24th December 2020

Dear Parents,

This is our final Newsletter for 2020 and what a year it has been! This is also my opportunity to join my colleagues in wishing you and your families a very happy Christmas and healthy and joyous 2021. I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year and to sharing snippets of your little ones’ adventures in Fairstead House Nursery in the months ahead.

Foals 1

The babies have been very busy this month exploring lots of Christmas themed sensory activities. They especially enjoyed the cinnamon scented playdough. The babies smiled as they used their fingers to explore the textures and properties of the dough.

Foals 2

The past few weeks we have been busy getting ready for Christmas. We created our Christmas packs of artwork, decorations and keepsakes which you will now have received and will treasure forever. We also continued the festivities by creating our room decorations, exploring Christmas sensory activities and dancing along to Christmas music. Throughout these, the children honed their fine and gross motor skills as well as playing co-operatively with their friends.

Yearlings

In Yearlings we have been busy with lots of festive activities and crafts. We have also been looking at a variety of festivals that are celebrated over the winter months including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Diwali. The children enjoyed playing in the snow, decorating the Christmas tree and making some lovely keepsake crafts for the Christmas period. The children have been exploring their senses by making scented Christmas playdough, investigating ‘gloop’ and making Christmas biscuits. Merry Christmas from all the staff in Yearlings. See you in the new year!

Ponies 1

Ponies 1 have enjoyed celebrating all things Christmas this month!

We carried out our Christmas production followed by our very own party where the children had some delicious food and danced to their hearts content!

There has also been lots of Christmas crafts carried out, including our fantastic reindeer hats. The children enjoyed a visit from Father Christmas and his friends, Pip and Plum and received a lovely little gift too.

We’d also like to say a big thank you to Lottie and her Mummy for the very delicious ‘Santa cakes’. They were delicious!

Ponies 1 wish all of our Fairstead family a very Happy Christmas!

Ponies 2

Ponies 2 have had a very busy month, finishing off their Christmas Crafts; making decorations, biscuits, and cards. After our wonderful Nativity performance, we had a fabulous party, with food, dancing and balloons. We have enjoyed being able to listen to lots of special Christmas stories picked as part of our Advent calendar celebrations, and eating hot buttered toast by the cosy ‘fire’. This past week we have been ‘reindeer themed’, creating beautiful watercolour reindeer paintings, and making some special wildlife friendly reindeer food, to be sprinkled outside on Christmas Eve as a treat for Father Christmas’ reindeers. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Snow

Earlier this month, the children were delighted by an unexpected and early snowfall! All the children loved playing in snow. Some wonderful snowmen were made and many snowballs thrown!

Illness & Sickness Policy

A polite reminder that, if your child is unwell and in need of Calpol or similar, please do keep them at home. Thank you for appreciating the need for this policy and helping us to protect the health and wellbeing of all the children and staff. As you can imagine, my colleagues have worked incredibly hard to keep the Nursery open in these challenging times and it has only been achievable thanks to your help and support.

This is an appropriate time to say how much we appreciated parents of Yearlings accepting the necessity of their recent self-isolation without question. My personal thanks to you for your understanding and support.

Covid-19

Under the latest Government guidelines, if, in the (hopefully unlikely) event that one of the children should test positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) over the holidays, if they develop symptoms more than 48 hours since being in Nursery, we should not be contacted. Parents should follow contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test and Trace.

School’s Carols by Candlelight

The children who attend Nursery on Thursdays had a treat when they were visited not only by two donkeys but also Father Christmas! As part of the school’s ‘Carols by Candlelight’, the Nursery children particularly enjoyed meeting ‘Pip’ and ‘Plum’, Father Christmas’ favourite donkeys! They were all thrilled when Father Christmas made his grand entrance and gave each child a gift. If you would like to see more of this event, please click here.