stiff competition as the prestigious nursery awards, now in their 15^th year, are the only early years awards voted for by parents as well as judged on excellence.
Adele Stewart (Pre-School Manager) said, 'Winning the award means so much to every member of our remarkably passionate and dedicated staff team.  High quality childcare is delivered consistently in an inclusive, vibrant and stimulating environment by a team of very special people, who I am very proud to lead.'
This is a fantastic effort from the team, a huge well done once again!
We Celebrated
The sun shone brightly on our Celebration Family Stomp afternoons. Everyone enjoyed the leisurely walks around the garden and were rewarded for their efforts with a delicious Ice Cream from the Walling's bicycle. The two new bubble machines added to the party atmosphere and were a massive hit with the children, who also thoroughly enjoyed the music and a spot of Karaoke. It was lovely to see the children and their families chatting and relaxing with the staff.
Thanks to the team
As Adele has already stated it is the fantastic staff team that ensured we were not only nominated, but then receive this accolade. To thank them all personally we are holding a Celebration meal at the Private Dining room in September. Everyone is really looking forward to it and it is sure to be a fantastic evening.
 

Class of 2018

Proud parents, siblings and grandparents joined Pre-School staff on Saturday 4th August to celebrate the graduation of our Class of 2018.
 
This annual event is held to congratulate and celebrate the children who are leaving us in September to join their chosen primary school.
 
An afternoon of fun and entertainment was provided by Harvey the Children's Entertainer and 2 superb face painters, who created many masterpieces.
 
The afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by all with some very tired children being carried home at the end of the party.
 
A huge thankyou to our colleagues in Catering for once again providing a lovely selection of food and the Sports Centre for their continued support of this event amongst many others.
 

iConnect and  ParentZone Launch

We are very excited to let you know about the launch on Monday 17^th September, of our new iConnect and ParentZone software.
iConnect will allow our Nursery Officers to take instant observations of the children on our tablets. The software further enables us to share with you the milestones in your child's learning by creating child development reports and tracking children through the Early Years Foundation Stage.
ParentZone is a smartphone app for parents to use. This works hand in hand with the iConnect software, allowing easy access to information about your child's day at a time that best suits you.
Rather than receiving printed daily do slips, parents will have access to a timeline of events, observations and assessments including images and videos in one accessible place.
Working in conjunction with Chris Dixon Head of IT Partnering and Innovation and John Couzins IT Security Manager extensive research has been undertaken to locate a company who could provide the high quality software requirements of the Pre-School Centre and its families. A number of companies were given consideration however, one in particular stood out as a market leader.
Connect software established in 2004 has continually invested and evolved, keeping the family and early years practitioners at the centre of its developments.
'Connects mission is to improve the lives of children, globally. We can only achieve this by working with childcare professionals to create the very best tools, so that nursery management is easy & efficient and child development is always the main focus'
After viewing the software in use at comparable University settings, the company were invited to demonstrate its products in January 2018 and further work began with our colleagues in ISS to ensure the products met and fulfilled the stringent security requirements.
Since the purchase, we have been working tirelessly to ensure the smooth transition to the new system scheduled for September 2018.
Prior to the launch, we will be holding information sessions where you will be able to view a demonstration of the ParentZone app and meet a representative from Connect. Please look out for your invitation to attend one of these events.
To find out more about iConnect and ParentZone please visit the Connect Childcare website
 

Ice Ice Baby

The babies have been enjoying the lovely sunny weather. To help keep nice and cool we have been exploring ice. The babies were happy to touch it, hold and eat it. Their different reactions to the cold sensations were amazing to watch. As the babies were so inquisitive and receptive to different situations, we followed on the activity by playing in the paddling pool. It was great fun and they enjoyed splashing each other.
Finally, to introduce new tastes we made fruit ice-lollies and sat out in the sunshine trying new and exciting flavours. Mango and blueberry were the firm favourites.

A Squash and a Squeeze

Creche 1 have been busy exploring with different malleable and tactile materials.
We took advantage of the warm weather to introduce some new experiences for the children. Hiding dinosaurs in ice was great fun, you could really see the children pondering how the dinosaurs had got into the ice. They then had to discover how to get them out. Bashing the ice with tools, as it melted was the most effective way to release the dinosaurs and it helped develop gross motor skills.
A tray full of mousse made with jelly and cream enabled the children to explore a range of senses, especially taste! They thoroughly enjoyed it.
To further encourage the children's muscle development and manipulative skills, we filled piping bags with coloured shaving foam and encouraged them to squeeze the mixture onto paper. They were very focused on achieving their task. Other practitioners saw the activity on twitter and liked it that much we went viral! We are very pleased/ proud to have inspired others.
 

Fun in the Sun

This term the children have been enjoying the ice play, we froze herbs, which looked very effective and the children looked closely at the patterns they made. It was interesting for the children to explore the texture of the ice experimenting with it as it melted. The older children began to understand the concept of how the ice melted and then turned back into water. They all had a great time splashing in the cold water that was left behind.
Homemade ice-lollies were a delicious healthy treat that also helped to keep us cool.

