Author: GCC

Eastwood Nursery School
Term 2 Newsletter 2021

St Andrews Day Celebration
St Andrews Day occurs on the 30th November and to help celebrate Scotland’s patron saint, the nursery will be making up a St Andrews Day hamper. For a chance to win the hamper, the nursery will be offering raffle tickets that can be purchased from the 15th November. Please ask a member of staff if you wish to purchase any of the raffle tickets.

Eastwood Nursery Dance-A-Thon
On Wednesday 1st December and Thursday 2nd December, the children and staff will be taking part in a sponsored dance-a-thon to help raise funds for our nursery Christmas parties. To get in the Christmas spirit, we ask on these days that the children wear some Christmas colours, a Christmas t-shirt, a Christmas jumper or any Christmas accessories.
All children will be given a sponsor sheet for families and friends to sponsor their dance-a-thon. We thank you in advance for your sponsorship. Due to Covid-19 protocols, families are still not allowed in the building therefore all Christmas activities including the dance-a-thon will be filmed and uploaded to Seesaw.

Christmas Dates for your Diary
Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd December - Christmas dance-a-thon
Tuesday 21st December - 3-5 Rainbow and Starlight rooms Christmas parties
Wednesday 22nd December - 2-3’s and 3-5 Sunshine room Christmas Parties
Wednesday 22nd December - Term time children finish and return back Wednesday 5th January
Friday 24th December - 50 week children finish and return back on Wednesday 5th January

Food Donation
Christmas is the time for giving and as part of a community we wish to give our local foodbank donations to help anyone in need for food this festival period. If you would like to help us with our donation, we would appreciate any tinned or dried foods, tea, instant coffee, jam, sugar, long life milk and toiletries such as deodorant , shaving foam, shampoo, shower gel etc.
Starting this week, we will gladly be accepting any donations for the food bank and these can be handed to the front office.

Winter Clothes Donation
Each winter, the nursery asks that if any families have any spare children’s winter type clothing that they no longer need, if they can donate it to the nursery.
This goes a long way in making sure the nursery has appropriate clothing available for any children who may need them during the winter months.

Soup Packs
The nursery will be putting together some soup packages that will include a variety of vegetables and soup recipes to help families make a good winter meal.
As soon as we have a date when these are available, we will let you all know.

What should I do if my child is sick?
If your child has sickness or diarrhoea they should be absent from nursery until at least 48 hours after their last bout.
If your child is on antibiotics please ensure you child has had this medicine for at least 48 hours before returning to nursery.
Although under 5’s no longer require to self isolate or be tested for Covid19 if contacted through track and trace however if your child develops any of the symptoms whilst at nursery you will be asked to collect your child and be asked to have them tested.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/coronavirus-in-children/
https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/does-my-child-need-a-covid-19-test#link1
Please call the nursery to let us know your child will be absent that day so we can let their keyworker know.
The nursery phone number is
0141 632 9773
If your child requires any medication whilst as nursery this must be prescribed and labelled by a doctor and forms completed before we can administer any medication this includes any nappy creams also.

Staff Update
Long time Eastwood Child Development Officer Allison from our 3-5 rooms has now officially retired. We know she was well loved and will be sadly missed by all the children, families and colleagues. We wish her all the best and hope she enjoys her retirement.
Our janitor, Brendan, will be leaving on the 19th November to start a new adventure in a primary school. We wish him all the best in his new role and hope he pops in to visit in the future.

Spare clothes
Can we ask that you please provide a few pairs of spare clothes to keep in your child’s nursery bag. This will help out if your child has any accidents, gets wet during outdoor or water play or needs a change for any other reason. We are extremely low on clothing which may require a phone call if your child needs changed.
What to include
Pants
Socks
Trousers
Tops

Outdoor Play
Can all parents be aware that all children will be accessing the outside area. It is important that all children have the essential outdoor clothes these are
Jacket
Gloves
Scarves
Hats
Wellie Boots.
Wetsuit
Outdoor plays supports a healthy and active lifestyle offering freedom and movement promoting a sense of wellbeing.
There has been research showing the huge benefits of children spending time outdoors.
The benefits are
Better brain development
Better bone and muscular Development
Better social and cognitive Development
Emotional wellbeing and less illness.

Nursery Uniforms
The nursery is currently offering polo tops and jumpers as part of our nursery’s uniform if any parents/carers are interested in purchasing. Both items are available in either red or blue and we have some samples available for anyone wanting to have a look at the sizing.
The price of a polo top will be £3 and the jumpers will be £5. Anyone wishing to purchase the uniform or have any questions can ask a member of management or a member of the office team.

Covid 19 Update
As we are all aware Covid 19 is very much still in the area and numbers are on the rise. To ensure the nursery can run as smoothly as possible we ask that all parents continue to wear face coverings (unless exempt) when dropping off and collecting your child and continue to social distance when in the nursery grounds.
Changes to service
Recently we have had to make some minor changes to the service and adjust children’s timings. This is something that may continue to happen during the next couple of months due to staff either contracting Covid19 or having to self isolate awaiting results of PCR tests before retuning to work.
We will try and prevent this as best as possible however could happen at short notice.
We would like to thank all our children and families for the continued support and together we can get through this,

Management Team

Angela McBride
Head of Nursery

Kirsty Brand
Depute Head of Nursery

Kerri Blair
Team Leader

Important Dates
December - Christmas and New Year
Thursday 23 December 2021 - Tuesday 4 January (Christmas holidays)
January - 2022
Nursery return on Wednesday 5 January 2022
February Mid-term break - 2022
Monday 14 February 2022
Tuesday 15 February 2022
Wednesday 16 February 2022 (In-service day)
April - Spring Holiday (Easter) - 2022
Monday 4th April—Tuesday 19th April
Good Friday 15 April 2022
Easter Monday 18 April 2022
Nursery returns on Tuesday 19 April 2022
May - 2022
Monday 2 May 2022 (May Holiday)
Thursday 5 May 2022 (In-Service day to coincide with Scottish Local Government Elections)
Friday 27 May 2022
June – 2022
Thursday, 2 June 2022
Friday, 3 June 2022 - Queen's jubilee.
Schools Close on Friday 24 June 2022
August - 2022
Monday 15 August 2022 (Return date for Teachers)
Wednesday 17th August 2022—Children return

Deferred Entry Pilot
I hope all our parents managed to complete the on-line registration for enrolment for school for their child.
Glasgow will be participating in Year Two of the Scottish Government’s deferred entry pilot programme.
What does this mean?
Parents had a choice to automatically defer their child starting school if they had a January or February birthday. The new programme for deferment means that if your child’s birthday falls on the first day of term in August 2022 to February 2023 you can automatically defer if you choose. If your child’s birthday falls between March to the fist day of term August an assessment would be carried out to see if this would be in the child’s best interests to defer. If you would like to discuss this further please contact the nursery and speak with Angela or member of the management team.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our children and families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at Eastwood Nursery, and remember have fun and keep safe.
You can follow the nursery on Twitter - @EastwoodNS_GCC or
Facebook - Closed group – Eastwood Nursery School GCC
Or check out our new website www.eastwood-nursery.glasgow.sch.uk
Or check out our new website www.eastwood-nursery.glasgow.sch.uk