Stower Vale Pre-school

Newsletter Spring Term – 2021 – 1

 

Welcome back, we hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

 

Since the recent national lockdown and announcement that Early Years providers would continue to stay open to all children, we would like to assure you that we will continue to provide a safe and happy environment for the children and families.  A big thank you to everyone for your continued support, by following safety procedures put in place, this is very much appreciated.

 

The Department for Education has published the following reasoning behind the decision to allow Early Years to continue opening, whereby Schools have only been able to open to critical worker and vulnerable families:-

 

“The reason schools have been restricted is not that they are unsafe but because additional measures are needed to contain the spread of the virus. The wider restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the virus in the community enable us to continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.

Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. 0-5 year olds continue to have the lowest confirmed rates of coronavirus of all age groups, and there is no evidence that the new variant of coronavirus disproportionately affects young children. Evidence shows that pre-school children are less susceptible to infection and are not playing a driving role in transmission. There is no evidence the new strain of the virus causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there continues to be strong evidence that children are much less susceptible to severe clinical disease than older people.

PHE advice remains that the risk of transmission and infection is low if early years settings follow the system of controls, which reduce risks and create inherently safer environments.

Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June and there is no evidence that the early years sector has contributed to a rise in virus cases within the community. Early evidence from SAGE showed that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rate than primary schools, which in turn had a smaller relative impact than secondary schools.

Early years childcare providers were one of the first sectors to have restrictions lifted last summer, in recognition of the key role they play in society. Childminders and nursery staff across the country have worked hard to keep settings open through the pandemic so that young children can be educated, and parents can work. The earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development. We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.”

We hope you find this information helpful, but if you are unsure on anything or need further clarification please do not hesitate in speaking to us and we will try to find the answers you need.

 

Forest Area Visits

These visits will take place at 9.30am on the following days:-

         Tuesday 19^th January

         Monday 25^th January

         Tuesday 2^nd February

         Monday 8^th February

Please make a note of the dates that your child will visit the forest area and ensure they are wearing long trousers/leggings and long-sleeved tops (there are stinging nettles and thistles in the area), as well as weather appropriate clothing such as outdoor coats/sunhats, wellington boots and named water bottle.  A reminder of the dates will be put on the notice board.

 

Wet weather

Please ensure that your child brings waterproofs, welly boots and outdoor coats etc with them every day as we can no longer provide spares for children to share, also please ensure all items are named.

 

Easy Fundraising

Thank you to everyone who is supporting us by doing their online shopping through the Early Fundraising site, at no extra cost to you your favourite retailers will make a small donation to Pre-school to say “thank you”.  We have currently raised £247.03 so it is well worth doing, if you have not already done so and would like to find out more information please follow the link at the bottom of the Pre-school website.

 

Stower Provost Community School – Breakfast and After School Clubs

The School Breakfast and After School Club will be running and available to Pre-school children of critical workers or vulnerable families only.  The Breakfast club runs from 7.45am, the After School Club will be open till 5pm.  If you would like to contact the School about eligibility please telephone 01747 838370 or email [email protected]

 

Dates for the Diary

Forest Area Visits – 19^th, 25^th January and 2^nd, 8^th February

Last day of term – 12^th February

Back to Pre-school – 22^nd February

 

Please note all term dates and activity days are also posted on the Pre-school website