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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

At Berrynarbor Pre-school, we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. We still have sessions available for new children to join us. If your child is between 2 and 5 years, please get in touch and book a viewing to see our setting and what we can offer your child in their 'first taste of education'. Call on 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for information.

Our Opening Times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We offer 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at 30 hours free childcare - GOV.UK

Autumn Term 22

A warm welcome back to Pre-school after a lovely sunny summer. We welcome all our new children and look forward to getting to know them as they start their learning journey with us.

Our Topics this Half Term

Me, My Family and Friends, Pre-school rules, keeping safe, Autumn and Halloween.

We started the term with All about Me, getting to know our children, their families, pets and interests. We moved on to explore Our Senses; touch, see, hear, smell and taste. This topic encouraged, kind hands, sharing, good listening and eating well. We talked about good oral health and how to clean our teeth which is very important even at this young age.

As part of the children's settling in, we helped the children recognise their written names such as those on their peg and tray. We encouraged them to explore the setting both inside and outside. We offered support and encouragement in independence with self-care and engaged in conversations about Pre-school rules, keeping safe, our feelings and discussed new learning ideas and interests. We have guided role play and to develop an enjoyment for books through storytelling and songs.

A message from the Pre-school Committee

We are always looking for parents to join on our Pre-school Committee. The Pre-school cannot operate without their support and positions such as a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are vital other positions, such as fundraising, are also important as we run as a charity.

Initially, a DBS [Police check] needs to be completed and then an Ofsted/EY2 application. We meet around 4-5 times a year in the evening. You could also be involved in proof-reading policies and help make decisions about the Pre-school. Our AGM is held every October [date to be set] with all parents welcome. If you are interested in becoming a committee member, please speak with either a committee member or a member of staff.

A Message from our Community Nurse - Immunisation

It's really important that children continue to receive their booster vaccines and MMR vaccine. They are also entitled to the Flu Nasal spray.

For more details see the links below:

Gov Pre-school immunisations - a guide to vaccinations

NHS Vaccinations & immunisations | Toddler | Start for Life

Best wishes from the Committee and Pre-school Staff

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

At Berrynarbor Pre-school, we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. We are now taking bookings for the next academic year.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children then please call on 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs

• 8.30 a.m. or 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon a.m.
• 12.00 noon - 3.00/3.30 or 4.00 p.m. p.m.
• 8.30 or 9.00a.m. - 3.00/3.30/4.00 p.m. - All day

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at 30 hours free childcare - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This term we have been preparing our older children for their move to 'big' school and they all seem to have enjoyed their school visits. We wish them all the best as they start their new learning journey at their Primary Schools.

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Our Topic of Learning - The seaside

The children have learnt about keeping our beaches clean and safe, protecting our seas and oceans from plastic and waste as well as keeping sun safe.

We talked about all the different plastic found in and around the sea. We made a fish sculpture from recycled materials and placed this in our Children's Communication Corner. This led to many conversations with children and parents as well as visitors. The children made treasure boxes and placed many made items inside including treasure maps, painted pebbles, sea shell clay fossil and information from the RNLI. We should like to thank Be Barten for her kind donation of craft materials and boxes that enabled us to create these boxes and support the children's learning.

Through games, stories and puzzles, the children learnt about some of the sea creatures and plants found on our shores, as well as others found deep in the oceans. Some children attended Yoga sessions with Lorna Donnelly. They listened well to instruction and took part in movement to stories as well as interpreted animal/sea creature movement such as the jelly fish, crab and shark.

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

At Berrynarbor Preschool, we provide a first taste of education and care following the curriculum set out in the Early Year Foundation Stage for young children between the ages of 2 and 5.

We are located in the centre of the village next to the Manor Hall, opposite the children's play park. We are now taking bookings for the next academic year starting September 2022.

If you would like to view our setting and book a place for your child/children then please call on 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for an appointment and information.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

Over the summer term the children learnt about Life Cycles of plants [beans], frogs and butterflies. They discovered what an important part minibeasts play within our garden and the environment. We took delivery of some painted lady caterpillars and the children observed the changes that took place when caterpillars move onto the next stages in their life cycle.

We have read lots of books including: Jack and the Beanstalk which supported counting, measuring and size. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle which covered changes over time, memorising different items and wellbeing. What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson promoted good listening and following instructions.

In Mathematics we supported key skills in number recognition, number sequencing, number pattern matching as well as measuring, size and position language. We revisited 2-D shapes and extended knowledge and understanding of the properties of shapes.

In Literacy, we all enjoyed reading books written by the wonderful Julia Donaldson. She is an inspirational author and provides multiple opportunities for us to plan engaging activities and fantastic learning for our children. You may have some Julia Donaldson books at home or if not, we highly recommend going to your local library. We reinforced rhyme and alliteration that are prevalent in her books. We supported children's retelling of stories using storyboards to describe the beginning, middle and end of a story. Stories covered include What the Ladybird Heard, Sharing a Shell and The Singing Mermaid. Mark making and letter formations were encouraged and children made their own books.

Wherever possible our topic links to all areas of the Early Years curriculum. Our role-play area became veterinary surgery where the children were able to look after a wide variety of animals, not to mention fix a range of injuries and ailments! The children thought about animals that make good pets and used their own knowledge and understanding from their own pets or a family pet.

Outside, the children have thoroughly enjoyed our new play area, equipment and resources benefiting from physical challenges, balance, movement and play. We have extended children's learning by taking more resources outside as well stories under the tree and having our snack times outside.

Our Bug Hotel with its five-star accommodation, is now relocated into the Children's Communication Corner Garden, where we have kept an eye on it to see who moves in. This area continues to celebrate the children's learning and interest, using crafts and language to reinforce learning such as the frog life cycle, planting bean seeds, measuring growth, colours and counting flowers that appear on plants and picking blueberries from the shrubs.

From all at
Berrynarbor Pre-school

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had a busy start to this year. The children have enjoyed many stories and bringing them to life in role play, small world play, pictures and in our Communication Corner Garden.

Parents have enjoyed listening to their children recall stories and point out their involvement in the Communication Corner Garden, especially with the story of the Little Blue Tractor.

From all at Berrynarbor Pre-school

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A first teste of education

Last term the children helped to plant bulbs and winter flowers in the new planter in the Communication Corner at Pre-school. This area allows the children to share their learning with their parents, grandparents and carers. We wait to see what colour the flowers will be in spring. We also made bird feeders, filling pine cones with seed cake which the birds seem to love.

Our learning covered celebrations such as Halloween, Bonfire Night, Diwali and Christmas. Room on the Broom story - still a favourite with the children, as they enjoyed repeating the familiar phrases and rhymes. Cats, bats and pumpkin pictures of different sizes developed the children's Maths knowledge. Bonfire Night where safety was discussed, along with a role play camp fire, toasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate. Yummy! We celebrated the festival of light - Diwali - making diyas candle holders, cards and henna hand print pictures. We celebrated Christmas with the story of Christmas, songs, music and crafts not forgetting all the glitter!

As we start our Spring Term, we welcome all our new children and their families who join us and hope they enjoy their learning journey.

Spring Term Topic of learning

As we move into winter, our topic this term will cover the changes in our weather, how to care for ourselves and how to care for farm animals in the cold.

We shall introduce new stories, support good listening, extend vocabulary by introducing new words and build upon role play scenarios.

The children have already chosen a story - The Little Blue Tractor.

Using the Early Year Foundation Stage criteria, we shall:

• Support children to manage their emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary.
• Through conversation, story-telling and role play, children will share their ideas with support and modelling from us. We shall use sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate and become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.
• Repeated and varied opportunity to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts. To practice using small tools, with feedback and support from us that allow the children to develop skills in control and confidence.

We hope to share some of our learning via the Communication Corner/garden by the back gate. Please come along and see what the children have done.

Events

We were all truly blown away by everyone's support and contribution towards our fundraising events last term. In these difficult times, we had to find different ways to fundraise while keeping everyone safe.

Bingo Evening

We managed to hold a Bingo Evening; socially distanced and well organised by our committee with Lynne and Harriet from the Old Station Inn calling the numbers. We managed to raise £243.50

Christmas Raffle

Our Christmas raffle was a great success raising a brilliant £925.00!!

Thanks go to Sarah for organising this event, acquiring all the amazing prizes, advertising the event and running the draw with Jody. We have such a generous community and hope that if you took part, you were a winner.

All these funds go towards improving the Pre-school room both inside and outside as well as purchasing new activities.

Best wishes - all at Pre-school

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had a busy and exciting start to our term so far and have appreciated the atmosphere in the newly painted and decorated Pre-school room.

We held our AGM in October and elected a new Committee, which has enabled the Pre-school to continue to operate.

Topic of learning - This term we got to know the children and the children got to know us.

Our All About Me topic encouraged the children to share information and knowledge about themselves, such as what they like and dislike. We created a life-size collage picture of each child which gave them a sense of belonging and recognition. They looked into mirrors to see their own facial features and expressions. We discussed similarities and differences compared to other children.

As the season changed, we explored our environment, collecting autumn leaves, sticks, pine cones and seeds. The children created hedgehog pictures using leaves, made leaf rubbing pictures and built houses from straw, leaves, sticks, bricks. Inside large boxes were played with making dens for themselves as well as homes for animals to hibernate in.

The children enjoyed many stories to support their learning such as Owl Babies, Stick Man, The Gruffalo, Nutty Nut Race and many more. The Owl Babies story was chosen to share with parents in our new Communication Corner Garden. The children planted bulbs and flowers in the new planter. We wait to see what colour the flowers will be in the spring!

Clothes Recycling - We thank everyone who donated unwanted clothes in our Bag2School fundraising event. We are pleased to say we raised £54.00 this time and hope to organise another event in the spring.

Fundraising - Christmas Raffle - Raffle tickets are now on sale for our Christmas Raffle. We have some amazing prizes which have been donated by local businesses and we thank them all for their kind contributions. Let's hope we can meet our target of £1000 which will be put toward the children's learning resources and replacing the Pre-school carpet.

That just leaves us to say we hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Best wishes from all at Pre-school

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A first taste of education

Welcome back to Preschool. We hope you all had a lovely summer break.We have all worked hard to make sure that the Pre-school is a safe and welcoming environment for your children to return to.

Over the summer our room had a bit of a makeover, with new flooring, newly painted walls and carpentry work done in the bathroom. Work has also been completed outside by the back gate creating the Children's Communication Corner. This is where we will encourage your children to share their learning topics and adventures with you.It was built by the Berry in Bloom team and will help us support the new Early Year Foundation Stage [EYFS] curriculum, focusing on Language and Communication. Work still needs to take place in the garden as we prepare for our new shed.

A letter from the Committee

Berrynarbor Preschool is a Charity, run by a small committee team which allows it to function legally.The Committee is made up of volunteers, mainly parents of the Pre-school children but we also invite members of the community.

As the new school year has started, we are looking for new members to join the team and help us ensure Berrynarbor Pre-school can offer its services to the local families that access it.  This does take up a small amount of time, with evening meetings being held approximately every 6 weeks and helping hands needed during our fundraising events.

We really hope that all parents and any members of the community can make the AGM to be held in October [date to be confirmed] even if you don't intend to be a committee member, as it is important to understand how Berrynarbor Pre-school runs. We certainly would love to hear any fun ideas for fundraising or you may have some handy contacts who would be interested in becoming a member. This is a great way to make new friends, gain a new skill and be supportive in your child's education and learning journey.

Without your input or support preschool cannot open or run or provide a service.

Topic of Learning

Everything is new! Even to us. The government has rewritten our Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, focusing on Language and Communication.

We have supported the children to settle in, explained our routines and rules, such as hand washing, using hand gel, finding their tray and peg and where to store their lunch bag. With guidance, the children have set some of their own rules to keep themselves safe. They have explored both inside and outside activities and toys. We have chatted with the children, read stories and got to know them, their interests, ideas and built-up good relationships.

We started the term with the topic All about Me; learning about ourselves, family and our friends. We talked about what we like and dislike and used some of our senses, such as taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch. We worked around stories such as Going to Pre-school, Why should we Share and Head to Toe.

As our season changes, we shall explore outside, looking at leaves changing colour and the important job our farmers do at harvest time. Weather permitting, we hope to go on nature walks around the village and explore our environment. Familiar stories will be read such as The Gruffalo and Going on a Bear Hunt. We intend to keep learning simple, fun and at the children learning levels and interests.

