This term the nurseries will continue to cover the season winter some of the children will be visiting the Botanic Gardens, taking part in bird watching week, learning about animals and hibernation etc and hopefully enjoying  he changes in weather coming towards Spring. Each room will continue with their own topic of choice in addition to this. Your room seniors will provide you with more information on any outings planned over the weeks  head.

Please ensure your child has appropriate clothing labeled in nursery for this season we go out every day Rain, Hail or Sunshine as you know the weather here is very unpredictable so we need them to prepared!

Reminder

Can parents please update their records to our new email address which is [email protected] our old email address will not continue for much longer however I note that quite a number of people are still using this.

Fee Increase – April 2017

As you know Nippers strives to be the most price competitive nursery in our area however, the coming year will see significant increases in costs to our business with the living wage/national wage rise up 4% and pension  contributions affecting our costs. In order to ensure the nursery keeps delivering the same level of service to our customers we have no option but to increase our fees from April 2017.

The fees will increase by £2 per session taking them to £40 full day and £30 half day. If you receive any discounts for siblings these will still apply to your new rate. I am sure you will still find this to be very competitive in  terms of pricing. You will receive a new fee sheet in the next few weeks and we kindly ask you to ensure you change your standing order or voucher payments from April 2017.

Garden Development – Kirkliston & Dalmeny

Nippers shall see a total revamp of our nursery garden in Kirkliston over the coming few months. To start the process we will be laying Astro Turf in the main garden area and the baby play areas. This will happen between Wednesday 8th – Friday 10th February. We will then be installing a new classroom for outdoor learning and some new exciting play equipment.

In Dalmeny we will be installing a new outdoor classroom this should be finished by end February…there will be some exciting things for the children to do in this area and will allow them more time to spend outdoors.

The Parent Committee have kindly donated £500 towards the developments and I am sure you will all find it money well spent.

We hope you like our new developments!

Web Site – Parent Area

We have developed our new website further and introduced a new parent area on the page. Here you will find newsletters, news on general events or celebrations and we will also be introducing the room planners so you can see what the children are doing at nursery on a weekly basis. We will continue to add to this page anything that we think will be of interest to you.

Please log in and take a look your feed back would be very useful;

https://nippersnursery.com/parents

Parents area password is: n1ppers

Future Planning

As mentioned in my previous email it is really important to inform us of any up and coming changes you may need for your childcare to ensure we can accommodate those changes. It would be really helpful if you can advise if you are planning on dropping days due to maternity leave etc or if you are planning for your children to go to their preschool nursery. We are currently running an 18 month waiting list for Dalmeny and Kirkliston is filling up very fast with a waiting list for our baby room. Therefore it is vital that you let us know as far in advance as you can this however does not guarantee we can always accommodate the changes although we will do our best.

Staff Updates

Staff have been busy attending training over the last few months we would like to congratulate the following on completion of:

I would like to welcome the following members of staff:

Robyn King joins us as a practitioner in our Baby Room Kirkliston

Josh Rimmer joins us as a Modern Apprentice in our Junior Room Kirkliston

Natasha Cowin joins us as a practitioner in our Tweenie Room Kirkliston

Siobhan Graham will be joining as the end of February in our Baby Room Dalmeny

Lauren Clarkson is moving back to Dalmeny from Kirkliston

Amanda Barton is returning from a leave of absence and will cover in both nurseries when needed.

Wendy Mart our old assistant manager moved away to the South of England in September last year however, her family have not settled and are heading back to Scotland therefore she will be coming back in March to work for us here at Nippers. As yet we are uncertain what position and nursery she will be working in but will more than likely be coving for holidays and helping in our preschool in Dalmeny in the short term.

I have detailed below the room staff for your information. As normal we have made

changes necessary for the business, mix of experience and working hours:

Babies – Dalmeny

Andrea Munro (Senior Practitioner)
Rose Wright (Practitioner)
Nicole Oliver (Practitioner)
Siobhan Graham (Apprentice)
Ally Pearson (Apprentice)

Tweenies – Dalmeny

Ashleigh Fleming (Senior Practitioner)
Ashley Allan (Practitioner)
Melanie Baird (Practitioner)
Lauren Clarkson (Practitioner)

Amanda Barton – Will cover holidays/days off etc

Babies – Kirkliston

Caitlyn Gordon (Senior Practitioner)
Natalie Main (Practitioner)
Robyn King (Practitioner)
Chelsea McQueen (Apprentice)

Juniors – Kirkliston

Hannah Sneddon (Senior Practitioner)
Jessica Williams (Practitioner)
Frankie McAllistair (Practitioner)
Josh Rimmer (Apprentice)

Amanda Barton – Will cover holidays/days off etc
Wendy Mart – Will cover holidays and preschool rooms

Toddlers – Dalmeny

Lauren Houston (Senior Practitioner)
Julie Laidlaw (Practitioner)
Gemma Cherry (Practitioner)
Charlotte Gilchrist(Apprentice)

Juniors – Dalmeny

Fiona Venelle (Nursery Teacher)
Jade Roberts (Practitioner)
Andrea Heigh (Practitioner)
Chloe Irvine (Modern Apprentice)

Tweenies – Kirkliston

Charlie McQueen (Senior Practitioner)
Chantelle Clark (Practitioner)
Natasha Cowin (Practitioner)
Kimberly Miller (Apprentice)