Auntie Donna: Pre-school Lead

(01268) 768 100/07483414489

Rainbow-preschool-wickford@outlook.com

Welcome back to Summer Term at Rainbow, a special mention to all the new children and families joining us, we hope your children have all settled in well and we look forward to working with our new and current families to make sure your children are ready for school.

We have already been busy celebrating St Georges Day and have VE day to celebrate this week along with many other celebrations.

The weather is very changeable, so could we please ask all families to supply labelled summer hats, suncream, raincoats and wellies. Can we also ask that all items of clothing are CLEARLY LABELED with your child’s name, as we don’t remember what 30 children come in wearing each day. Can I also ask that children wear trainers and not crocs or open-toed sandals as they will be using climbing equipment, and we don’t want your child to have an accident because their shoes fell off or got caught in our equipment.

Lunch Club - Please remember due to our children with extreme allergies, we do not allow any sweets, chocolate, chocolate covered biscuits or cakes, Bakewell tarts, chocolate pancakes, anything containing nuts. If you are packing grapes, baby tomatoes or cocktail sausages, they should be cut lengthwise into quarters as they present a choking hazard if left whole.

If any of the food mentioned above is in your child’s lunch box, it will be returned with a letter detailing our lunch policy. Also please provide a packed lunch box and not a plastic bag as this is not child friendly. To keep your child’s packed lunch fresh, could we please ask for you to add an ice pack as we do not have refrigeration facilities for the children’s lunch boxes.

Your assistance in keeping all our children safe is greatly appreciated.

This term we will be celebrating VE Day, Father’s Day, Sports Day and our school leavers will be attending their year-end celebrations, along with some other special events we have planned.

As the pre-school is a registered charity we rely on fundraising to help give your children a great experience and provide them with excellent resources and equipment.

Weather 

The Weather has been very changeable, could we please ask that all childern bring a named/ labelled warm/waterproof coat, wellies (to leave here), hats, scarves, gloves and spare clothes, even if the day starts off sunny and warm. We aim to play outside in all weather and hope to arrange visits to the park. 

Do you work for a large corporate company?

Mum’s, Dad’s and Grandparents, if you work for a large company there is a good chance your firm offers matched
funding/giving. This is a huge fundraising opportunity for us with minimum effort from you.

Please let us know if your company offers this. We can provide email templates, letters and any support needed.

Another way to help with fundraising is by downloading the app called Easyfundraising.

You can use the app for on line everyday shopping and in doing so will give free donations to Rainbow!

The app has lots of different shops from your weekly shop at Asda to booking holidays, Ebay and John Lewis.

When downloading, make sure you choose the correct Pre-School search for Rainbow Pre-School - Wickford

Wet Play July 

If the weather is warm, can we please ask that children bring their swimwear and a towel for these weeks. Obviously, please name everything. To keep the children safe and protected, all in one body suits or t-shirt and short sets would be preferred rather than bikinis and trunks.
We will be trying to keep cool with a few water games.

AGM/Open Evening
Monday 13th July 7.00pm

This event is a great opportunity to come and talk to your little one’s Aunties and have a look through their lovely folders.

The Aunties and Parent Committee come together on this evening to briefly tell you about the fundraising that has taken place throughout the year and welcome a new Parent Committee.

Unfortunately, we cannot let children attend this event.

https://startingreception.co.uk/toothbrushing/#why-matter

https://startingreception.co.uk/

https://startingreception.co.uk/potty-training/#introduction

Father’s Day Gift – We will be taking orders for Father’s Day gifts during the week of the cake sale.

More details on what the children
are making to follow, please look out for the poster that will be up on the doors and facebook soon.

The Annual Summer Fete is Back! 

Saturday 11th July from 11am-2pm

There will be bouncy castles, BBQ, Raffle, face painter, cakes, games and stalls as well as lots more! This is a great few hours out and always lots of fun.