Clothes Recycling

We have booked another Bag2School collection date for Tuesday,2nd November. They will take any unwanted clothes, handbags, paired shoes, belts, bed sheets and soft toys.Please place items into a black sack/bag and bring it into Pre-school near the collection date. Unfortunately, they will not take school uniform, pillows or duvets. Start sorting out your wardrobes and drawers for any unwanted clothes and raise some money for us. Thank you.

Bee Brick

Thank you to everyone who nominated our Pre-school for a Bee Brick. We received one and have placed it in our garden for the bees to make a new home. Thank you RGB Building Supplies for running the competition. 

A message from our Community Nurse

Immunisation: It's really important that children continue to receive their booster vaccines and MMR vaccine. They are also entitled to the Flu Nasal spray. For more details see the links below:

• nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them
• IMM_preschool_A5_booklet_Dec2019.pdf

Best wishes from all the staff at Pre-school.

Sue, Lynne, Lisa and Lorraine

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRESCHOOL

A first taste of education

At Berrynarbor Preschool we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. We are now taking bookings for the next academic year. If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please call on 07932 851052 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs.

• Morning - 8.30 a.m. or 9.00 a.m. - 12,00 noon
• Afternoon - 12.00 noon - 3.00 or 3.30 or 4.00 p.m.
• All Day - 8.30 or 9.00 a.m. - 3.00, 3.30 or 4.00 p.m.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at 30 hours free childcare - GOV.UK {www.gov.uk}

Topic of Learning

We focused this summer term's learning on the Environment from Recycling to Bugs, Bees and Butterflies and our adventures took to The Jungle and back to The Seaside.

The children's learning was shared with parents, grandparents and members of the community in our Children's Communication Corner. This was only possible from the Berry in Bloom team who reclaimed a small area of garden where we now share our learning topics. This is to support our children's communication skills and is in line with the New Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum focusing on the importance of talking.

Have a lovely summer.

Best wishes from the
Preschool Committee and Staff

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRESCHOOL

A first taste of education

At Berrynarbor Preschool we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. We are now taking bookings for the next academic year. If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please call on 07932 851052 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs.

• Morning - 8.30 a.m. or 9.00 a.m. - 12,00 noon
• Afternoon - 12.00 noon - 3.00 or 3.30 or 4.00 p.m.
• All Day - 8.30 or 9.00 a.m. - 3.00, 3.30 or 4.00 p.m.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at 30 hours free childcare - GOV.UK {www.gov.uk}

This term we have been preparing our older children for 'big' school and we wish them all the best as they start their new learning journey at their Primary Schools.

Topic of Learning

We have focused on Our Environment - from recycling to life cycles and looking after our planet. We read the story, The Messy Magpie and also Michael Recycle to support our recycling topic. The children made items from junk to play and make learning items. We watched caterpillars develop into butterflies and covered the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We cared for tadpoles and watched them change over time before returning them to their pond to continue to develop into frogs.

We celebrated Earth Day on 22nd April exploring our world, being creative and making items from recycled materials. We also learnt a new song, Whole World in our Hands.

We intend to extend our learning to The Seaside. We'll talk about keeping safe at the beach, sun safe as well as naming some of the sea creatures found on our shore. Treasure maps will be made alongside a couple of pirate adventures.

Events

• Clothes Recycling - We wish to thank everyone who supported us and dropped off their unwanted clothes for our Bag2School fundraising scheme. We raised an amazing £114.00 which is brilliant.

• Book Sale - We wish to thank Sarah Lewis for her amazing work raising £605.08 from the book sale and thank the community for their generous donations and support.

Watch this space for new fundraising event, all being well!

Best wishes from the Preschool Committee and Staff

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A first taste of education

After a somewhat unpredictable start to our Spring Term, we followed the Government's instruction and remained open during the nation's third lockdown, supporting all children who needed to attend the Pre-school.

We supported children who were unable to attend with activity packs. We hope they will bring in any completed pictures or activities for us to see and we can celebrate their learning achievements

Topic of learning

Our teaching strategies have slightly changed in light of all the recent events. We are keeping learning simple, fun and at the children's learning levels and interests. This term, listening to the children's play and their ideas we have chosen Transport as our learning topic and will be covering all seven areas of learning.

Here are a few of our teaching ideas.

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development - Road safety. How did you travel to preschool today? Sharing toys and ideas
• Communication and Language - Talk about different types of transport. Listen to different transport sounds. Talk about where you would like to visit and how would you get there.
• Physical Development - Build a bridge, road and move transport/vehicles along. Stop, Go traffic light games. Pedalling bikes, scooters and cars.
• Literacy - Books - Duck in a Truck, Sheep in a Jeep - Rhyming words. Spring and Easter stories. Make a train - Add carriages with letters from your name. Mark making/writing words
• Mathematics - Sort transport into Air, Road and Water. Sort by size, colour, similarities. Money to buy tickets for a tram, bus, train or plane
• Understanding the World - What transport helps us e.g., bin lorries, ambulance, fire engine, police car - why are they helpful? Look at a map and draw your own map.
• Science - Floating and sinking
• Expressive Arts and Design - Junk model vehicles, garage. Travel agent's role play, buying tickets traveling on a train, plane. Transport songs - wheels on the bus, 5 men in a flying saucer.

We shall also be celebrating events such as Mother's Day, Spring and Easter.

World Book Day

This was on Thursday 4th March and children brought books in from home. We watched the World Book Day story and children were given book tokens to purchase books.

Comic Relief - Red Nose Day

The children wore red to Pre-school on this day and we had a fun day full of different activities.

Fundraising

We wish to thank Sarah Lewis for her time in collecting, sorting and selling books to raise funds for Pre-school. To date she has raised a brilliant total of £275.00. Books are still for sale and you can find information on what's available on the Facebook Page.

Berrynarbor Preschool Booksale

To raise a few more funds for Pre-school the children planted and sold spring bulbs.

Clothes Recycling - Bags2School

We have booked a Bags2School collection for Tuesday 27th April 2021. They will take any unwanted clothes, bags, paired shoes, belts and soft toys. Unfortunately, they will not take school uniform. Start sorting out your wardrobes and draws for any unwanted clothes and place them in a bag and bring the bag/s to preschool near the collection date. Thank you

From all the staff at Pre-school
Sue, Karen, Lynne and Lisa

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had a difficult start to this term, remaining open at the government request while under another national lockdown. We have supported all our critical and keyworker families and have respected that some of our parents have chosen to keep their children at home. To support our children's learning from home, we sent out activities and ideas that can be learnt through different hubs such as:

• Twinkl This is a learning hub for all ages with a wide variety of activities Twinkl Home Learning Hub
• The BBC have also put on activities that are age appropriate for young learners. https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people
• There are some good listening activities: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-early-years/z6bgnrd

Reading

Switch off the TV and read to your child. Ask what they can see on the pictures. If it's a familiar story, get them to recall some of the story. Get your child to hold the book and turn the pages.

Make up your own story

Fold a couple of sheets of paper in half to make a simple book.

Ask your child to draw a picture of something that interests them. Ask your child what they have drawn and write next to the picture what it is. Together, use imagination to make up a story about the picture, adding new pictures to the other pages to extend the story. Ask your child to 'read' their story to someone else. [Ensure your child leads the storytelling and you don't take over - easily done!]

Cooking

Engage your child in a safe way with any cooking you are doing. Talk about where the food comes from, where/how it is grown, what it smells like and best of all how it tastes in the end.

Maths is covered in cooking, measuring, recognising numbers in a recipe, capacity full/empty, time and temperature as well as science, texture change.

Keeping fit: Watch Joe Wicks' PE lessons

T​he sessions called PE with Joe are streamed live on Wicks' YouTube channel at 9.00 a.m. three days a week. They will be 20-minutes​ long. ​ The sessions will be live Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9.00 a.m. on YouTube. They will not require any specialist equipment or large amounts of space.

RSPB Garden Birdwatch

The children enjoyed making bird feeders last term at Pre-school and watching the bird's feed. Support the RSPB and count the number of birds in your garden or when out on a walk. https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/

Topic of learning at Pre-school - Literacy

At Pre-school we have been working on our Reading and Writing from the Early Year framework. Children have been encouraged to sound out familiar letters and begin to form recognisable letters or make patterns, putting meanings to their marks. This is all based on the child's individual stage of learning.

We have found fun ways to develop the children's fine motor skills, strengthening their fingers and encouraging them to make marks, before learning to form letter shapes. Activities have been both indoors and outside.

Supporting this learning, we have looked at our environment and incorporated some elements from Understanding the World into our topic. The children have explored winter: ice, snow and examine nature and changes in plants in the outdoor area. We joined the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and used a chart to record the birds we saw.

We've introduced new stories, games and found information about our own homes and community. In our role play we had different occupations such as doctors, vets and builders.

We had stories such as The Tiger who came to Tea, Next and many winter stories.

Christmas Raffle Thank you for supporting our Christmas raffle. We raised over £308.00 which is fantastic. We hope to do something similar for Easter, so if anyone has any unwanted gifts or wish to donate an item, please bring them to Pre-school. Thank you

Christmas Cards We signed up to IQ Cards, a fabulous service, which turns children's artwork into unique Christmas/greetings cards, gift wrap, key rings and fridge magnets. We raised £53.00 from parents Christmas card orders. This will enable us to invest further in the children's education.

Donations We kindly received a donation of £100 from Ewe Move, the estate agent. Our Pre-school was put forward as a local charity by a local family and we are very grateful for this donation.

We hope to purchase a climbing frame or put the money toward a new shed.

We have started to take bookings for September 2021. Please contact the Pre-school either by e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com or by calling 07932 851 052 Thank you.

Keep safe and well everyone.

From all the Staff at Pre-school - Sue, Karen, Lynne, Emma and Lisa

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

a first taste of education

During the second part of our autumn term we remained open and concentrated on celebrating the festivals - Bonfire Night, Remembrance Sunday, Diwali and Christmas. We added Maths concepts within this topic - counting, sorting, measuring, recognising numerals and shapes. We also introduced Number of the Week and focused some of our activities around this number.

We talked about keeping safe, especially as the clocks went back in October and our evenings became darker earlier. This year's Bonfire night was different for all of us, but we still talked to the children about firework safety. We learnt about the sounds of fireworks and all the colours they make in the night sky.

Diwali was celebrated on the14th November. It is the Indian Festival of Lights, usually celebrated over five days. This is one of the most popular festivals of Hinduism. Diwali symbolises the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. We introduced the design of rangoli patterns looking at shapes and texture. We also made some flavoursome sweets!

For Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day, where we remember the members of the armed forces, the children made their own poppy badges in recognition.

Celebrating Christmas at Pre-school will be different this year, having no performance to work toward. However, we shall still sing our Christmas songs in setting and get into the spirit of Christmas by decorating the room and reading the Christmas story.

Fancy Dress Friday

It was suggested by one of our parents to have a fancy dress day as the children haven't been able to dress up in our preschool costumes. We suggested Friday 13th as this coincided with the BBC Children in Need event and are donating towards this fundraising event.

We are pleased to say that we raised £72.00 with our Bag2school collection. Thank you to parents and members of our community for sorting out your wardrobes and drawers for unwanted clothes, shoes, bags etc. We shall be using this money to buy new Maths resources.

A message from the Community Nurse

Immunisation It's really important that children continue to receive their booster vaccines and MMR vaccine. They are also entitled to the Flu Nasal spray. For more details see here

A Zoom AGM was held on Monday 12th October. We send a big THANK YOU to Kirsty Kritikos,Tina Barbeary, Laura Maughan for all their voluntary work and contributions in supporting and running the Pre-school. They have been a great team to work with especially over this difficult period. They have now stepped down from their positions on the committee.

Our new Committee is Kayleigh Richards who has taken on the role as Chairperson, Jody Latham our treasurer and Verity Seldon our secretary. We welcome them all and look forward to working with them and all the Committee to ensure that our unique and much-loved Pre-school continues to run and provide the happy child care that the children enjoy so much.

Thank you for the Bulbs, Berry in Bloom

This year the children missed helping the Berry in Bloom team plant bulbs in the planters in front of the Manor Hall. However, Wendy and the team kindly donated bulbs for us to plant at Pre-school, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. We look forward to seeing the beautiful colours in spring.

We wish Everyone a Safe and
Happy Christmas and look forward to a Happy New Year!

From the Pre-school Committee, the Children and Staff

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL
a first taste of education

We were excited to welcome the children back to Pre-school. It has been an uncertain time for us all and we were looking forward to welcome and settle the children, explain new routines, find new activities and games as well as support their learning and wellbeing.

We have all worked hard to make sure that the Pre-school is a safe and welcoming environment for our children to return to. We have followed Government guidelines and we sought advice from the Early Year Alliance. Risk assessments have been completed and strategies put in place to ensure the safety of all, children, parents, staff and the wider community.

