Nappy Days Newsletter
Issue no: 13 Autumn 2003

Autumn term is here again and we wish good luck to all our recent leavers who started (big) school in September.
Thank you for all your lovely cards and gifts. Here is a selection of the comments we have received from their parents:
• “A really big thank you for looking after me and teaching me. I have really loved coming here and will miss you all.”
• “Thank you very much for everything you have done for Charlie. He loves coming to nursery and talks about it all the time”
• “Thank you for all your care, attention and fun”
• “We are pleased and proud of your care of our daughter.”
• “We are sorry to be leaving as Kirsty has always been happy and settled at Happy Jays. The staff have been great with her.”

More research confirms the benefits of Nursery Care...
A recent report published by the University of Bristol emphasises the importance of access to high quality childcare particularly for very young children. ‘The use of paid childcare and attendance at a nursery may actually lead to better cognitive outcomes than for children at home with a non-working mother,’ it says. The report followed the progress of 12,000 children over a 10 year period starting from 1992. Researchers also found that fathers took on a more active role when mothers returned to work early and that children appeared to benefit from this. This major study confirms the local feedback we get from parents whose children have gone onto school. Without exception, they have all told us that attendance at Happy Jays has been good for their children’s intellectual and social development.

Money with your name on it?...
Despite the hype surrounding the two new tax credits - Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit - the reality for many parents trying to access these from the Inland Revenue has been nothing short of chaotic. The Revenue have blamed their computers, their telephones and even their staff for failing to process applications for needy parents and families. Meanwhile, nursery providers like ourselves are being subjected to bogus bookings - people who book places in order to claim the tax credits in advance but have no intention of taking up their place. So, do we get any assistance to help combat such fraud?...Er, no, is the
answer from the tax office, just keep paying your taxes on time!

The things our children say:
* Tweenie room were discussing animals recently and Sam asked everyone where snakes live. Hal replied “Harrogate!”

* Holly and Henry were playing together when Holly said “Henry what’s your name?”

* Beth and Holly were talking about where their parents work. Holly ask ed Heather what her Mum did at work and she said “kick boxing ”.

News from York and Boroughbridge

Staffing Updates
Congratulations to:
• Andrea Tuley who has been promoted to Manager at Boroughbridge and to Vicki Herron who has been promoted to deputy
manager.
• Nettie who has been promoted to Training and Development Manager for the company.
• Lesley Puleston who has been promoted to catering manager and Faye who has taken over the position of Cook at Boroughbridge;
• Gemma Cobb who has been promoted to deputy manager at York.
• Andrea Lofthouse on her recent promotion to Boroughbridge section supervisor in Tweenies;

Our themes for the next few months are...
September - Harvest
October - People who help us
November - Bonfire night
December - Christmas

We had a great time in July at York celebrating American Independence Day. Pre-school were very creative making pictures of eagles, fireworks and flags and proudly displayed them on their wall...

...And our Tweenies had loads of fun sampling lots of different objects associated with food and farming when they created an interest table. Children used their senses to touch, smell and taste a number of things. Meanwhile, Pre schoolers at Boroughbridge held their very own Yorkshire day and made tissue paper white roses.

New neighbours
We are anticipating some building work being started next door at York (probably just after Christmas) for some new office units and we will let you know the details as soon as we receive them. Parents Evening It’s that time of year again and Parents Evening at York will be on Thursday 20th November and at Boroughbridge on Thursday 27th November. We hope you can come
along for what is always an enjoyable and rewarding evening.

Clothing - a polite reminder!
Please would Parents return any items of nursery clothing that may be borrowed from time to time so that we are able to keep a steady stock of all items. This will reduce the number of times we have to make Tony go and buy baby clothes and children’s
pants in Mothercare! Thank you!

Illness - another polite reminder
Can we again remind parents how easily illnesses can be passed on in a nursery environment. Therefore would you please ensure that if your child develops sickness or diarrhoea they must not attend nursery until they have had neither occurring in
the last twenty four hours. Although we do our best to keep the nursery free from infections your co-operation will help prevent other children and staff from becoming ill.

Staff training
Happy Jays has a strong belief in the continual training and development of all our staff as part of Investors in People culture. In addition to general childcare qualifications most staff members are regularly updating their skills and knowledge in working with
children. Members of staff have recently undertaken the following courses:

• First Aid; Treasure baskets; Child Protection
• Books for Babies;
• Early start in music
• Essential food hygiene;
• Maths development for the foundation stage;
• Baking workshop; Basic health and safety;

Fundraising
Faye and Andrea would like to say a huge thank you to children, parents and staff for taking part in and making our sponsored toddle at Boroughbridge such a huge success. We raised a massive total of £850! We presented £250 to SCBU at Harrogate hospital and the remainder went to Barnardos. We could not have done this without your help so once again thank you and prepare your walking shoes for next year.

