Cockleshell Nursery

Dear Parents/Carers,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support.
As we strive to provide the best early years education and care at the Early Years Alliance, gaining feedback on our service is vital.

If you could please take a few moments to complete a short survey, by selecting the link below or using the QR code attached that would be much appreciated.

https://forms.office.com/e/G9ZGG97rhu

🌟 Thank you for your support. Together, we can make a positive impact!🌟

We are very lucky to live in a world where the internet is just a click of a button away on various devices. We love that our little ones can watch their favourite film or programme on Netflix and YouTube. But we must be very mindful of what we are letting our children watch and ensure they are age appropriate. I have added a link to a great site about E-Safety and how we can keep our children safe when using the internet.

Parents and Carers | Safer Internet Centre Tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online As a parent or carer you play a key role in helping your child to stay safe online. You don’t need to be an expert on the internet to help keep your child stay safe online. Our advice and resources are here to support you as yo...

The children had great fun celebrating Halloween this week at cockleshell. They made Halloween biscuits, carved their pumpkins and took part in some great activities. Some of the children came dressed in some great costumes and made their own ghost costume with a blanket. Have a great weekend and enjoy the Halloween celebrations.

The children had a lovely day celebrating National Teddy Bears day. The children had a Teddy Bears picnic snack, pretend tea parties and spoke about what makes their Teddy Bear special to them.

Work out Wednesday,
Here at cockleshell for our healthy eating week we have incorporated how exercise can help to make us healthier people and how it helps to balance our diets. The children have had lots of fun jumping over hurdles, dancing and even taking part in their own keep fit routine.

Today our seahorse room have welcomed their own little caterpillars. We will be closely watching how they grow into beautiful butterflies ready to realise it our own butterfly garden. The children listened to the hungry caterpillar at circle time and got to help the pot of caterpillars. Keep checking for updates on how they grow.

With many of our pre-school children going off to school in September, we would like to help them to become as ready for school as we can. Here at the nursery we work with the children in order to make the transition to school as smooth as possible. Here are a few ideas of what you can be doing at home with your children to ensure you are doing all you can to make them ready for their early years at school.
If you would like any further support on what more you can do, or if your struggling with getting your child school ready then please don’t hesitate to contact us for advice.

Our seahorse room (2-3s), have been planting flowers today and getting our bug hotel ready with our manager Belinda. The children had fun planting the plants, watering them and talking about the roots below the stem and leaves. The children discussed that the roots are like little strings that the plants use to get their food and water.

Some helpful tips for communication.

Pre-empting what your child wants...

When your child isn't speaking yet, and life is busy, one of the things that many parents do is to pre-empt them.

🍏 They always have Weetabix for breakfast? It's quick and easy to make it and pop it in front of them.
👟 Their favourite shoes are the red ones? Put them on, so you can get out the door on time.
🚗 They usually want to play with cars? Set out the toy garage for them so you can make dinner.

All of these are examples of things that we all do - but for a child who is delayed with their language development, these are missed opportunities for them to communicate with you.

So what could you do instead? My top tip is to offer choices. Even when you know what the answer will be - give them a choice!

'Let's play! Do you want cars or puzzles?' - hold up a car, and a puzzle for them. Even if they point or reach for the one they want and don't say the word, this gives you an opportunity to repeat it - and lots of times too. 'Cars! You chose cars. Here are the cars. One car. Two cars. Three cars!'

Now your child has communicated with you and been exposed to some key language multiple times. The more you do this, the more likely they are to say the word in future.