Staffing

All staff have returned to work and are looking forward to the new term. We should like to welcome a new member of staff; Lisa Cox who has joined the team.

Topics of learning

We had a gentle start to this term's learning. We want to make sure every child is settled and happy in their new learning environment. We supported by explaining our new routines, such as lots of hand washing, using hand gel, splitting children in to small groups or 'bubbles'. The children set their own new Pre-school rules that keep them safe. They have had the opportunity to explore both inside and outside toys and activities. For us, we have got to know your children, their interests, ideas and are building up good relationships with them.

Outside we have looked at the changes of the season, going from summer into autumn; looked at leaves changing colour and the important job our farmers do at harvest time. We hope to go on a nature walk to explore our environment.

Staff kept themselves busy during lockdown and into the summer holidays creating resources for the children to use such:

 

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL
a first taste of education

We managed to re-open our Pre-school on the 3rd June after cleaning, changing the room lay out, removing soft toys and furnishings, implementing regular cleaning routines and completing risk assessments; complying with government guideline to include social distancing - if that can be done with children aged 2, 3 and 4 years!

We were only able to open to key worker families and to children due to start school in September. Initially Pre-school felt empty and strange, but once the children came back and began to play it felt like it was back to normal! We had lots of outside play, ball games, water play, drawing chalk pictures, ride on toys, hide and seek games, exploring the garden, as well as bringing stories to life in role play. The Manor Hall Committee kindly allowed us to use the hall on wet days, giving us extra space to play.The children have roared, giggled, sang, counted and shouted "I've found you"! This must have been very entertaining to all our neighbours.

The children have been very good at understanding why Pre-school had to close, about the Corona virus, that it makes people poorly, that you have to keep your distance and you have to wash your hands lots! This is a real credit to all our parents and carers who have explained the situation to their children. We continue to have a duty of care to ensure that all our children and their families keep well, physically, mentally and emotionally. During lock down it was so lovely to receive messages and pictures from the children about their home learning, gardening projects, walks as well as lots of cooking and baking.

Thank you to the rainbow fairy who left this beautiful rainbow stone outside our Pre-school. It is very much appreciated.

We want to wish all our children who are due to start primary school in September all the very best and to enjoy their new learning journeys.

We plan to open as normal in September, on the 7th, but we are aware that we need to keep an eye on Government guidelines and ensure we follow them correctly.

Continue to keep safe and well and we wish everyone a lovely summer holiday. We look forward to a positive start to our new academic year in September.

Best wishes from the staff at Pre-school

Sue, Karen, Lynne and Emma

 

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL
a first taste of education

The children began the second half of the spring term learning more Maths concepts. This was supported with shop role play, with the children choosing to make a shoe shop; measuring feet, sorting shoes into pairs and using money to buy and sell. Lots of learning through play and problem solving was had. Stories were read including some of our favourites, such as Going on a Bear Hunt, The Gruffalo, The Three Bears and interactive books from the computer such as Froggie Gets Dressed.

Outside we had shape target practice with tally charts, hook a duck, hop scotch counting games and hide and seek. We celebrated Sports Relief with an obstacle adventure course, where the children had to run, hop, balance, kick, throw, climb up, slide down and crawl under a range of different items. They did so well and were presented with a certificate for their efforts. Well done to all!

We celebrated Mothering Sunday making cards and thanks to the Berry in Bloom team who kindly donated plants and compost, the children were able to plant up flowers for their mothers or someone special to them. Easter was brought forward slightly with the government asking us to close early due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The children made Easter treats and more fun games were had. We started to talk about spring and the changes in our seasons.

We held a party on the last day of term to celebrate our learning and to wish one of our children a very happy 4th birthday as unfortunately his party had to be cancelled due to the present circumstances.

So, we now find ourselves in lockdown. At present Pre-school is closed and all our Pre-school families are well and complying with the lockdown rules. Parents and carers have become the teachers; finding activities and different things to learn, using social media with learning links and finding new ways to communicate with each other. It has been lovely to see all the activities our children have been able to do at home; cooking, drawing, writing, counting, short nature walks, bike rides, planting seeds, P.E. with Joe Wicks, pebble painting and reading books to name a few.

We wish everyone well and to continue to keep safe. We hope we are able to see everyone soon.

From the staff at Pre-school - Sue, Karen, Lynne and Emma

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

The children have enjoyed this term's topic, Winter. They have explored ice, made an arctic display, learnt about the animals that live there and how people should dress to keep safe and warm in cold.

Maths has been taught with children beginning to recognise numbers, sort items into order, simple sums, name 2D shapes, say the opposite and know the position of an item. We added stories to extend the children's knowledge and vocabulary. These were then recalled and acted out by the children in their play.

We celebrated World Book Day with the children dressing up as characters of their choice and read new and exciting books, and they enjoyed Pancake Day practicing tossing pancakes with Julia in the Manor Hall.

We have supported the children in talking about keeping well especially with recent news events, trying to prevent the spread of germs as much as possible. We have encouraged more and better hand washing regimes within our setting.

School Visits

We enjoyed our visits to the Primary school this term. Thank you to Mrs. Welling who provided fun activities, such as shaving foam, snow dough, and shared stories as well as allowing the Pre-school children to explore the classroom and have a small taste of school life there.

Thank you to Wendy and the Berry in Bloom team who kindly donated plants and compost to help with our gardening project. The children planted up lovely winter pansy to give to their mums or someone special and helped to tidy up the garden in readiness for spring.

Fundraising

Thank you to everyone who supported our Bags2School collection. We are pleased to say that we raised £100.00 which will go towards getting a climbing frame for the children.

We have another fundraising event: our Quiz Evening on Friday 27th March.

From the staff at preschool
Sue, Karen, Lynne and Emma

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL
a first taste of education

Last term the children learnt about themselves, made new friends and began to recognise Pre-school rules and routines. Our topics covered autumn, farming and harvest time, followed by keeping safe around fireworks and celebrating Christmas.

The children showed enjoyment singing new songs and put on a short nativity play followed by some cheery Christmas songs. They all did so well, singing beautifully and for some this was their very first performance. Well done to all for such a brilliant performance! A thank you also goes to the Primary School children who gave us a taste of their Christmas Show.

The children made Christmas crafts that they could share with their family. We raised £280.00 from the sale of these crafts along with tea, coffee and cake. Thank you to our families, committee and the community for their kind support.

We celebrated the end of term with a Christmas party. Lots of fun, games, dancing and a surprise visit from Father Christmas!

Our topic of Learning

This term the children will be focusing on Maths - counting, sorting, recognising numbers and shapes. We shall also incorporate some elements from 'Understanding the World' into our topic. Using the children's interest from the film Frozen, we'll explore winter, ice, fire, volcanos and the different climates we have. We'll introduce new stories, games and find information about our planet as well as make some great displays to support our learning.

School Visits

We have again been invited to Berrynarbor Primary school for regular short visits this term. This is an opportunity for the children, especially those who are due to start school in September, to visit the school, meet the teachers and the Reception Class children while still under our care and supervision.

We have organised another clothes collection through Bags2School to take place on Tuesday 10th March 2020. They will take any unwanted clothes, bags, paired shoes, belts, soft toys, bedding and towels. Unfortunately, they will not take any uniforms.

Our Pre-school is very well attended presently with limited session availability but if you would like to visit us or book a place for your child/children in the future, please contact us on 07932 851052 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs. These are shown in the Manor Hall Diary at the end of this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year funding scheme and Early Years Entitlement for 15 hours and 30 hours for those who qualify. We provide care and education for young children between ages of 2 and 5.

From the Staff at Pre-school

Sue, Karen, Lynne and Emma

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A First Taste of Education

New Committee

We held our AGM in October and Kirsty Kritikos remains as Chairperson as do Tina Barbeary as treasurer and Laura Maughan as secretary. They look forward to working with the rest of the committee to ensure our unique and much-loved Pre-School continues to run and provide the happy child-care that the children enjoy so much.

Our Topic

This term, the children have enjoyed exploring the environment, playing outside, sweeping and collecting leaves, going on nature walks and learning to care and look out for our native animals. Inside the children have been very busy with crafts; exploring colour, practising scissor skills and the glitter has already been sprinkled around. We have enjoyed many stories including The Gruffalo, The Ginger Bread Man, Baby Owls and Room on the Broom. The children built a lovely stand for the Baby Owls based on the story and used puppets to re-enact the story. They also produced a colourful autumn and fireworks display which brightened up our room. We have had fun cooking; making carrot cakes, pumpkin soup and bonfire biscuits, all very delicious!

It was lovely to have been invited to watch Mrs. Wellings' Reception and Year 1 Classes and Mr. Jones' Year 2 Class, do their Celebration of Learning. This year it was the story of The Three Little Pigs, with great storytelling and singing. It was good to see how well our children have settled into school.

Clothes Recycling

We had our Bags2School Collection and we are pleased to say that we raised £100.00. A big thank you goes to all those who supported us. We hope to arrange another collection in the New Year.

So, from all the Committee, the Children and Staff, we should like to wish you all

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had a very busy start to this Autumn Term.Our new children seem to have settled in well and we hope they are enjoying their learning journey with us.

Our topic of learning this term started with a settling in period, learning about ourselves and our families. We supported in making new friendships and learning about people who help us. We made new Pre-school rules; learnt what we can and can't do as well as how to stay safe.We have read many stories such as Little Blue Tractor, The Gruffalo, The Ginger Bread Man and Going on a Bear Hunt.

Outside, we learnt about the changes in our season; going from summer into autumn. We looked at the leaves changing colour and went on a couple of nature walks exploring our environment. We learnt about animals that hibernate and how farmers look after their animals as well as all the different vehicles they use on their farms from quad bikes to a combine harvester.

Other seasonal activities included making bread, celebrating harvest time and making a fireworks display.

Later in the term, we shall be practicing those seasonal songs in readiness for a short performance on Thursday, 5th December at 2.00 p.m. in the Manor Hall to celebrate Christmas. All are welcome and refreshment will be available. Make a note in your diary!

Christmas Cards Fundraising

We have signed up to School Art Club, a fabulous service, which turns children's artwork into unique Christmas/greetings cards. It's exciting for the children to see their artwork turned into professional greetings cards and great for parents and relatives to be able to send their festive greetings in this unique way. It is a great fundraiser for our Pre-school and it enables us to invest further in the children's education.

Quiz Night

We are holding a Quiz Night on Friday 15th November at Ye Olde Globe. We hope you are able to join us to have a successful fundraising evening. Look out for our posters to book a table.

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Clothes Recycling: We have booked our next Bags2School collection for Thursday, 7th November. Bags2School bags will be available from Pre-school and the Post Office and Community Shop. They take any unwanted clothes, bags, paired shoes, belts, bedding [not duvets or pillows] and soft toys. Unfortunately, they will not take school uniforms.

Filled bags can be brought to Pre-school from Friday 1st November.

Used Ink Cartridges: We are still collecting used ink cartridges [there are exclusions so please see the box at Pre-school]. We can get as much as £1 per ink cartridge. We are also registered to accept LaserJet ink cartridges, so if anyone uses them in their work place, we can recycle them and fundraise at the same time. Last term we raised £14.00

Please tell your friends and family about our two recycling schemes, to help raise funds for the Pre-school. Thank you

From all the staff - Sue, Karen, Lynne and Emma

Call 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for any information.

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

a first taste in education

We have all been very busy this term with the older children visiting the Primary School, a visit to Exmoor Zoo, which was postponed due to bad weather but thankfully turned out lovely when rearranged, a Quiz Night that raised £227.00 and the School Summer Fayre raised £36.00.

We have had a new member of staff join our team and we welcome Emma Isaac to our Pre-school. She seems to have fitted in seamlessly with all the children taking to her instantly. With a vast knowledge in child care and education, she is working with us to support the children's learning and to meet their wellbeing needs.

We wish all our leavers the best for their future as they start their new nurseries/preschools and primary schools in September.

The children enjoyed their learning topics - Creepy Crawlies and Life by the Sea, exploring our environment, keeping safe at the beach and caring for our coast.

The children got to watch caterpillars turn into butterflies, learnt about bees and worms. The bug hotel had residents and the insects loved the wild flower garden. This has been in full bloom and is ready to be judged by the panel from the RHS.

The children's knowledge was reinforced at Exmoor Zoo at a bug handling session where they got to touch stick insects, a millipede and a giant African snail. They learnt how important all insects are in our garden and that they all have an important part to play in the garden.

Life by the Sea involved being sun safe, naming different sea creatures and listening to stories. Lots of sand, water and 'seaweed' spaghetti was played with. Both topics involved exploring different ways of writing, drawing and putting meaning to marks.

