Welcome Welcome to Macclesfield’s Spring Newsletter! I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Marley, Aira, Henry, Daniel, Hope, Isabella, Robyn, Jessica, Eira, Bromiley and their families to our Footprints Family. I hope you are settling in well and making lots of new friends.

Spring 2020

Dates for the Diary We have some exciting activities planning for the Spring Term: 6th March – World Book Day Children are invited to come along dressed as a character from their favourite book. 18th March – Mother’s Day Stay and Play (Babies and Toddlers) All Mothers, Grandma’s and Aunties are invited to afternoon tea with the little ones. Sandwiches, tea and cakes will be provided. 19th March – Mother’s Day Stay and Play (Tots and Pre-school) Again all Mothers, Grandmas and aunties are invited to afternoon tea in the room with the children. 31st March – Parents’ Evening (6:00pm – 8:00pm)

Congratulations Zoe! I am thrilled to announce that Zoe our Deputy Nursery Manager gave birth to a beautiful baby Girl Betty-Lou in December. Both Mum and baby are doing well.

We’re twice as Outstanding! As I am sure most of you are aware on the 1st November 2019 Ofsted inspected Footprints and awarded us as an Outstanding nursery for the second time. I have attached our report below for you to read if you have not yet had the chance to do so.

Here are a few of our favourite quotes from Sue Smith HMI: “Staff know families well and relationships between children, staff and parents are a key factor in the success of this exceptionally caring nursery.” “Children are extremely happy, confident and independent in social situations. For instance, at mealtimes, they choose what they would like to eat from written menus. They use knives and forks adeptly and pour their own drinks.“ “Across the nursery, staff consistently engage in high-quality interactions with children. This supports children to maintain high levels of focus and attention .For example, during nappy changing routines, staff sing to babies and wait for them to join with familiar words. As staff play a guitar at singing time, younger children wiggle and shake musical instruments excitedly in response” Click the Ofsted logo or follow the link: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50130071

Spring 2020

LearningBook App LearningBook have now released their Android Parent App alongside their Parent Portal and IOS App. You can now download the dedicated, feature-rich app to help engage with your child's learning journey whilst they're at Footprints. With the app you can add photos, comment on observations and receive push notification to get instant updates! Download the IOS App for IPhones here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mylearningbook/id1464698442 Download the Android App here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.learningbook.mylearningbook

Food for thought… We saw this interesting fact and wanted to share it with parents as we felt it really helped to highlight the importance of singing to the children each day as many times as possible.

Nappies Over the last term we have spent some time reviewing our Nappy changing/Toileting policy after it came to light that the most popular choice of nappies has changed. As part of our settling in periods for new children parents inform us of their babies or child’s routine and their home choices. Many parents have informed us they are using different nappies to what we use here, so we have decided to carry out a little test and buy in a range of nappies to trial them. This will be a trial period and you will be kept up to date by management before any permanent changes are made.

Spring 2020

Staffing Update I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Martha Rose who became our Deputy Manager in December. Martha has been a room manager in our baby room since January 2018 and now looks forward to working closely with all our families. Steph our Toddler room manager left to go on Maternity leave last month and I am pleased to announce that her and her husband welcomed a beautifully baby girl to the world earlier this week. Both Mum and baby are home and doing well. Rachel has now taken over the role of room manager in the toddler room. Rachel began her Footprints journey as a student back in 2010, has and has worked at both nurseries. Rachel is an outstanding member of the team and I’m confident she will bring many fun and exciting new ideas to her room. I would like to welcome Molly and Charlotte to our cover team. Their job entails covering staff holidays, paperwork time and training time across both nurseries.

Meet the Team Babies

Martha Chris Viktoria Julie Sofia Charlotte (Mat. leave)

Toddlers

Rachel Lauren Miranda Natasha Beth

Aimee Steph (Mat. leave)

Spring 2020

Tots

Kelly Elisha Chelsea Pre-school

Ellie Cengiz Suzie Bea Rebecca Nikki (Mat. leave) Cover staff

Hannah Molly Charlotte Jodie Mid-day assistants

Lucy Caroline Administration

Lindsay Julie

Management

Claire Hayley Martha Zoe (Mat. leave)

Spring 2020

Spring 2020

Safeguarding update As mentioned in the Autumn newsletter each Early Years Setting must have a Designated Safeguarding Lead also known as the “DSL”, this is usually the Nursery Manager. It is my role to safeguard all children, parents and staff that attend Footprints whilst recognising the needs of all children, including rescue from possible abuse or neglect. To ensure this is done to the best of my ability I would like to make you aware that myself, Hayley Smith, is the named DSL and Martha Rose is the deputy DSL - who stands in when I am not present in the nursery. Footprints has an inclusive “Open Door” policy and I urge anyone that would like to talk through any safeguarding concerns to do so immediately. We have a large range of resources that we can offer and sign post you towards if you should need any support at all.

Hayley Smith Martha Rose DSL Deputy DSL

As ever your feedback will be gratefully received. Please complete this slip below and hand it in at nursery or email me at Hayley.Smith@footprintsnurseries.co.uk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, I look forward to working with you throughout the next term.