NEWSLETTER – January 2010
Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year, and snow permitting, are ready for the new term.
In case you hadn’t heard, and to give us the chance to say it again, we are officially OUTSTANDING! That was the view of Ofsted who visited before Christmas (and all credit it Helen and the staff for showing us at our best – they turned up the day after the Christmas show!). The report they gave was absolutely exceptional and, to give you an idea of what they said, a couple of quotes: Children experience exemplary care and most rewarding education and Children have a wonderful time at playgroup and make excellent progress. They are settled, busy and eager to learn in interesting, welcoming surroundings and staff adeptly include and support each child.The full report is available on the Ofsted website. There is also a copy on the big notice board in the main hall at Playgroup (behind the Registration Tree).
Open Evening
We have got an open evening coming up on Thursday 11th February, 7.30pm until 9pm, which will give you a chance to see, without the children, what we do and some of the things that make us outstanding. Hopefully you will be able to make it.
Contact Details
A form has been sent out for you to ensure we have your up to date contact details, and an email address for you. It is very important that you keep us up to date with any changes in details if you move for example, as any funding applications (in the terms following their third birthday) may be affected. We also may not be able to contact you if the Playgroup is closed for any reason – including snow!
Snow
On that note, if we have any more snow, as we follow the school dates closely, if the school is shut, we are shut. The best way to find out is to keep an eye on the alerts on the Worcestershire County Council website, and look for Bredon Hancock Endowed First School. Hopefully it won’t happen again this winter…!?
Christmas Show
Thank you to everyone who came and supported the Christmas Show. I’m sure you’ll agree that the children were fantastic and hopefully a good time was had by everyone. Thanks to Helen and the staff for making it such an enjoyable afternoon and for transforming the village hall, to the parents who donated cake and also to the Committee and the Friends of Playgroup for manning stalls and serving up refreshments.
Have you heard about easyfundraising yet? It’s the easiest way to help raise money for Bredon Playgroup - Tewkesbury. If you already shop online with retailers such as Amazon, Next, Argos, John Lewis, Comet, iTunes, eBay or HMV, then we need you to sign up for free to raise money while you shop!
So how does it work? You shop directly with the retailer as you would
normally, but if you sign up to
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/bredonpg; for free and use the links
on the easyfundraising site to take you to the retailer, then a percentage
of whatever you spend comes directly to us at no extra cost to yourself. So
if you spend £100 with M&S online, we get £5 cashback from your
purchase; £100 spent with Amazon raises £2.50 for us, £100
with WH Smith puts £2.00 in our pocket, and so on. easyfundraising have
over 2,000 retailers on their site, and some of the donations can be as much
as 15% of your purchase.
This
service is FREE to use, and what’s more, joining
easyfundraising will give you access to hundreds of exclusive
discounts and voucher codes, so not only will you be helping us,
you’ll be saving money yourself.
•
FREE TO JOIN & DONATIONS MADE AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU
• BUY
DIRECT FROM OVER 2,000 BRAND NAME RETAILERS
• 100s
OF EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS AND VOUCHER CODES
We've raised
over £35
with easyfundraising so far but we need your help to keep
donations coming in. Sign up at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/bredonpg
and
start
making a difference...simply by shopping.
That's what they have to say about themselves, so please can you help us help your children. Donations don’t sound like much, but every penny really does count!
Childcare Vouchers
We have now registered for the Government Childcare vouchers, which allow employees with children in registered childcare (which we are) to pay an amount from their gross salary, therefore saving tax and National Insurance contributions on that amount. We are registered with Computershare Voucher Services (formerly Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers). Different companies operate different schemes, but the schemes can be used to pay fees through Computershare. You will need to quote Carer Reference Number 0013486927. If you require any further information, contact our treasurer, or look on the Computershare website.
Friends
Now some of our number have moved to big school, we’re looking for some more ‘friends’ of playgroup. The friends help out with fundraising events, suggest events, provide a social committee, and anything else you feel needs doing. If you’re interested, let Helen or Tracey know and they’ll pass your details on, or send an email to bredonplaygroupATgooglemail.com; (Replace AT with the @ symbol). It's a fun way to get involved, without having to commit too much time. Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t need your support for fundraising activities run at Playgroup as well!!!
Reminders
Could we take this opportunity to do the usual reminders:
- that everything you send to Playgroup needs to be labelled (shoes, wellies, t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags etc). It really does help the staff to send the children home with what they came with!
- please send your child with a piece of fruit or such like that can be cut and shared out amongst the children at snack time.
- if your child contracts a tummy bug, we are required not to re-admit them to Playgroup for 48 hours <i>AFTER</i> the symptoms have ceased, to help prevent onward transmission.
Diary Dates
The spring term runs until Thursday 1 st April, returning for the summer on 19th April. Half Term is 15-19th February.
Open evening is 11th February at 7.30pm.
Sorry this is such a long newsletter but we thought it was important to let you know about the fantastic Ofsted result! Hopefully this format will make it easier to read on the email, I’m working on a better one.
Thanks for your continued support!
Lindsey
(Chair)