Pre-school Committee

Berrynarbor Pre-school is a Charity, run by a small committee team which allows the Pre-school to legally function. The committee is made up of volunteers, mainly parents of the children, but we also invite members of the community. As the new school year is due to start, we are looking for new members to join the team and help us ensure Berrynarbor Pre-school can offer its services to the local families that access it. This does take up a small amount of time, with evening meetings being held approximately every 6 weeks and helping hands needed during our fundraising events.

We really hope that all parents and any members of the community can make the AGM meeting to be held in October [date to be confirmed] even if you don't intend to be a committee member, as it is important to understand how Berrynarbor Pre-school runs. We certainly would love to hear any fun ideas for fundraising for the or you may have some handy contacts who would be interested in becoming a member. This is a great way to make new friends, gain a new skill and be supportive in your child's education and learning journey.

We hope you are all enjoying your summer break and look forward to the new term starting in September. Call 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for any information.

From the staff: Sue, Karen, Lynne, Emma and Ellie

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

a first taste of education

We are now well into the summer term. We welcome our new families who have joined us in this term and hope the children enjoy their learning journey with us.

We have had to say farewell to Sophie who left us at the end of last term. On behalf of all the staff, committee and the children we should like to wish Sophie all the best for the future and to thank her for all her work and care.

Last term the children enjoyed our Maths topic and are now using Maths concepts, language and recognising numbers within their play which is lovely to see and hear.

This term we are focusing on Reading and Writing based around the Early Writing Programme using sounds, phonics, rhyming and letter recognition. Children are encouraged to look at books independently and listen to stories. These stories will include The Very Hungry Caterpillar which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and Going Through The Jungle, alongside other stories that the children choose. We'll find fun ways to develop the children's fine motor skills, strengthening their fingers and encouraging them to mark make before learning to form letter shapes.

Activities will be both indoors and outside. This is all based on the child's individual stage of learning. Don't forget that your child can also learn by watching you, looking at books together and modelling writing at home.

Other learning areas include looking at our environment, animals, insects as well as different occupations such as doctors, vets and shop keepers. You may see us in the village going on nature walks exploring and observing the changes that occur in nature.

We plan to visit Exmoor Zoo to extend our learning and to see the many the different animals and look at their habitats.

Events - Thank you to all who supported our quiz night at The Globe last term. We raised a total of £227.00 which was fantastic and fun was had by all.

We have again been supported by parents, friends and the community in raising funds through the clothes recycling scheme 'Bags2School' and wish to thank all who contributed.

We are taking bookings for the Autumn Term and sessions are filling up fast. Call 07932 851052 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information. Sessions are shown in the Manor Hall Diary later in this issue.

From the staff, Sue, Karen, Lynne and Ellie

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A First Taste in Learning

Our Topic of Learning

We have had a busy Spring Term focusing on Maths: counting, recognising numbers and learning about the names and properties of shapes.

Our children created a shoe shop and enjoyed many hours in role play trying on shoes and buying them. Other activities included sorting and pairing up shoes, slippers and sandals and putting them into boxes. Our Pre-school elves kept a close eye on the children to ensure all the jobs were done well!

After singing many number songs, our shoe shop was converted into a bakery where the children made and sold current buns. These were also recreated in an actual cooking activity and the smell of cooking cakes filled the Manor Hall! The children also made their own pizzas, choosing their own topping and cutting them into slices.

With some help, the children created a display of a Shape Train. We put a different shape on each carriage and the children chose which shape they liked. Tickets were sold and many adventures started.

School Visits

We all enjoyed our school visits and had a lovely time learning about the weather and exploring all the different resources and activities. Thank you, Mrs. Wellings, and to all the children who looked after us and its lovely to see how well you have all settled at school.

Events

We celebrated World Book Day reading many rhyming books and stories. We also wore something red and took part in a Red Nose Day event raising a few pennies for this charity.

We should like to thank Be and Richard Gingell for their kind donation after another successful Soup & Pud Evening. This money is going towards much needed storage boxes for the children's toys.

We have booked our next Bags2School collection on Thursday,

2nd May. Bags will be available at Pre-school and in the Community Shop and Post office. They will take any unwanted clothes, bags, paired shoes, belts and bedding. Unfortunately, they will not take uniforms or duvets [filled items]. Please have a spring clean and start sorting out your wardrobes and drawers for any unwanted clothes and help us raise some money for our Pre-school. Bags can be dropped off at Pre-school in the week starting 29th April. Thank you for your support.

From the staff at the Pre-school
as well as Laura, Tina and Kirsty on the Committee

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A first taste in Learning

We should like to welcome all our families back to Pre-school and wish you all a Happy New Year. We hope you had an enjoyable Christmas break and are ready to start the new term. We should like to welcome all our new families and their children and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

We should also like to welcome Sophie, a new member of staff to our team.

Our topic of learning

This term we shall be focusing on Maths: counting, recognising numbers and learning about the names and properties of shapes. Our activities will be based around the story of The Elves and the Shoe Maker. We shall create a shop in our role play area to support counting and number recognition.

Other Maths concepts such as measuring, weights, positional language and shape names will be introduced. We'll also sing counting songs and rhymes.

If anyone has any shoe boxes they no longer need, we would appreciate them for our Shoe Shop and role play.

School Visits

We have been invited to Berrynarbor Primary School for regular short visits this term. This is an opportunity for the children, especially those who are due to start school next September, to visit the school and meet the teachers while still under our care and supervision.

We should like to say a big Thank You for your support at our Coffee, Cakes and Carols Morning. The Pre-school children sang so well and remembered most of the actions to the songs. We received some lovely feedback from parents, grandparents and from members of the community. A thank you also goes to the Primary School children who gave us a taste of their Christmas Show. We raised a total of £269.00 which is brilliant and will go towards equipment and resources for the children's learning.

From the staff at Berrynarbor Pre-school

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have been very busy settling in all our new children and forming new friendships with the children and their families.

The children have enjoyed this autumn term, learning about the changes in the season, seen how busy the farmers have been and also watched the School celebrate their Harvest Festival in the church.

To introduce our new topic, the children have been using their senses to explore taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch. We have been active in making pumpkin soup, bread and festive biscuits and have read many books and brought stories to life in role play, puppets and in our creative displays.

Due to the good autumn weather, we were able to take the children out and around the village, exploring the environment as well as see where we live, work and play. Outside, the children have swept up autumn leaves, collected seeds from our wild flower garden and helped plant bulbs in the planters in front of the Manor Hall with the Berry in Bloom team.

Finally, we are planning to celebrate Christmas with a Coffee, Cake and Carols morning. The children will be singing a few festive songs for their families and friends and we welcome members of the community to join us in our little celebration. This will take place in the Manor Hall on Friday, 14th December at 10.00 a.m. with the Toddler Group. There will be various activities, such as a raffle, getting creative and decorating a spiced biscuits, as well as having fun in a few party games. There are also rumours that Father Christmas might visit as well!

Our New Committee

We held our AGM on 1st October. Ben and Natalie Heath and Dian Norman have now stepped down from their positions, and we wish to thank them for all their voluntary work and contributions in supporting and running the Pre-School.

Kirsty Kritikos has taken on the role of Chairperson, Tina Barbeary as Treasurer and Laura Maughan as Secretary. We welcome them and look forward to working with them and the rest of the Committee to ensure that our unique and much-loved Pre-School continue to run and provide the happy child-care that the children enjoy so much.

Fundraising

Used ink cartridges We sent off all the use ink cartridges that have been brought to us and received a cheque for £19. Please continue to drop off your used ink cartridges and help us recycle and raise funds at the same time.

Bags2School In October we had our Bags2School collection and are very grateful to all who supported this clothes recycling fundraising event. We are pleased to announce that we raised £96 which will go towards new resources for the children

Quiz Our next fundraising event is our Pub Quiz which is very popular and great fun.

Thank you for all your support and we should like to wish you all a

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From the Pre-School Committee, Children and Staff

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A First Taste of Education

We have had a very busy start to our Autumn Term and we should like to welcome all our new families and their children to our Pre-school. We hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

Topics of learning

We are starting this term with a settling in period and learning about ourselves and our families. We shall explore our senses; taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch. We'll also learn our Pre-school rules; what we can and can't do as well as how to stay safe. We plan to work around some stories such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Blue Tractor, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, The Gruffalo and Going on a Bear Hunt to name but a few.

Outside we'll learn about the change of our season going from summer into autumn; looking at leaves changing colour and hoping to go on nature walks to explore our environment. We shall be building a Bug Hotel and collect seeds from our wild flowers that were sown in the spring and have given us a beautiful summer and autumn display. We hope to distribute these seeds to parents to plant in their gardens.

Finally, we hope to put on a small Christmas performance of songs and carols to celebrate Christmas.

Bag2School

We have booked our next Bag2School collection for Tuesday, 30th October. Bag2School bags will be available at Pre-school and there will be some in the Community Shop and Post Office. They take any unwanted clothes, bags, paired shoes and belts. Unfortunately, they will not take uniforms. So, start sorting out your wardrobes and draws for any unwanted clothes and help raise money for our preschool. Thank you

Used Ink Cartridges

We are still collecting used ink cartridges [exclusions apply so please see the box at Pre-school]. We are also registered to accept laser jet ink cartridges as well, so if anyone uses them in their work place, we should be grateful to recycle them and fundraise at the same time.

Please tell your friends and family about our two recycling schemes, helping to raise funds for our Pre-school.

Thank you for your support.

The Staff at Berrynarbor Pre-school - Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

a first taste in education

Topic of learning

We have had a very busy and exciting term. The children have been learning from books; listening to stories, recognising rhyme and using their imagination to bring books to life through role play, songs, music and dance.

For the first half of term the children learnt about their environment from sowing wild flower seeds from Kew Gardens in our garden to watching caterpillars turn into beautiful painted lady butterflies. The story we used was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Our wild flower garden now looks beautiful and the insects are beginning to visit.

The children also helped the Berry in Bloom team tidy up the flower pots in front of the Manor Hall and Pre-school in readiness for the summer flowers. We hope the team have done well in the recent RHS judging for the Britain in Bloom competition.

Books we have read include the Ilfracombe Academy Save our World books that feature Peter the Puffin, Simon the Seagull and Tilly the Turtle. These stories were made real when we went on our summer trip to Combe Martin beach and Museum taking part in a Seashore Safari when children explored rock pools and helped to tidy up the beach from unwanted plastic. We found lots of life within the rock pools which we need to protect.

 

To finish our term, we put on a Summer Show to celebrate our learning where the children recalled all the stories they had learnt. Other stories took us on an adventure to the other side of the world - Sailing to Galapagos. Here we found Giant Sea Turtles, Albatross, Iguanas and Laver Crabs. The children ended the show with a performance from the story of The Singing Mermaid.

This story is about a mermaid taken from the ocean and made to sing in a circus. She was promised many things but none of them came true. Eventually the mermaid was rescued by her circus and ocean friends. The children sang and danced to some tunes from The Greatest Showman. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house and the children performed brilliantly and shone like little stars!

Fundraising

Our fabulous Summer Show raised £165.00 and our Quiz Night at The Globe raised £215.00 which was great and fun was had by all.

We also received a donation of £15.00 from The Globe Skittles Teams and we received a kind donation of a new slide from the Gilson family for which we are all truly grateful. All money raised will go toward purchasing new resources for the Pre-school children.

A message from our Committee

We are looking for someone who would be willing to join our Committee. We have a vacancy for a Treasurer.

Each year, a new committee is agreed, and in the case of not being able to form one, it simply means that the Pre-school would have to close. It hasn't happened yet! But we have seen it happen to nearby pre-schools when the parents, and/or community members can't manage to get a committee together.

Therefore, we are seeking someone who would be committed to supporting the Pre-school in a voluntary role, to undertake a DBS check and generally support the running of Pre-school. Meetings are held once a half term and we get together to raise funds at different events.

Thank you for your support. We hope you all enjoy your summer break and we look forward to seeing you back in September for the new term.

From the staff at Berrynarbor Preschool

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL
a first taste in education

At Berrynarbor Pre-school we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. Presently we have spaces available and are now taking bookings for the next academic year.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please visit us or call us on 07932 851052, or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information. Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs and these are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government'publications/30-hours-free-childcare-elegibility.

Ofsted

Last term, as some of you may be aware, we had our Ofsted inspection. We're pleased to announce that we received a 'GOOD' rating which is a brilliant outcome as Ofsted continue to raise the bar making standards harder to reach. Our report can be found at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ and enter Berrynarbor Preschool.