Vicki would like to thank everyone for sponsoring her for the Harrogate Race for Life on 23rd June. She completed the 5km course in 26 minutes finishing 109th out of 1900 runners and raised £155 for Cancer research. Well done our Vicki!

Direct debits
It’s easier with a DD! More parents are finding it easier to use the direct debit system to pay their fees - please ask us for a form and we will do the rest - it’s as easy as that! Also, you can pay by level monthly payments over the whole year if you wish - let us know and we’ll do the calculations for you.

SONGS TO SING
The Tweenies at York and Boroughbridge have been busy jazzing up some popular rhymes:

(In the tune to five currant buns)
5 ice creams in an ice cream shop
Round and tall with a flake on the top
Along came (insert name) with a penny one day
Bought an ice cream and took it away

Baa baa (insert colour) sheep
Have you any wool
Yes sir, Yes sir, 3 bags full
1 for a jumper and one for a frock
and 1 for (insert name) with a hole in his sock

RECIPE
Pre School at Boroughbridge have been making these delicious jam tarts to tie in with our recent King’s and Queen’s topic. Why not have a go at them yourself - you can choose a variety of fillings such as lemon curd, marmalade or even chocolate spread!

You will need:
Short crust pastry: 4 oz flour;
2 oz marg;
Jam or lemon curd (for filling);
1. Prepare short pastry and mould into a ball.
2. Roll out into a 3mm (about 1/8th inch) thick sheet.
3. Using a circular cutter, cut out the tart circle shapes.
4. Place circles into a greased bun tin;
5. Press circles down into the tin and add the filling to each one;
6. Place in oven for around 20 mins at gas mark 8 (230-250 degrees);
7. Allow to cool and enjoy with a cup of tea - fit for any king or queen!

Creative Corner
• For a lovely shiny picture why not try covering a piece of card with tin foil. To enable the paint to stick to the foil add a teaspoon of washing up liquid then paint away.
• If you feel brave enough then have a go at splatter painting ‘with a twist’ (as used by York in pre school). Fill water bombs with different colour paint then just throw them at the paper (much easier on the house furnishings if done outside, but mind the newly-washed car! - Ed.).
• For chalk pictures with a difference soak the chalks in sugar and water for 24 hours before using them to strengthen their colours.

Advice Corner...
A parents guide to a sense of time
One thing that parents learn quickly from their children is that they are very old! Comments such as ‘were you alive when they had dinosaurs?’ are comical but also show that a child’s sense of time is vastly different to that of an adult. The foundation stage does look at helping children to find out about time and we will encourage your child to remember and talk about things that are important to them. Parents can help them do this by, for example, bringing in photos or objects that they have shown an interest in. This makes it easier for your child to remember what they have been doing at home.

Why can’t my child be taught about history now?
Time is a difficult concept for a young child. Waiting a day can seem like an eternity when you are 3 years old. Learning about historical events, which children themselves cannot remember and therefore put into context, is not very helpful to their development.

Will my child be taught how to tell the time?
Before children can tell the time, a lot of other skills need to be in place. First of all they need to understand about numbers and then need to be able to get a feeling of what is a minute or an hour. In addition, to read a clock face, children also need to know their five times tables and be able to subtract. This is why most children cannot tell the time accurately and meaningfully until they are around seven years old. However, your child will be learning some of the earlier skills such as understanding what time is about.

How can I help my child at home?
Parents can help in the following ways :
* Show your child photos of you when you were little or of toys you played. Children find it hard to believe that parents were once children too!
* Remind your child of what they were like as babies and toddlers as they enjoy the feeling that they are now ‘grown up.’
* Encourage your child to talk about everyday things that you have done together like when you go to the park or to the supermarket.
* In this way children learn to use language to remember specific events and this is a vital step in developing the concept of ‘past’ time.

And finally our picture file...
The following snaps caught our attention and we hope you like them...

Happy Birthday to you Cameron!	Babies enjoying their chocolate mousse bathtime!
Hawaiian -style wedding wear on the cat-walk’.	Harry proudly shows off his new teeth!
Our own sugar-plum fairies!