Nursery News 12th September 2022

NURSERY NEWS

12th September 2022 – Edition 270

Find out About:

A. Department for Education update – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral

B: Newsletters

C: School Term Dates

D: Labelling belongings

E: A Good Start

F: Job Vacancy: School Cleaner

A. Department for Education update – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral

I have received the following communication from the Department of Education:

Following the announcement from Buckingham Palace of the death of our sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a period of National Mourning has started and will continue until the end of the State Funeral. This is a period of time for reflection in response to the death of the Sovereign.

The official date of the State Funeral is 19th September 2022. This day will be a bank holiday and settings that are normally closed on a bank holiday should close on this day as a mark of respect. This will include Schools and Colleges.

Willow Nursery School will be closed on Monday 19th September

B: Newsletters

I (Mrs Davies) write a weekly Newsletter to parents to help keep parents up to date with everything going on in Nursery. This weekly newsletter will be emailed to all families on Mondays.

Copies of this newsletter will also be placed on our website willownursery.co.uk in our ‘Latest News’ section. Previous Newsletters are also available within the latest news section, should you need to search back for some information.

Please do read the weekly newsletter as we share important dates, including parent consultations, open school events etc.

C: School Term Dates

The Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire, publishes details of term dates and school holidays on their website: Centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Type: ‘School term and holiday dates in Central Bedfordshire’ into your search engine to find the correct page.

Be aware that sometimes the Local Authority adjusts school holiday dates. I would recommend you check the holiday dates on their website before booking a holiday.

D: Labelling belongings

Label all lunchboxes clearly with your child’s name, on the top, so staff can see the name when the box is on the trolley. Label all drinks bottles and containers.

Label all coats and shoes, and any other items that children can take off-cardigans/jumpers/ fleeces. It is much easier to return items to owners when things are labelled.

E: A Good Start!

What has happened so far?….

To start the year we spent two days, on Monday and Tuesday last week, holding stay and play events with all our three year old children and their parents. We used the first two days of term to allow all these parents and their children to visit the school, meet all the staff, and have a chance to play in the school together. We feel that this works well, as parents can share up to date information with staff, and children have their stay and play visit quite near to their start date.

On Wednesday 7th, the school reopened to pupils. We have a staggered approach to inducting all our pupils. We try to get all children started as soon as possible, and have quite a short time frame in which we try to enrol everyone, but we do have to make decisions about who can start when, so that we can meet all the children’s needs appropriately.

So on Wednesday 7th, we welcomed back all children who were already attending Willow in the Summer term. We also invited some new Yellow Group children to start, those that would be attending for 15 hours at the end of the week, so they could attend on Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday.

What happens next?………….

During this week we will induct the rest of Yellow Group, with 6 children joining the school on Monday, 4 children on Tuesday and 1 child on Friday. All of our 3+ children will then be enrolled, a total of 49 children in the year group, with around 40 children attending in each session.

Catkins class begins to add new pupils this week. We add a maximum of four new children to each session, to enable staff to give their keyworker children their full attention. This means that it will take us two and a half weeks to induct the 20 new Catkins children.

I do have lots of information to share in these newsletters, but I will not share too much until everyone is enrolled in school.

We are so enjoying meeting all our pupils and getting to know them, and hopefully over time we will get to know all their parents too.

E: Job Vacancy: School Cleaner.

We are in need of some help!

Could you help us to keep our school clean and hygienic for our pupils?

Our staff take great care of our school and our resources. Mrs Brinkley is a full time Teaching Assistant in Little Nursery, but she is also our Caretaker. She does a fantastic job of keeping the school clean and well maintained. We are a small school, but it is too much work for one person after school. So Mrs Brinkley is assisted by Ms Gaffney and one other cleaner. Our former cleaner, Chloe has left because she took a full time cleaning position after completing her full time college course in July.

So in the short term, I have been helping out at the end of each day. The job is quite nice, cleaning two classrooms, their cloakrooms the nursery corridor and the two front offices. The pay is: £10:50 per hour (subject to confirmation by payroll.) Hours are 3:30pm to 5:00pm Monday to Friday, Term time only.

We will be advertising the position on the school website willownursery.co.uk and on a website where jobs in schools in Central Bedfordshire are advertised. ‘The Academy for Central Bedfordshire- Vacancies’. The full web address is: https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/info/118/the_academy_-_inspiring_futures/687/the_academy_-_vacancies

(Please note the advertisement may take 48 hours to appear on the Academy for Central Bedfordshire website).

We aim to have the advertisement/ person specification/ job specification/ application form on our school website by tomorrow, Tuesday.

The closing date for applications is Friday 23rd September 2022

Job Vacancy at Willow Nursery School

Job Title: Cleaner

School Name: Willow Nursery School

Location: Goldstone Crescent, Dunstable, LU5 4QU

Salary Range: NJC levels 1-2, £10:50 per hour (subject to confirmation by payroll provider)

Hours: 3:30pm to 5:00pm Monday to Friday, term time only.

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: Friday 23rd September 2022

Interview Date: Week beg 26th September 2022

We are looking for a part time cleaner to join our staff team here at Willow Nursery School. Main Purpose of role: · To clean classrooms, toilets, cloakrooms, corridors and staff areas to a good standard. · To ensure the cleaners cupboard is kept clean and tidy. We are a dedicated and committed team of early year’s specialists who are passionate about what we do. We aim to give our children the very best care and education in a positive, fun environment. We aim to provide clean and hygienic spaces for children to grow and learn. This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will have to meet the requirements of the Person Specification in order to be offered the post. DBS Disclosure at Enhanced Level and a qualification check are required for this post

How to

apply:

For further details and an application pack, please visit the school website at: www.willownursery.co.uk, and click on school information – vacancies. We will accept electronic or paper applications. Electronic applications to be sent to the email address below. Paper copies to be sent to Willow Nursery School, Goldstone Crescent, Dunstable, Beds, LU5 4QU. Or contact: Name: Trina Evans Tel: 01582 662600 Email: office@willownursery.co.uk