Fundraising

Thank you for supporting our quiz night at the Globe last term. We raised a total of £397.00 which was fantastic. We are looking to host another quiz night soon as this was so popular, so look out for our posters for more details and encourage friends and family to join your team for a fun night out. Our Clothes recycling scheme Bags2school, raised £104.00 which was great and a big thank you goes out to the community for all their kind donations.

Topic of learning

This term we have been working on our Reading and Writing based around Early writing and the Read Write Inc. programme which is also taught at school. Children have been encouraged to sound out familiar letters and to form recognisable letters from their name or make patterns and to put meanings to these marks. This has all been based on the child's individual stage of learning. We have been finding different and fun ways to develop the children's fine motor skills, strengthening their fingers and encouraging them to draw. Activities have been both indoors and outside. We have also encouraged parents and family members to support their children in writing by watching them model the process of writing at home.

In the first half of term the children explored the days of the week, our seasons and observed the changes that occur in nature. This included the story of The very Hungry Caterpillar and we watched our own caterpillars turn into Painted Lady butterflies.

Next half term the children will be learning about our environment, travel and the seaside. We shall be reading books such as We're sailing to Galapagos and the Ilfracombe Academy SOS books about Simon the seagull and Peter the puffin who tell us the dangers of plastic on our beaches. We plan to visit Combe Martin beach and take part in a seashore safari and enjoy our beautiful beach and explore the rock pools.

Wish list

If anyone knows of a second-hand slide or knows someone who wishes to donate one, we should be very interested. Our slide has incurred some damage over the cold weather and we're not sure how much longer it will last. We should like to say thank you for our lovely new hula hoops that were donated and which the children have already enjoyed using.

Thank you for your support from the staff at Berrynarbor Pre-school.

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

At Berrynarbor Pre-school we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. Presently we have spaces available and are now taking bookings for the next academic year.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please visit us or call us on 07932 851052, or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information. Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs and these are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government'publications/30-hours-free-childcare-elegibility.

Topic of learning

For our topic of learning for this term, we have focused on Maths; counting, recognising numbers and learning about shapes. Our activities have been based around stories such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Julia Donaldson's A Squash and a Squeeze.

We have included many counting and rhyming songs. The children have also enjoyed other Maths concepts such as measuring each other, weighing out porridge oats, using positional language, and identifying and recognising numbers.

Our children have enjoyed visiting Berrynarbor Primary school; playing with the Reception Class children, exploring new resources such as the classroom's white board and meeting some of the teachers. We have also joined the Reception Class for sessions of Relax Kids where "the children leave a class feeling calm, confident and positive, with a new set of skills they can use to keep them happy and calm at school and at home".  

Quiz Night

A big thank you to all who supported our Quiz Night. It was lots of fun and a great way to raise funds for our setting. The grand total raised was £397. Thank you!

Clothes Recycling

Bag2School will be collecting from Pre-school on Thursday, 3rd May. Please collect a bag or bags from preschool then bring your filled bag or bags to the Preschool before the above date and help us have a really good collection! More bags are avaliable at preschool, so please tell your family and friends and have a good sort out of your wardrobs and draws and raise money at the same time for our preschool. In our last clothes collection we raised £100.00 which went towards children resources and activities.

Thank you for your support.

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Spring Term 2018

Welcome back to Pre-school and a Happy New Year to you all. We hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break and are ready to start the new term. We should like to welcome all our new families and their children and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

Christmas performance and a visit from Father Christmas

We were very proud of our children as they performed the Nativity. They sang Christmas songs and some even sang solo. We had a raffle fundraising event which raised £102.34. The children also enjoyed making many Christmas crafts that they could share with their families.

A special thank you to our local Santa - Tom - who arrived at our Toddler and Pre-school Christmas party with gifts for all the children. He played the part well and helped us to celebrate this special time.

Topic of Learning for this Term

Following the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and using the children's interests, our topic of learning this term is focused on Maths, counting, recognizing numbers and learning about the names and properties of shapes. Activities are based around stories such as Thomas the Tank Engine and The Three Bears.

We shall introduce many counting songs and rhymes as well as include other Maths concepts such as measuring, weighing, positional language, identifying and naming shapes and doing simple sums, adding and subtracting numbers.

School Visits

We have been visiting Berrynarbor Primary School on a Monday morning while the older school children have had swimming lessons.This has been an opportunity for our pre-school children to explore the school environment, all the resources and engage with the Reception Class children as well as meet the teachers.This has been received positively by all the children and their families and helps with school transitions.

Fundraising

Coming soon - a Bingo evening near you!All funds raised will go towards our Pre-school. Some great prizes to be won so get involved and have some fun!Look out for our poster for more details.

Spaces Available

We still have spaces available for children to start, so if you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please visit us or call us on 07932 851052 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Session Times

We are open from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs, and these are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years entitlement.We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility.

From all the Staff at Pre-school

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Our Open day

We held our open day on Saturday 16th September at the Pre-school.

It was very successful, meeting new families, allowing children to explore the setting and see all the different learning opportunities we have.It was an opportunity to meet the existing committee members and staff. We drew the winning tickets for our Grand Prize Draw which raised a total of £399.55

In October we had our Bag2School collection and are very grateful to all who supported this clothes recycling fundraising event. We raised £120.00 which will go towards new resources for the children.

New Committee

We held our AGM on Monday 2nd October. Tim and Leah Stedeford, Imogen and Jon Lisle, and David Skedgwell all stepped down from their positions and we thank them for all their voluntary time, work and contributions in supporting and running the Pre-school.

Fortunately, both Tim and Leah extended their position for a month to enable a new Chair and Treasure to step forward which has now been done.

As of Monday 6th November, Ben Heath was voted in and has taken on the role as Chairperson and Diana Norman as Treasurer. We have a new Secretary, Natalie Heath, and they look forward to working with the rest of the Committee to ensure our unique and much-loved Pre-school continues to run and provide the happy child-care that the children enjoy so much.

Autumn Term

Our autumn term has got off to a good start with children excited to learn, make new friends and share their play ideas. They have learnt our Pre-school rules; what we can and can't do as well as how to stay safe. The Topic of Fire Safety and Fire Officers has been very successful and enjoyed by all. This is alongside autumn walks though the village and celebrating harvest time with the School at the Church Service.

It was lovely to be invited to watch Mrs. Wellings' Reception Class's [Years 1 and 2] celebration of learning, Once Upon a Time, in the Hall and see how well previous Pre-school children have settled into primary school.

As this is being written, the Pre-school children are preparing for a short Christmas performance of the Nativity and being very creative making seasonal crafts, gifts and cards.

Fundraising evening

This year we shall be holding a fundraising evening at the Sandy Cove Hotel. This will take place on Thursday 14th December at 7.00 p.m., a Hog Roast and Casino Evening [vegetarian option will be available] with all proceeds going to Berrynarbor Preschool. Tickets are only £12 per head for great food and entertainment. Call Sandy Cove on [01271] 882243 to book now.

We still have spaces available for children to start, so if you would like to book a place for your child/children then please visit us or call us on 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs and these are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2-year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families.

Further information in regards to this funding can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility

 

So, from all the Committee, the children and staff, we wish you all

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

At Berrynarbor Pre-school, we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. Presently we have spaces available and are now taking bookings.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children then please visit us or call us on our Telephone No. 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday. We are flexible with sessions to meet your needs and these are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2 year old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility

This year's Committee AGM will be held on Monday 2nd October, at 7.00 p.m.in the Pre-school.

Without your input or support preschool cannot open or provide a service.

Autumn Term

Our autumn term has got off to a good start with children excited to learn, make new friends and share their play ideas.

Our Topics of Learning for this term have started with a settling in period, making new friends and learning about people who help us. We have discussed and learnt our Pre-school rules, what we can and can't do as well as how to stay safe. We have worked around stories such as Little Blue Tractor, Gruffalo, Fireman Sam and Octonauts.

We have observed the changes in our season from summer to autumn and have talked about animals that hibernate and how farmers look after their animals. We are hoping to explore our environment by going on nature walks around the village, continue to look after our garden and we have harvested our runner beans!

Later in the term we shall be practising those seasonal songs in readiness for a short performance to celebrate Christmas on Thursday, 7th December. 2.00 to 3.00 p.m. in the Manor Hall.

Clothes Recycling

Bag2School will be collecting from the Pre-school on Tuesday, 17th October. Please bring your filled bag [or bags!] to the Pre-school before this date and help us have a really good collection.More bags are available at Pre-school, so please tell your family and friends and have a good sort out of your wardrobes and drawers and raise money at the same time for our Pre-school.

In our last clothes collection, we raised £100 which went towards resources and activities for the children.

Used ink cartridges

We are still collecting used ink cartridges. Exclusions apply, so please see the box at preschool. We can get as much as £1 per ink cartridge!! So, if you have any used ink cartridges that are accepted, please place them in the box at Pre-school. We are also registered to accept LaserJet ink cartridges, so if you use them in your work place, we should be grateful to recycle them and fundraise at the same time.

Please tell your friends and family about our two recycling schemes, to raise funds for us.

Thank you from all the staff at Berrynarbor Preschool.

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A First Taste of Education

At Berrynarbor Pre-school, we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. Presently we have spaces available and are now taking bookings. If you would like to book a place for your child/children then please visit us or call us on our NEW telephone No. 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs:

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2 year-old funding and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours free childcare to eligible families. Further information in regards to this funding can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility.

This Last term we have fully enjoyed the sunny days and made full use of the new garden area. The beans grew well as did all our fruit shrubs. The visit from the RHS judges was positive and they asked questions about the children's learning, about our environment and the sustainability of the garden area. We hope that we helped the Berry in Bloom team achieve an award from the RHS Britain in Bloom competition.

We also enjoyed a lovely day trip to Quinces Honey Farm, reinforcing knowledge and learning more about the importance of having bees in our gardens.

Our topic of travel and transport was enjoyed by both the children and the adults. Many imaginary adventures were had by visiting China and seeing giant panda bears, to going down the Amazon River and eventually going to Russia by train and tram. We are ending the term aboard a pirate ship using our maps to search for treasure. Lots of work on letters and sounds, promoting letter recognition and writing was delivered in a fun and exciting way.

We hope you all have an enjoyable summer break and return fit and well ready for a busy autumn term, when we'll we welcoming all our new families and children to our Pre-school and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

We wish all our children leaving us all the best in their new schools.

A note from our committee

We are looking for anyone who would be willing to join our committee.

Each year, a new committee is agreed, and in the case of not being able to form one, it simply means the Pre-school has to close its doors. It hasn't happened yet! But we have seen it happen to nearby pre-schools when the parents, and/or community members can't manage to get a committee together.

Therefore, we are seeking people who would be committed to supporting the Pre-school in a voluntary role, to undertake a DBS check and generally support us.

We shall be holding an Open Day on Saturday 16th September 2017 at the Pre-school, next to the Manor Hall, 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. It is an opportunity to meet the existing committee members for an informal chat, meet the staff and see the Pre-school's facilities and how it supports the community.

It is important to understand how Berrynarbor Pre-school runs. We should certainly love to hear any fun ideas for fundraising for the Pre-school or you may have some handy contacts that could be interested in becoming a member.

We really hope that all parents can make this Open Day and anyone from the community and that the sun will be shinning so people can bring a picnic and enjoy a fun morning with us. We shall also be drawing the winners for our Grand Prize Draw.

This year's Committee AGM will be held on Monday 2nd October at 7.00 p.m. at the Pre-school. Without your input or support Pre-school cannot open or provide a service.

Clothes Recycling

We shall be fundraising this way again and will confirm the date as soon as Bag2School can arrange a collection date. Keep a look out for posters and start sorting out your wardrobes and drawers for any unwanted clothes.

We are still collecting used ink cartridges [exclusions apply so please see the box at Pre-school. We can get as much as £1 per ink cartridge! So, if you have any used ink cartridges that are accepted, please place them in the box at Pre-school. We are also registered to accept laser jet ink cartridges, so if you use them at your work place, we'd be grateful to recycle them and fundraise at the same time.

Please tell your friends and family about our two recycling schemes to raise funds for our Pre-school.

Thank you.

From all the Staff at Berrynarbor Pre-school,

Sue, Karen and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

A First Taste of Education

At Berrynarbor Pre-School we provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5. Presently we have spaces available and are now taking bookings for the next academic year.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please visit us or call us on our NEW telephone number, 07932 851052, or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs. For details please see the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted Registered and in receipt of the 2gether Scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We are offering 30 hours' free childcare to eligible families. Further information regarding this funding can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility.

