Duchal Nursery

Half Term Newsletter

February 2025

Term Update

Instagram

Do you follow us on Instagram?

Here we capture the essence of daily life at Duchal, giving snapshots of what your children are getting up to each day.

Missed the stories before they expired? Don’t worry they are saved in our “highlights” for you to scroll through at your leisure at a time that suits you.

Weekly Activities

This term has seen us continue with our weekly trips to the “Forest” on Fridays, our wonderful Gardening Club - have you seen the snowdrops peaking through? We can’t wait to see all the spring bulbs bloom around us.

We have been having so much fun visiting the BIG sports hall at St Columba’s School. Not only does it give us a chance to let off steam running around a bIg hall, we are trying out new sports equipment, playing lots of games as well as learning independence putting on our own coats, shoes and socks. As well as the very important road safety on our journey to and fro.

Our daily rhyme and reflection time is giving the children time to discuss what the they have enjoyed that day and do a rhyme. This captures the child's voice in our floor book and is a wonderful form of reflection for both staff and children.

Follow on Instagram Here

Term Update

Bird Watch

Big Garden Birdwatch 2025 has given us a perfect chance to learn more about the bird species that visit our nursery and the surrounding park.

We’ve been on bird walks, made birds nests in the garden, fed the birds with our feeders so we could watch them from inside and try to identify our visitors.

Keep an eye out at home and when you are out and about, your children are sure to point them out!

Festivals

There have been festivals a plenty so far this term, with Burns Night, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day all giving us wonderful opportunities to try out new foods, learn about different cultures, and take time to think about those that we care about.

With Pancake Day and Easter fast approaching there will be even more fun activities after half term!

Join In with Us

Everyone loves it when parents come in to the nursery. We are arranging some stay and play sessions so please pop in one day and get involved with our nursery day. And remember you can join us for our Forest Fridays, Gardening Club and Mystery Reader sessions.

Wraparound Care and Nursery Hours

Our wraparound care is vital for many of our parents to enable them to manage their hectic daily lives, however for the children, they also get to enjoy some extra valuable time at their favourite nursery. The additional afternoon hours give the children a chance to try out some different activities in a relaxed environment. It is led by the children with the staff gauging what is best for them during this time towards the end of the day. However it is always fun, creative, and often messy.

It would be great if more children could join in the fun. If you haven’t tried it out yet why not book some sessions for your child after half term. Whether it be a weekly slot or an occasional date to suit you (just give us the specific date on the booking form) your child will be welcomed. The more children the more they get out of it - book them in with a friend and arrange a mums get together for an hour or so before picking up at 4 or 5pm??

BOOK WRAPAROUND HOURS HERE

DUCHAL AGM

it was lovely to see so many of you on our virtual AGM recently. This is a vital part of our business, Duchal is run as a charity and parent partnership and as such we need to hold this annual meeting to meet our constitutional requirements.

Holding it online allowed more parents to participate and this maybe the best way forward in the coming years, as we appreciate that is hard to get out for a short meeting of an evening with little ones bed time etc to deal with.

Please find attached the minutes of the meeting. For those of you that were unable to be with us please have a read to catch up on what was discussed.

PARENT PARTNERSHIP

As a Parent Partnership Duchal values the input of our parents. We are thankful to Pamela Ritchie and her team of parents who are helping with events, fundraising, socials as well as giving vital input to the nursery. If you would like to get involved please contact Pamela, she will be delighted to hear from you.

AGM MINUTES

Upcoming Dates fo

14th February 2025

Nursery closes for half term

24th February 2025

Music and Movement with Jo James

We are delighted to welcome Jo to Duchal for her monthly magical music and movement classes. Jo is a trained actress and singer having worked on stage, television and radio and ran the fabulous Musicland in Kilmacolm for the past 16 years

Nursery Re-Opens from 8am