If I had a Hammer

We are keen to develop the children skills when using tools and equipment as well as increasing their awareness of safety. This term we introduced the special knives that children can use to chop fruit and vegetables.

The children were so good at using the knives we decided to challenge them a little bit more. After collecting an array of different fruits and vegetables, we taught the children how to use a hammer. Using golf tees, they carefully hammered into the vegetables altering the force required dependant on the texture and hardness of each item. It was a tricky task, but they all managed really well.

Colour Stomp 

This term we have been exploring colours! First, we decided to do a colour Stomp. We bashed up lots of different coloured chalks until they had turned into a powder dust. Then we went on the Stomp and threw the coloured dust in air to watch it fall and see it land on us. While doing the colour Stomp many of the children noticed the dust on the floor and began to mix it using their fingers. This gave us our next idea! Chalk dust mixing. Again, we bashed up some chalks to make some dust however this time we made the chalk accessible to the children along with some water and some brushes. The results were great with the children having an amazing time exploring and mixing colour

The children used large gross motor movements to draw lines and circles when mixing the chalk dust. They explored colours and how the colour can be mixed and changed. They chatted throughout adding words describing colour and textures to their ever-expanding vocabulary. The children also showed strong personal skills in sharing the activity, playing together in a group and collaborating to achieve different effects and enhance their experiences.

We often find our initial activities inspire the children and following their lead we then tailor our next steps do build on these interests and encourage greater learning and development.

Life on Mars

Pre-School 1 loved the Space rocket in the foyer so much we decided to make Outer space our theme for the room.
The first thing we did as new astronauts was to explore our environment. We made a space explorer box to investigate the moon rocks we had collected. We used special equipment to ensure we did not become contaminated by space dust,
We looked at and discussed how Astronauts live in space and how they manage to eat their food. We were enthralled as we watched the food float around in the space ship because of the weightlessness. Imagining we also had zero gravity, we tried some of our own Space food.
Next we are going to explore Aliens, so watch this 'Space'... Note the intentional pun!
 

Press the Button

Pre-School 2 have been exploring technology this term using a range of different equipment and methods. Using the new computer workstations has developed our basic IT skills as we learnt how to use the mouse and the keyboard to complete software programs.

We are very adept at making the remote controlled toys work. We really like the Tarantula, so much so that we named him Sid. The racing car was also very popular and we enjoyed searching pre-School for different resources to make our very own racecourse.

Programming the Bee-bot and Coda pillar was quite tricky. We had to decide where we wanted them to go and then press the buttons to give them the instructions. If we coded correctly we knew where they would go, if we made a mistake or forgot they could end up anywhere in the room (when that happened we thought it was very funny).
 

The Wheels on the Bus

Stagecoach kindly agreed to give us our own bus for a morning. Andy our cheerful bus driver brought a Double-Decker for us, which was very exciting. Before our journey around Campus, we discussed what we might be able to see. Some of the children said they lived on Campus and others that their parents worked in various buildings and hoped we would drive past them.

Carefully we listened to the instructions about staying safe on the Carpark and climbing the stairs to the top of the bus. It was a long way to the top, but we managed. Andy showed us the special step, which he could lower so people in wheelchairs could get on the bus easily.
Looking out of the windows, we saw lots of places we recognised, like the Eco-Hub, the Play park and the garage. We waved at all the offices, just in case anyone could see us. Lots of friendly people smiled and waved back to us. We think Andy enjoyed the trips as much as the children did, every time we went down the underpass he turned the lights off and beeped the horn at the other drivers.

The staff were very impressed with how much the children knew about the Campus and how they were able to describe what they would see next on the journey. When they got back from the trip, they talked for days about adventure. It also led onto discussions where they compared the journey against other they had taken and different modes of transport.


 

Staff Changes

We have a number of children, and in some cases staff, moving into their new rooms on Tuesday 28^th August 2018.

To prepare for these moves the children will be spending increasing amounts of time in their new rooms and where applicable with their new key people.

If you have any questions or queries relating to this please do speak to your childs' key person or one of the Senior Nursery Officers –  Kathy for moves into Creche and Nursery and  Emma for moves into the Pre-School rooms.
 

Other Information

The Pre-School privacy notice can be accessed via the following link.
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/privacy/pre-school-centre-privacy/
 

Pre-School Drop-Off

 

Important Dates

Term Dates:-
5^th April until 24^th August 2018
28^th August 2018 until 21^st December 2018
2^nd January 2019 until 17^th April 2019
24^th April 2019 until 23^rd August 2019
 
Undergraduate Terms:-
23^rd April until 29^th June 2018
8^th October 2018 until 14^th December 2018
14^th January 2019 until 29^th March 2019
29^th April 2019 until 28^th June 2019
 

Pre-school Feedback Forms

Door Cards

Can we please remind all parents/carers to use their door entry card/library card to gain access to the Centre. 
If you have misplaced either of your cards, can you please advise the office immediately and a replacement door card is available to purchase at a cost of £5.00.