Welcome Back to the Summer Term

We should like to say a very big thank you to Berry in Bloom who kindly paid for our garden to have a much need make-over, and Wendy, Alan, Andy, Greg, Barry, Geoff and Tony, who all kindly donated their time. It is now a safe area for the children to dig, grow their plants, as well as pick summer fruits - blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, as well as explore - looking for bugs and insects!

Irwin, our flower pot person, now sits in pride of place overseeing the garden and inspires the children to explore and watch nature. He was kindly donated to us by Greg Elstob.

Last term the children enjoyed the topic of Looking at the Changes in our Seasons. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk came to life with them making a giant display of Jack climbing the beanstalk and planting their own magic bean seeds, and WOW, didn't they grow! The team from Berry in Bloom were very impressed and wanted to know what our secret is - we don't know, you'll have to ask the children! These have been replanted in our new garden and we shall continue to watch them grow and hopefully have some beans to harvest later in the year.

The children learnt about the life cycle of the frog. We were lucky enough to have some frogspawn this year, allowing the children to monitor some of the changes and watch the tadpoles develop. These tadpoles were then put back into the pond to continue to grow into frogs.

The mural created by the children using the earth pigments unique to North Devon is now in place. The children are fascinated by the textures and colours and they use their imagination to explain the picture that they made in conjunction with our autumn term's topic Space.

To support the children's learning, this term we are looking at Going on Holiday, based around travel, transport, travel agents and going round the world visiting different countries. They will be encouraged to listen to new stories, create their own passports and go on many adventures as we explore the world.

This will also give us the opportunity to work on our letters and sounds. Children are encouraged to sound out familiar letters and sounds and begin to form recognisable letters or to make patterns and put meanings to the marks they make. This is all based on the child's individual stage of learning.

From all the Staff at Berrynarbor Pre-School.

Sue, Karen, Charlotte and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have all thoroughly enjoyed the topic on Space. The knowledge, interest and role play in this topic was very rewarding to see and stretched our own interest to find out more. The children brought in library books, stories, objects they had made and a volcano kit that they were happy to share with others.

We have talked about the sky at night and what we saw. The story of Little Moon was a great inspiration and the children were heard talking about Grumpy Neptune, Enormous Jupiter, Sleepy Venus, Old Mars and The Black Hole! Within all this, they enjoyed sorting, measuring, counting and have begun to recognize familiar numbers as well as using positional language and opposites.

Francesca Owen from eARTH studios, a local artist and parent of one of our children, came into Pre-school to support the children's learning. She specializes in earth pigments unique to North Devon and helped them make a mural to go outside. They used these pigments to explore new colours, different textures and used different resources to make marks, including hand prints, worked with sticks and brushes to build up a star, moon, space rocket for a space themed mural to go in our garden.

Outside play wasn't too badly affected despite all the building works going on around the Manor Hall. The children continued to enjoy the outside space and even did their own risk assessment. They were inspired to do some of their own building work as well, which was lovely to see.

You may have noticed [despite the scaffolding] that some of the bulbs and spring flowers that the children planted in the autumn are now coming on. So, with this in mind, and the children's interests, we are going to be looking at the changes in our seasons, grow seeds and include stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, The Enormous Turnip, The Gruffalo and more. We celebrated Pancake Day and World Book Day and shall be celebrating Spring, Mothering Sunday and Easter. We shall also focus on healthy eating and keeping fit and take part in the fun of Comic Relief.

With the kind support of Berry in Bloom, we hope to have our garden area improved and made safe again and to grow more vegetables and summer fruits.

We are well attended at present but do have some days/sessions free. If you would like to book a place for your child/children, then please visit us or call us on our NEW telephone number 07932 851052, or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information. We are open from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., Monday to Friday and are flexible with a range of session to meet your needs. Sessions are given in the Manor Hall Diary later in this Newsletter.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement, providing care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5.

All the Staff at Pre-school
Sue, Karen, Charlotte and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We should like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and welcome our families back to preschools for the Spring term.

Last term the children celebrated Christmas with a performance of Santa and His Work Shop. The children enjoyed singing Christmas songs and some even sang solo. They all did so well, singing beautifully and for some, this was their very first performance, so well done to all our children for their brilliant performance.

The children also enjoyed making many Christmas crafts that they could share with their families. We had a raffle fundraising event which raised just over £250.00. Thank you to the community and our families for their kind support and hope those who won enjoyed their prizes.

The Pre-school also shared their Christmas party with the Toddler Group, with lots of fun games, dancing and we had a surprise visit from Father Christmas.

Our other fundraising event was Bags2School, recycling old or unwanted clothes. This raised £100.00 and again this could not have been achieved without the community support. We hope to have another collection in late spring. Date to be confirmed, so lookout for our posters nearer the time.

This term the children will be focusing on Maths; counting, sorting, recognising numbers and measuring, and we have added Understanding the World to the topic. Using the children's interests of transport, rockets, transformers, space stations, planets and aliens, along with Buzz Lightyear, we shall introduce new stories, games and find information about our planet and our solar system.

Our Pre-school is well attended at present but we do have some days/sessions free.

If you would like to book a place for your child/children then please visit us or call us on our NEW telephone No 07932 851052 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for more information.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs - Pre-School Sessions:

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between ages of 2 and 5.

From all the Staff at Pre-school
Sue, Karen, Charlotte and Lynne

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

The children have enjoyed learning about the season, playing in the autumn leaves, going on a nature walk, carving pumpkins, making soup and pumpkin muffins. We also helped the ladies from Berry in Bloom and Best Kept Village to plant spring bulbs in the containers outside the Manor Hall. The children have already been watching them closely and anticipate their beautiful arrival in spring.

We held our AGM on the 3rd October. Geoff Barrett, Amber Graham, Jo Williams and Nicola Draper all stepped down from their positions and we wish to thank them for all their voluntary time, work and contribution in supporting and running the Pre-school.

Jenny Beer has also stepped down as Treasurer and we seek someone to fill the post. Unfortunately, without a Treasurer the Pre-school is not allowed to remain open. This role needs to be filled either by a parent or trusted member of the community, willing to donate just a few hours of their time to this voluntary position. None of us want the Pre-school to close, of course, so if you can spare a small amount of your time, please do get in touch.

Tim Stedeford has taken on the role of Chairperson and is looking forward to working with the rest of the new Committee to ensure our unique and much love Pre-school continues to run and provide the happy child-care the children enjoy so much.

The children are now preparing for Christmas and are looking forward to putting on a small performance of Christmas songs and music, as well as getting very creative making seasonal crafts, gifts and cards.

And so from all the staff, the children and the Committee, we should like to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year.

Our opening times are flexible from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. with a range of sessions to meet your needs. We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2together scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5.

Please visit us or call 07807 093644 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for further information.

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Welcome back to preschool. We hope you all had an enjoyable summer break and return fit and well for a busy autumn term. We should like to welcome all our new children and their families to our Pre-school and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

Our opening times are 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5.

Please visit us or call 07807 0903644 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for additional information.

Topics of learning
We are starting this term with a settling in period and learning about ourselves and our families. We shall be learning our pre-school rules, what we can and can't do as well as how to stay safe. We plan to work around stories such as The little Red Hen, The Gruffalo and Going on a Bear Hunt.

With parent support we hope to run a music work shop in readiness for a short performance towards the end of term to celebrate the Christmas season.

Outside we'll learn about the change of season going from summer into autumn; looking at leaves changing colour and going on nature walks to explore our environment as well as harvesting our runner beans, tomatoes and continuing to take care of our pumpkin.

A note from the committee - We are looking for anyone who would be willing to join our committee. Without a committee the Pre-school would not be able to run and we are therefore seeking people who would be committed to supporting the Pre-school in a voluntary role and to undertake a DBS check. Please ask a committee member or a member of staff for further information if you are interested.

Following the committee meeting on the 19th September, we'll be holding our AGM on Monday 3rd October 2016 in Pre-school at 7.30 p.m. when all parents or carers should attend to ensure the continued provision of the Pre-school and elect a new committee.

Without your input or support Pre-school cannot open or provide a service.

Events - Charlotte will be running a Macmillan Coffee Morning in the Manor Hall from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Friday 30th September 2016. This could be an opportunity to meet new families as well as raise money for a very worthy cause. Any donations of cakes or biscuits would also be appreciated.

Fundraising - Thank you to all who attended the Hog Roast at South Lee Farm in July. A great evening was had by all and the weather was good. £750.00 has been donated to Pre-school to purchase some new resources for our children. A big THANK YOU goes to all who helped and supported this annual event.

Clothes recycling - We shall be fundraising this way again and will confirm the date as soon as Bag2School can arrange a collection date. Keep your eyes open for posters and start sorting out your wardrobes and drawers for any unwanted clothes.

Used ink cartridges - We are collecting used ink cartridges -exclusions apply so please see the box at Pre-school. We can get as much as £1 per ink cartridge! So if you have any used ink cartridges that are accepted, please place them in the box at Pre-school. We are also registered to accept LaserJet ink cartridges, so if you use them in your work place, we should be grateful to recycle them and fundraise at the same time.

Please tell your friends and family about our two recycling schemes, to raising funds for preschool.

Thank you from all the staff at preschool.

Sue, Karen and Charlotte

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had another busy term with visits to the Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur park, the R.N.L.I and Coastguard. The children have learnt beach safety and how to stay safe in the sun. We went on a Big Toddle around the village and raised £121.50 for the Barnardo's charity. This year the weather was kind to us and we managed to get around the village without getting wet.The children enjoyed walking through the stream, visiting the horses in the field and playing 'Pooh' sticks at the stream.

Our older children have also experienced Primary School enjoying visits and Summer Club. We wish them all the very best for the future and to continue to enjoy learning, making new friends and having fun.

We enjoyed celebrating the Queen's Birthday with the village and thank you to all who helped us on this occasion. Lots of fun was had by all.

Clothes recycling: We're pleased to confirm that we raised £60.00 through all your clothes collection.Please continue to hold on to all unwanted clothes as we shall be organising another collection on our return to Pre-school in September.

Donations: B&M Bargain Store kindly donated a large gazebo that has been well used over the summer, keeping our children safe from the sun [and the rain].They also donated 2 children's benches and some artificial grass that is now in our outside classroom area. We should like to send them a BIG THANK you from all of us.

A note from our Committee

We are looking for anyone who would be willing to join our Committee. Without a Committee the Pre-school would not be able to run and we are therefore seeking people who would be committed to supporting the Pre-school in a voluntary role, to undertake a DBS check and give general support. Please ask a committee member or a member of staff for further information if you are interested. We have a Committee Meeting on Monday 19th September 2016 and our AGM is on Monday 3rd October 2016.

We return to Pre-school on Monday 5th September and we welcome all our new children and their families and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

Our opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday. We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs.

Preschool sessions	8.30am or 9.00am - 12.00 noon	(AM)
	12.00 noon - 3.00pm or 3.30pm or 4.00pm	(PM)
	8.30am or 9.00am -3.00pm or 3.30pm or 4.00pm	(ALL DAY)

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between ages of 2 and 5. Please visit us or call 07807 0903644 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for additional information

Meanwhile, enjoy your summer break, from the staff at Preschool

Sue, Karen and Charlotte

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Welcome back to the Summer Term trusting you all had a lovely Easter break. We should like to welcome all our new children and their families to our Pre-school and hope they enjoy their learning journey with us.

Topic of learning - This term we are working on our letters and sounds based around the Read Write Inc. program. Children are encouraged to sound out familiar letters and begin to form recognisable letter shapes or make patterns and to put meanings to the marks they make.To support the children's learning we are looking at People Who Help Us, such as doctors, vets, rescue services, music teachers and more. We are inviting parents to come in and share their professional experiences with the children.

We shall also be exploring the days of the week and our seasons, observing the changes that occur in nature.This will include the stories of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Jack and the Bean Stalk.

We plan to go on local walks and see all the lovely flowers that have been planted around our village as well as go on an organised summer trip to the Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park. This will enable the children to explore their environment, see a variety of insects, animals and of course see the dinosaurs!

Fundraising - We would like to say a big well done to all our children for taking part in our sponsored Sports Relief obstacle course.They all did extremely well challenging themselves in balance, co-ordination and fitness.We raised £163.00 and the money will be split evenly between the Sports Relief charity and ourselves.

With money previously raised through various fundraising events, we have now been able to purchase 2 Kindle Fires for Kids. This will improve our children's learning in technology and their IT skills.

The Queen's birthday celebration - We are working with the local community to organise a village party to celebrate the Queens 90th birthday. The date put forward is Saturday 11th June with activities and events to be confirmed.Look out for posters.