For the Summer Fete we would be very grateful for donations of unopened and unwanted gifts, toys, books and teddy bears. A box will be put outside the preschool closer to the event to collect any items you are able to donate.

Rainbow's Committee

As you may be aware the pre-school has a Parent Committee who volunteer their time to organise various fundraising events and activities throughout the year alongside the Aunties.

We want to stress the importance of the Committee an introduce you to the Chair, Treasurer and Secretary.

The committtee are responsible for the management of the pre-school and all associated liabilities. All decisions on the operations of the setting are the responsibility of the committee. The committee can delegate the implementation of some decisions to staff, but will still retain their responsibiilty.

As a constituted (committee run) setting which is registeredwith the Charity Commision, we have charitable status and must abide by Charity Law and our Constiution. Our Consitution is the set of rules by which we operate as a charity. The Constitution must be re-adopted annually at the Annual General Meeting.

Should the Committee not contain enough parent volunteers, then the pre-school would close. The Committee has to have a Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and at least 2 other members.

Bethanie Henderson is the Chair
Briony Shaw is the Treasurer
Claire Henderson is the Secretary

If you would like to become a member of the committee, or
take on one of the roles mentioned above, please let the
current Chair (Bethanie) or Secretary (Claire) know.

As the pre-school is a registered charity we rely on fundraising to help give your children a great experience and provide them with excellent resources and equipment.

URGENT REQUEST

Are you good at planning events?

Do you want to have a say in your child’s education?

From September we will be looking for a new committee! We need a Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer as well as any other parents/grandparents/aunties/uncles etc. who are availible to help with fundraisers through out the year!

If you think this is for you, please let one of the Aunties or Admin team know. Without a committee the Pre-school will have to close!

Dates for your Diary 

Pre School Leavers T-shirts

If you would like to purchase a pre-school leavers t-shirt, please speak to one of the Aunties or send an email to the admin team. They are £10 Each (cash only).

Pre-school Leavers Photos

Monday 11th May and Thursday 14th May
Mornings only.

We have a photographer coming into the pre-school during the morning sessions to take graduation pictures and group photos of our children leaving to go to school in September.

You will have the opportunity to buy these photos through the photographer.

Sports Day 12th, 15th &16th June 

We are hoping to hold three sports days, weather permitting.

These will be held at approx 9.30am for about twenty minutes in the garden.

If we could ask parents/carers to start lining up by the garden entrance from 9.15am, a member of staff will let you into garden. Can we ask that all parents arrive by 9.20am so we can lock the gate to keep all children safe.

We ask that all parents/carers stand in the middle of the garden as we will set up four events along the four edges of our garden area, finishing on the tarmac area.

For children that do not attend either of these days, they are welcome to come join just for the Sports Day on either of these days, please speak to Auntie Donna to arrange which day you can attend.

Leaver’s Presentation
Friday 17th July

For all the children who will be leaving us to start school in September, we will be holding a leavers’ presentation on the last day of term.
Children will be invited to a leavers’ party during the morning session from 9.30am till 11.30am and families will be invited back at around 11am to watch the presentation of folders.

A BIG THANK YOU

We have raised over £800 in our sponsored walk, a big thank you to all our children and families for participating and raising enough money for us to buy our outdoor equipment.

If you or you know of someone that can help me build the outdoor classroom and reading shed, I would appreciate any help I can get, please let me know if and when you are available to help.

Please see enclosed 50 things to do before your 5.
Help your children ion their development.

Skills 

As the preschool is a charity we are very careful in how funds are spent, most of our funds are spent on new items for the children.

Our current wish list of items for the preschool are as follows:

• New/new to us oven to allow children to do more cooking and baking activities.

If anyone can help please let the committee/aunties know, we are grateful for any help offered.

If you have any other skills that would be beneficial, please let us know.

Help keep your child safe online 

• http://internetmatters.org/
• Online safety guide 0-5 year olds - Internet Matters

https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/screen-time-under-5s/