Bright Stars Pre-School

Dear Parents, this is our new nursery opening in Cheshunt just in case you wanted to pop down to take a look

Just a little reminder that the photographer will be visiting this Saturday 4th October (9-11am) , if you or your family / friends would like to get a family photo taken then please book a time with me.

Welcome back and I do everyome has had a wonderful summer, October is already on our doorstep and our little ones are settling in nicely. I would like to remind you that Football, Ballet and French sessions are due to start and there are still a few places left so please do hurry and get your child's name on the list. It has been so popular over the year and it only costs £3 per session.

We had a wonderful afternoon yesterday as St Monicas held its annual Graduation ceremony for the leavers of 2014, It was so nice to see so many parents and grandparents attend, your children were so proud as I am sure you were to. The children looked fabulous in their graduation hats and as it is always sad to see them leave it is also exciting for new beginnings. On behalf of all the staff and myself we wish the children the best of luck in thier new schools. :)

Our children enjoyed the trip to Southgate Firestation on friday 27th June as part of learning about 'people who help us', they were lucky to be able to get inside a real fire-engine, use the powerful water hose and the Station Master gave us a grand tour of the station including where the firefighters have to sleep for 4 nights out of 7days. We had a fantastic turn out and I would like to say a big thank you to all the Parent/ Carer helpers for making it possible.

Due to the closure on Friday 20th Parents Evening will now be
Monday 23rd of June 2014.
I would be grateful if we could keep the same appointment time however if this is inconvenient then please see me or your key worker to arrange a different time and date.
Thank you for your understanding.
Mira Backory

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our Company Director, Stelios Gopoulos, who lost his fight with cancer and passed away peacefully at his home on Friday, 13 June 2014.

Stelios was a much loved husband and father who will be greatly missed by his family and Bright Stars staff members.

All Bright Stars Nurseries and our Head Office will be closed on the day of his funeral, Friday, 20th June 2014 as a mark of respect and to enable all staff to attend his funeral. All parents and carers of children who attend on this day will receive a credit against their account for the day’s fees.

We appreciate the difficulties this may cause some of you in finding alternative childcare for this day but hope that you will understand our position at this difficult time.

Thank you

Timeline photos

online.raceforlife.org

online.raceforlife.org It's time for me to take on cancer at Race for Life 2014. Please sponsor me and help spur me on to the finish line http://www.justgiving.com/brightstarsnursery

Welcome back from the Easter Holildays, the children have settled back into routine and it is all systems go as we begin the first half of the summer term. Please take time to read the newsletter which has been sent via email and a copy is also available at the pre-school. There are some important dates to note and an update on this term's events, themes and planning. :)

Sports relief D 2014

Thank you for all your kind donations for Sports Relief we raised £40. The children had a very busy day of sports activities in the garden, which included egg & spoon race, sack race, bike race , running , parachute games and an obstacle course !

We hope that all of you who celebrated St Patricks Day had a lovely day with family and friends, Here at St Monica's we made greeting cards and the children learned about St Patricks Day celebrations during Circle Time Activities

Book Week March 2014

Sorry this is a bit late .... the children enjoyed book week, there were many different little book characters walking around pre-school and it was lovely to share thier favourite stories with them.

Please join our, Big Happy, Booky, celebration of reading books this week 3rd-7th March as part of Book Week and 'World Book Day' is on Thursday 6th of March.
Get a book ! Get inolved! & Get Reading with your children! :)
Children can dress up in their favourite Book Character and bring in their favourite book to share on World Book Day Thursday 6th March.
The Institute of Education states that being read to and reading for pleasure makes a HUGE contribution to children's educational attainment.

March has arrived and we have so much to do and look forward to, the children are drawing up shopping lists, designing and discussing healthy options for pancakes as well as cooking some for their afternoon snack Yum :D

Welcome back to the 2nd half of the spring term, I hope everyone had a lovely week. Thank you so much for your support in the 'Chatterbox Challenge' the children enjoyed a week of rhyme and stories with parents, staff and the librarian from Southagte Library. The children enjoyed making instruments and learning songs with actions. A copy of the songs are available for you to share with your children.

Thank you so much for coming along to Parents Evening, it is always helpful to be able to work together to support your children's developmental needs and learning. I am pleased to announce that Super Soccer sessions has been booked for Mondays starting the 3rd February. Please see me if you wish for your child to participate. Mira :)

February is fast approaching and this year again we will be taking part in the 'Chatterbox Challenge' 'Sounds Like Fun' 10th Feb -14th Feb 2014, in support of Children's communication development both at nursery and at home, I would like to invite parents/carers to come in and share stories/ rhymes in your own home language or English and if you like to cook treats with the children all based on traditional rhyme. The weeks activities will end with a 'Rhyme with Me' morning whereby the children and adults will sing the rhymes they have been practising all week. Please spare some of your time to work with the children it will be such a valuable experience. :)

Just a little reminder that Parents Evening is Monday 27th Jan, 4pm-5pm. This is an excellent opportunity to keep up to date with your child's progress and share information with your child's Key worker to enbale us to provide the best possible care and education.

Learning about Winter activities are already under way ......

The theme for this month is to Observe Winter, the children have already started their creative work for displays and for their special books. We are investigating freezing / melting and Winter clothing/ sports as well as animals that live in the Artic ...... so there is so much to do and learn before February :)

We have got straight back into our daily focused activities with our Time to Talk programme where the children work in small groups to develop listening and communication skills as well as Jolly Phonics where they are learning letters and sounds through rhyme and stories. Ballet has resumed and we had a taster session of Super Soccer on Thursday 16th and the children throughly enjoyed the activities. Please see the notice at Nursery to sign your child up for Super Soccer on Mondays or Fridays . (The cost is £3 per 45min session)

Welcome back everyone and a very Happy New Year to you all. :)It is nice to see the children have settled back in so quickly . Inset day on Monday 6th January went really well we recapped making Learning , Playing and Interaction with children more meaningful and the importance of accurate observations for assesment of children's learning and development.

I would just like to mention a few things , WELL DONE to all the children for putting on a fantastic performance on Monday 16th Dec 2013. I heard many ahhhhs and awwwws aswell as the odd chuckle and dare I mention a tear or two. A big thank you to all of you that were able to come, you make your children very proud. Furthermore on behalf of the staff and myself thank you for your generous gifts. :)

By the children at St Monica's Pre-School

Hello everyone, the children have been so busy here with Christmas activities, it has been quite the little 'Santa's Workshop'. Just a reminder please do not forget the Christmas Concert on Monday 16th Dec. :)

Road Safety week 18th- 22nd Nov 2013

Last week was National Road Safety Week, The children enjoyed making traffic lights, stop signs and zebra crossings. They heard stories from the traffic club and got involved in discussions about being safe on the roads, some even took a small trip locally to extend the learning intention.

Please look out for our 'Home Diary ' and soft toy. The children will take turns to take these home. Please help them to write, draw or take pictures about what they did with their toy out of school.

Children in Need fundraising event last week was very successful, thank you to all our generous parents for your donations and congratulations to those of you who won the hampers in our raffle, I will be announcing shortly how much we have raised as donations are still coming in.... :)