Clothes recycling - In our last collection of clothes, we raised £40, so thank you for your support. We shall be fundraising again and Bag2School will be collecting from Pre-school on Tuesday, 14th June 2016. Please bring your filled bag [or bags] to Pre-school no sooner than 9th June and help us have a really good collection.We can accept the following good quality items for re-use:

• Men's, Ladies' and Children's Clothing
• Paired Shoes [tied together or elastic band around]
• Hats, Scarves, Ties, Belts
• Handbags/bagsJewellery
• Lingerie and Soft Toys

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between the ages of 2 and 5.

Please visit us or call 07807 0903644 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for additional information.

From all the staff at preschool, thank you for your support.

Sue, Karen and Charlotte

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NEWS FROM BERRYARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We continued with our Maths theme based around the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears, focusing on counting, recognising numbers and beginning to categorise objects according to their properties such as shape and size. The children also made comparisons between quantities and used positional language such as behind, next to or on top.

We celebrated World book day (3rd March) with the children wearing dressing gowns and bringing in their favourite story books. We had lots of fun reading new and funny stories.

We visited a local farm and saw many spring lambs and should like to thank the family for their time in allowing us to visit them at one of their busiest times of year.

For Sports Relief the children participated in a sponsored mini obstacle race. All monies raised were divided equally between both Sports Relief and our Pre-school. We also raised money from a clothes recycling scheme collecting old and nearly new clothes through Bags2School. This was a good event and we wish to thank all who took part. We plan to collect again soon. Look out for our posters.

The Pre-school is open during term time and closed during school holidays and bank holidays.

Our Opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs:

Preschool sessions	8.30am or 9.00am - 12.00 noon	(AM)
	12.00 noon - 3.00pm or 3.30pm or 4.00pm	(PM)
	8.30am or 9.00am -3.00pm or 3.30pm or 4.00pm	(ALL DAY)

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years' Entitlement. We provide care and education for young children between the age of 2 and 5.

Please visit us or call 07807 0903644 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for additional information. Thank you again for all your support

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We should like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and welcome back our families to Pre-school's spring term. We hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break and are ready to start this new term.

Last term we celebrated Christmas with a short performance of Christmas songs. This for some of our children was their very first performance! We want to say Well Done to all our children for their brilliant performance. They all did so well, singing beautifully remembering their words, actions and playing musical instruments.

This was followed by a shared party with the Toddler Group and we had a surprise visit from Father Christmas.

We still have spaces available most days and we continue to have good links with Berrynarbor Primary School who now run a breakfast club from 8am - 8.30am. Pre-school children are then escorted over to Pre-school ready to start their day.

Our Opening times are 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are flexible and have a range of session times to meet your needs;

Please visit us or call 07807 0903644 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com for additional information.

Our topic of learning this term will be on counting, recognising numbers and learning about the names and properties of shapes. Activities will be based around stories such as 'The three little pigs' and 'The three bears'. Activities will include counting songs and rhymes, maths concepts such as measuring, positional language, shape names and identifying and recognising numbers.

Events

Thank you for your support in raising funds for our Pre-school at both the Indulgence Evening and at our Pre-school Christmas Show. We raised just over £250.00 and hope to purchase IT equipment to extend our children's learning in this area.

We also raised £17.00 from wearing our Christmas jumpers and this has been sent to Text Santa and all their good causes.

Thank you again for all your support.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We welcome back all our families after the half term break to another busy couple of weeks filled with learning, exploring and being creative. Our topics of learning for this half of term will be on bonfire night with an emphasis on keeping safe. We shall be exploring sounds both loud and quiet.

We shall look into the celebration of Diwali - the festival of light and incorporate some cooking activities using spices to tempt our sense of taste and smell.

This is also the term where we talk about Christmas; giving and receiving presents as well as listening to the Christmas story. We hope to put on a simple performance of songs to celebrate this occasion. This is also one of our busiest times with lots of crafts being made, exploring textures and colours.

Last half term the children enjoyed learning about themselves, our village, exploring their environment, going on walks and celebrating harvest time. They enjoyed creating their own story of The Enormous Turnip, all working together to get the job done!

 

We held our AGM on 2nd November. Geoff Barrett remains as Chairperson with Jenny Beer as Treasure and Amber Canham as our Safeguarding Officer.We should like to welcome Jo Williams and Nicola Draper who will be sharing the Secretary roll. A thank you goes to Sophie Heaton who has stepped down.

There have been a few changes to our setting:

• Rag bag: Unfortunately we are unable to take unwanted cloths and textiles as the Rag Bag Company can no longer pick up these items due to the growing cost of collection and the decline in the second hand clothing market. If anyone has any other fundraising ideas please can you let us know. Thank you.

• Ink cartridges: We are collecting unwanted ink cartridges (exclusions apply so please see the box at preschool).We can get as much as £1 per ink cartridge!! So if you have any used ink cartridges that are accepted please place them in the box at preschool. We are also registered to accept LaserJet ink cartridges as well, so if anyone uses them in their work place, we would be grateful to recycle them and fundraise at the same time.

• Opening times: 8.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

We are Ofsted registered and in receipt of the 2gether scheme and Early Years Entitlement. To find out more and session availability please phone 07807093644 or e-mail: preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We welcome back all our families to Pre-school and hope they all had an enjoyable summer break and return fit and well for a busy autumn term.

Pre-school would like to welcome Geoff Barrett as our new Chairperson, Jenny Beer as our Treasurer and a new member of staff Claire Haynes. Emma Lerwill has left the Pre-school after serving 7 years as Leader when she cared for in excess of over 100 children and we should like everyone to join us in sending her a fond farewell. I have temporally stepped in as Leader until a new lead has been appointed.

We have extended our opening hours to support working parents and their families and our new opening times are from 8.00 a.m.to 5.30 p.m., Monday to Friday.

 

We are Ofsted Registered and in receipt of the 2gether Scheme and Early Years Entitlement.

To find out more and session availability please phone 07807093644 or e-mail preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com

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Topics of learning

This term the children will be learning all about themselves, building new friendships and some having their first taste of education.

Outside we shall be looking at the changes in our season; harvesting our runner beans, looking at the leaves changing colour and hoping to go on nature walks to explore our environment and our village.

Later we shall celebrate harvest time and learning the importance of bees in our gardens. We also intend to explore our senses; our sense of smell, taste, sight and touch.

In October we shall be holding our AGM. Anyone wishing to meet new people, share their experiences and knowledge or even learn a new skill is more than welcome to join us in supporting our local Pre-school. [Date to be confirmed.]

Finally I should like to thank the Berrynarbor Parish Council for their kind donation enabling us to purchase a new shed for our outside resources.

Susanna Hands

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

The good news is that the Pre-school will be returning in September! We shall be starting again on Monday, 7th September and there are still spaces available for children of all ages in any of our sessions.

Pre-school sessions from Monday to Friday daily are: Morning Session, 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon, Afternoon Session:12.00 noon to 3.00 p.m.

Our Breakfast Club runs daily from 8.00 to 9.00 a.m. for children aged 2 to 11, and includes a breakfast. All children are walked over to the Primary School in time for morning registration.

For more details or to book a place, please ring me on 07807093644 and in the meantime we wish everyone a lovely summer holiday.

Emma

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Unfortunately, our recently appointed Chairperson and Treasurer have both had to reluctantly resign due to other commitments, so we are again looking to replace them.

A Chairperson and Treasurer are required by law and sadly if both are not found by Friday, 24th July, the Pre-school will have to close and so we shall not be returning in September. We should welcome anyone from the wider community - you do not have to have a child/grandchild in education. The posts do require a DBS check and they are voluntary roles with full training provided. Please think carefully as to whether you could help us in either of these roles.

Thank you to the ladies who raised £65 at the Spiritual Evening.

This month the children have been learning about different countries and have been sampling different cuisines. In France week they had moules! We have looked at France, Italy, India and Africa and the children not only get to sample different foods, they learn about different languages, cultures and ways of living and how where we live is very different.

Emma

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

The Christmas Show went really well and we raised over £100 for our outside project. We had a rather unusual nativity with Eliza [Frozen], Aurora [Sleeping Beauty] and the Little Mermaid as angels, and the Gruffalo as a Wiseman! It made the show all the more special and unique!

We have had a number of new starters this term and hope to do some fundraising in the near future - look out for posters of these events.

Our Breakfast Club for children aged 2 to 11 years runs from Monday to Friday, 8.00 to 9.00 a.m. at £2.50 per session per child to include a breakfast. All children are walked to school for morning registration. Please ring me on 07807093644 for further details. We are trying to increase numbers.

There is limited space for Pre-school left until July 2015 and we are already taking bookings for September 2015, both for pre-school sessions and Breakfast Club.

Are you aware that we have a Rag Bag Collection bin in the Manor Hall car park? This is a great fundraising opportunity for the Pre-school as well as helping other charities. Items need to be placed in tied bags and must not be wet. We collect any materials but nothing that has wadding, for example pillows, cushions, etc. You can also deposit shoes, soft toys, bags and belts. Any condition welcome.

Emma

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PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

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PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

The start of the new school year has been a lovely time for the Pre-school. We have welcomed many new children and their families and they are all settling in well. The beautiful weather has meant there have been lots of opportunities to play outside in our newly cleared outdoor space.

We are hoping to develop our outdoor space over the next couple of months with some astroturf and other resources for the children. We are also going to be decorating the pre-school room with a lick of paint and some new flooring and we are always looking for volunteers to help with these sorts of jobs!

On 13th October at 7.45 p.m., the Pre-school will be holding its Annual General Meeting, when a number of committee members will be stepping down. The positions of Treasurer and Chairperson will become vacant and we shall be looking for volunteers to fill these positions. There are also other general committee positions that will need to be filled. The Pre-school can only remain open if there are 5 committee members. We are therefore looking for members of the community, as well as parents, to help fill these positions. Volunteers do not need any educational experience, just a DBS [criminal record check] and enthusiasm for developing the Pre-school. Please drop in to the Penn-Curzon Room if you think this might be something you are interested in.

Pre-school now has a breakfast club that is open from 8.00 a.m. every morning that children between the ages of 2-11 can attend. There are also places available in sessions from Monday to Friday. The morning session runs from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and the afternoon session is from 12.00 noon to 3.00 p.m. Please feel free to visit us and have a look around if you would be interested in your child attending.

We should also like to say a very big 'THANK YOU' to those who organised and those who attended the Hog Roast over the summer. We are extremely grateful for your kind donation and will put it to good use!

Catherine Orr - Chair

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PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

It has been a very busy month at the Preschool. The children have been enjoying the sunny weather playing in the garden and have planted and grown some runner beans and strawberries. The 4 year olds [and very nearly 4 year olds] are getting ready to go to 'Big School' and have been enjoying some transition visits where they are able to have lunch, play in the playground with the older children and see the routines that they will experience in September.

On the 5th of July, Preschool celebrated its 30th Birthday - since it was registered with Ofsted as a Preschool - with games and a BBQ at the Manor Hall. The weather was unexpectedly good and the children enjoyed strawberries and cream, face painting, balloon modelling, biscuit decorating and splat the rat, along with many other activities. In total we raised £247 which will go towards an outdoor classroom for the children of the Preschool to enjoy for the next 30 years!

In October, Preschool will be holding its AGM where a number of committee members will be stepping down. The positions of Treasurer and Chairperson will become vacant and we shall be looking for volunteers to fill these positions. The Preschool can only remain open if there are 5 committee members. We are, therefore, looking for members of the community, as well as parents, to help fill these positions. Volunteers do not need any educational experience, just a DBS [criminal record] check, which the Preschool can help you complete. Please drop in to Preschool if you are able to help in any way and see what we are all up to.

Catherine Orr - Chair

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

The children have been learning about Spring. We have planted some bean seeds and are taking very good care of our strawberry patch and raspberry canes, which are all in flower. We created a wormery and a snail farm and visited a local farm during lambing. We were lucky to see lambs being born.

To continue our learning about spring, we should love to hatch some chicks. We are able to get the eggs and can rehome the chicks, we just need an automatic incubator to borrow. Can anyone help us please?

Recently we have been visited by a hamster named Darwin and two bearded dragons called Mango and Tinkerbell - all part of our learning about animals.

We are looking for new members to stand on our committee and a new chairperson from September/October and if anyone is interested in finding out more details to contact me on 07807093644. To stand on the committee will require undertaking a DBS check.

Emma

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PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

Spring greetings to all our friends and families! We are celebrating the season with a trip to a local farm to see the lambs and maybe even some new lambs being born! We are also holding a Spring Fair and Preschool open day on the 29th of March at the Manor Hall from 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. 

Preschool are starting to collect used ink cartridges for the 'Empties Please' company. This could be a great fundraiser for the preschool as we will receive £1 for every used ink cartridge we collect. If you have any that you would like to recycle then please put them in the recycling bins in preschool. We also continue to collect textiles for the 'Rag Bag' recycling scheme. 

Finally, we are taking enrolments for the new term. If you would like to come and visit the preschool or enrol your child please contact Emma on 07807093644 or email preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com

Catherine Orr

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PRE-SCHOOL NEWS

Happy new year to all our families and friends! We must say a huge thank you to all who attended the bingo night at the end of November. A massive £300 profit was made to be split between School and Pre-school. We are hoping to hold another bingo night just before Easter, look out for the posters and tell all your friends what a good time you had at the last one!

We continue to raise funds for our outdoor classroom project. We are holding a Jumble Sale on 1st March and are looking for donations of clothes, CDs, DVDs, soft toys, shoes, handbags, belts - basically all textiles, not including duvets! Also being collected are old mobile phones, used printer ink cartridges and any unwanted jewellery. Anything not sold on the day will be recycled through Ragbag [textiles], Music Magpie [CDs and DVDs], Empties Please [ink] and O2 [mobiles]. Donations will be gratefully received in the week before the 1st March.

Finally, Pre-school is delighted to announce that we are now open on a Friday afternoon! Opening hours are 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 8.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Natalie Stanbury - Chairperson [882252]

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Outdoor Classroom Fundraising

We have a programme of events planned for the rest of the year in order to raise money for our outdoor classroom.

In February we shall be holding a recycling month and will be collecting the following:

• CDs and DVDs [not promotional ones from newspapers]
• Old/foreign currency
• Used printer inks [any make - not toner]
• Jewellery [metal - we can take broken items including one of a pair of earrings]
• Clothes, shoes, handbags, belts, soft toys, towels, blankets, curtains, sheets [not duvets, pillows or sleeping bags]
• Old mobile phones

We'll hold a jumble sale to include everything good enough to sell. If you are donating any items to us for collection by Ragbag, please separate those you wish to be included in the jumble sale. Any items in the above list not sold at jumble will be recycled through the appropriate scheme and we'll receive cash for qualifying items!

There is a collection point at Pre-school for these items. Please drop them off during opening hours - please help us to build our outdoor classroom by donating as many items as you can

Over February half term we shall run a 'Matchbox Challenge'. This involves collecting as many items as possible and putting them into a large matchbox. This is free to enter with the donation of something on the list above! There will be a prize for the most items in a matchbox and the most unusual item. We'll supply a matchbox - you do the rest over February half term!

The Beetle Drive originally planned for Sunday 10^th November was postponed as it was Remembrance and lots of people had other commitments. It will be rescheduled for late January.

Many thanks

Natalie Stanbury, Chairperson 01271 882252

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We have had a positive start to the year with 18 children on roll - with numbers growing all the time. Our children have bounced back into the Autumn term following the summer holidays. Our topic this term is "All About Me" and we look forward to getting to know all our children a little better over the coming weeks.  You may also see staff and children taking a walk through the village so that we may explore our "home soil"!

Talking of staff, may I welcome Jackie Tucker to our team. Jackie is well qualified and brings with her experience from other settings. We are all looking forward to working with her.

We have extended our opening hours and can now offer the following session times:

• Monday and Tuesday 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Wednesday and Thursday 8.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Friday 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Our recent decision to extend our provision to include 2 year olds in addition to 3 and 4 year olds has remained popular for many families. Similarly extending some of our morning opening times to 8.30 a.m. has proved useful to many families. We have two fundraising events planned for this term - a winter coffee morning (pumpkin soup included!) and a bingo night in conjunction with Berrynarbor PTA. Please look out for information over the next few weeks. All proceeds from these events will be put towards our outdoor classroom fund (a much needed development following a tree removal in our garden).

Finally, for those of you with a Facebook account - we now have our very own page. Please 'like' us next time you use Facebook and you'll receive news of our events and all we do!

Many thanks for your continued support.

Emma, Sue, Karen and Jackie
Pre-school Mobile: 07807093644
preschoolberrynarbor@gmail.com

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NEWS FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Some of you may not be aware that Berrynarbor has a fantastic Pre-School. It is small and friendly, in a lovely setting in the centre of the village. We have recently improved the garden, laying wet-pour surfacing and adding a sensory garden, so the children can now play outside every day in a much nicer environment.

We are currently working towards improving the IT facilities - hoping to get another computer and more equipment for the children to use. We have lovely staff, all of whom the children love and both staff and children really enjoy their sessions with lots of fun!

The Pre-School can have a maximum of 14 children and due to the older risers going to Primary School, there are currently a number of free spaces. Session times are MONDAY - FRIDAY, 9.00 a.m. -12.30 p.m.

If you are interested in sending your child to Pre-School, please telephone Gemma on 0777 3278199, or pop in and see what we do!

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

On behalf of the Pre-School I should like to say a huge thank you to all the companies who made it possible for us to complete our garden project. We now have a lovely area with wetpour surfacing and the children have been enjoying growing their own vegetables, fruit, herbs and also learning about composting.

This was all thanks to the following companies who donated raffle prizes or helped financially: Napps Touring Holidays, Advanced Scaffolding, Pall Ilfracombe, Surestart, Tesco, John Fowlers, Black & White Chip Shop, Lambda, Combe Martin Wildlife Park, Berrynarbor Farmers' Market, Ilfracombe Tandoori Restaurant, Ilfracombe Aquarium, Watermouth Castle, Merlin Cinemas, St. John's Garden Centre, Keypitts, Homebase and B & Q.

I should also like to say a big thank you to Louise Richards whose outstanding efforts in her fundraising role makes all events huge successes. And not forgetting Emma our Pre-School Leader, who has completed her first successful year - her organisation and enthusiasm are second to none.

If anyone would like to know more about the Pre-School and availability of places, please contact Emma Lerwill on 07807 093644.

As the summer holidays have now begun we shall be holding activity fundraising days at the Manor Hall. Dates are yet to be confirmed but keep an eye open for the posters for more information.

Many thanks. Jenny Beer - Chairperson

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LETTER FROM BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

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• Thank You: We should like to say a big thank you to the Combe Martin Wurzels for their donation of £100 to replace the ride-on toy which was taken.
• Congratulations: A huge thank you to Emma and all her staff who were awarded a 'Good' in their recent Ofsted Inspection.
• Four Star Hygiene: We had a surprise visit from Environmental Health and Housing and achieved a hygiene rating of four stars!
• Dates for your Diary:
• Saturday, 5th April: Spring Fete, Manor Hall, 2.00 to 4.00 p.m. All welcome. Cake Stall, Easter Egg Hunt, Face Painting, Raffle, Children's Games, Tea and Coffee.
• Saturday, 24th May: Nearly New Stall, Manor Hall. Time to be confirmed. Everyone welcome. Clothes, Toys, Books, etc., Tea and Coffee.

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The Good News & The Bad News!

The Good: Thank you to everyone who helped us raise just over £300 at the children's Christmas Nativity Coffee Morning. It was a huge success and enjoyed by all. It was a delight to see all the young children performing and a big thank you must go to Emma and her staff for all their hard work.

The Bad: Unfortunately, during the Christmas holidays we have had two of our ride-on toys stolen from the shed. We have informed the police and the North Devon Journal but if anybody has any further information or can help us in either locating the people responsible or assist us in replacing the stolen items, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Jenny Beer [nee Bailey] - Chairperson

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We are proud to inform you of our recent OFSTED Inspection success, with many 'very good' comments from the Inspector.

Our numbers have increased dramatically in the past couple of years and many sessions are full. We should, therefore, like to offer a further session, possibly on a Thursday morning. We currently run on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning. For more details and a prospectus please call: Julia Fairchild or Charlotte Fryer. We are a charitable organisation and are currently raising money to make improvements to our garden play area. During the run-up to Christmas, we shall be carol singing around the village [you have been warned!], please give generously!

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We currently have vacancies in our sessions on Monday, Tuesday [additional day], Wednesday and Friday, 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., at the Manor Hall. We are a small, parent-managed group, able to offer each child individual attention from our qualified staff. There are indoor and outdoor play facilities.

For further information or to arrange a visit, please ring Katie on 862675 or Julia on 882783.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

3 - 5 Year Olds, Monday, Wednesday and Friday,
9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. £3.00 per session

There are places vacant after the Christmas school intake. We had an excellent Ofsted and there will be a new prospectus available very soon. Please try and support us if you have a pre-school child.

Parent and Toddler Group

We are delighted to inform you that the Toddler Group has started up again on Friday mornings, 9.30 a.m. to 12.00 noon 'drop in' session. Mums, dads, grannies, etc., are all welcome. £1.00 per child.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We are delighted to announce that as from the September term, we shall be welcoming our new Leader, Caroline Mobie, to the Group. Caroline has four children of her own and lives in Ilfracombe.

If you are interested in sending your child to our Pre-School, Caroline will be very happy to discuss her plans for the Group. She can be contacted through our Chairman, Alice Wilson [883333].

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

The Pre-school, held in the Penn Curzon Room at the Manor Hall has vacancies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sessions run from 9.15 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and cost £3.00. We take Government vouchers in payment for 4-year olds. Please call in on any of these sessions or telephone 883333 or 867465.

The pre-school also has a Toddler Group which is held every Friday in term time. This is from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon in the Manor Hall, and everyone is welcome. Just turn up or telephone Julia on 882783 for further details.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We should like to thank everyone who supported our recent Table Top and Jumble Sale by donating jumble, raffle prizes, booking tables and, of course, coming on the day. The event was a great success and we made £250 which will buy well-needed pre-school equipment. Please watch out for future fund raising events.

At present we still have vacancies at the Pre-school and Toddler Group. If anyone wishes to come along and visit, we are open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9.15 to 11.45 a.m., and the Toddler Group runs on Fridays between 9.30 and 11.30 a.m.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL PLAYGROUP

Tickets available from:

• The Pre-School
• The Post Offce or
• On the Door on the Night

The Pre-school currently has vacancies for 3-5 year olds. Please come and have a look! Our Supervisor, Lynn Draper, will be happy to answer your questions. Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 9.15 - 11.45 a.m.

The Summer Playscheme made a good start this year. Many thanks to the staff, parents who supported us and the Manor Hall Management Committee for all their help. We hope, with sufficient Interest and funding, to be able to provide this facility next year.

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

Once again a big thank you to everyone who has supported our recent fund-raising events.

Our next event will be a Sports Day involving all of the Pre-School children. It will be held on Friday, 20th June, from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and we shall be serving cream teas and other refreshments, and, of course, there will be a cake stall!

A reminder to parents that the 1997 Berrynarbor Summer Play Scheme will be operating from 28th July to 29th August. Each session will be from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and will cost £4.00 per session, or £3.50 if all 5 mornings are booked. All 3 to 10 year olds will be welcome. Anyone wishing for further information or to register their child, should contact the Pre-School or ring Karen on 883093 [evenings].

Berrynarbor Pre-School have vacancies for 3-5 year olds [under 3's must be accompanied]. Sessions are held Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, from 9.15 to 11.45 a.m. Our Parent and Toddler Group [for under 3's] is held on Friday mornings from 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. Anyone Interested is welcome to visit the sessions or call Karen [as above].

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BERRYNARBOR PRE-SCHOOL

We would like to thank all those people who have supported us in our recent fund-raising events. By the time the Newsletter goes out, we hope to have had a very successful Easter Coffee Morning with an Egg and Bonnet decorating competition.

Please look out for the many more future events that we have planned.

On Sunday, 13th April, from 12.00 noon to 3.00 p.m. we are holding a Table Top Sale in the Manor Hall. At £3.00 per table, it will be a great chance to sell any unwanted bric-a-brac or clothes, etc., that have been lying around for ages! We shall also have refreshments, a raffle and a cake stall. Any donations for the Pre-School table would be much appreciated.

We are planning a Summer Play Scheme during the school summer holidays, for 3 to 10 year olds. Each session will be from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and the price will be £4.00 per session, or £3.00 if all 5 mornings are booked. Payment should be made in advance for the week on Monday. We aim to offer a range of suitable games and activities to keep children amused during those long, summer mornings! Anyone interested should contact the Pre-School or Karen on 883093 or 862504.

We currently have vacancies for 3 to 5 year olds at the Pre-School. We are a member of the Nursery Education Voucher scheme newly introduced for April 1997. Anyone wishing to take up a place is welcome to come and take a look around at any time [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings] or ring Karen on the above numbers.