Newsletters
Newsletter Archive
Below you are able to select and download Newsletters from the past academic year.
Interim Newsletter: March 2022
Interim Newsletter: November 2021
Interim Newsletter: March 2021
Dear parents/carers,
We would like to draw your attention to a few updates, reminders and dates for your diaries:
Forest School
We are extremely excited to be visiting the forest school at Summerlea School on Wednesday 22nd June with our older children. Unfortunately, we cannot extend this visit to our younger children but we hope to repeat it next year and they will then have their chance to attend. Thank you for returning your permission letters.
Parent Consultations
Parent consultation evening is on Wednesday 22nd June in the Rascals Hall. This provides us with an opportunity to discuss our plans for the following term for those who are staying with us and the children who are leaving to talk about any concerns you may have regarding your child starting school in September.
We realise you may not be able to make the appointment time given to you and if this is the case please do get in touch with us via email so that we can try to change it to a more suitable time for you. If you are away or know that you won't be able to make it that evening please also let us know so that we can arrange to see you another day. If something crops up last minute that day, please either text or email us to let us know you won’t be able to make it.
Stay and Play Sessions
It was lovely to see many parents join us on Monday for our Stay and Play Queen’s Jubilee Celebration. We are planning on opening our doors again on Tuesday 21st June and Thursday 7th July for the first 45 minutes for anyone who would like to stay. There is no obligation as we realise lots of you have to rush off to work but for those of you who would like to stay and play with your child/ren for a little while you would be very welcome. Younger siblings are welcome but they would remain your responsibility at all times. We would also ask that it is just one adult per child please in view of space.
For obvious safety reasons, PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE THE PREMISES WITHOUT A MEMBER OF STAFF LOCKING THE DOOR BEHIND YOU. Could we also ask that if your child needs the toilet whilst you are visiting please ask a member of staff to accompany you and your child as other children may be using the toilets at the same time and we need to ensure we safeguard you and the children.
Thank You
We would like to extend another big thank you to you all for your generosity with regards to our sponsored bounce. We spent a great deal of time during half term working in our garden to refresh and repair it. We have now removed the old broken mud pit cover and resurfaced this area to create a messy area with a Mud kitchen. We have attached guttering to our fence so the children can rolls balls, cars or pour water down them whenever they wish to. We repaired the decking area and the roof and we also uplifted and re-laid all the soft surface tiles to ensure a tight fit again. The children were super impressed with our work on Monday when they saw it which makes it all worth while and they have really enjoyed their new area this week. So thank you to you all for making this possible.
Staff Update
We are extremely sad to tell you that Claire B will be leaving us at the end of this term or slightly sooner depending on her situation nearer the time. Lots of you will know that Claire B has been with us for about 10 years now and is an integral part of Rascals. She has worked with and supported so many families during her time with us and is such a positive role model to all our children, staff and families. We are not quite sure how we will cope without her but she has promised she will pop back and visit which is great news! She has decided that having worked in childcare for many years, her time has come to try her hand at something new and we wish her all the very best in her new adventures.
We are also sad to say that Reverend Bob will be leaving us at the end of term too after about 9 years in Rustington. He has always been a big supporter of Rascals but has decided to retire and spend more time with his family. Our new Minister, Rosemary, will be joining us in September and we are all looking forward to meeting her.
Arrangements for the Last day of Term
Our last day of term will be and we are preparing to celebrate this day with the children with some party snacks, our bouncy castle and a fun disco. At the end of the morning we will have our Summer and School Leavers Celebration which will take place at 12pm in the Church. This celebration will include the presentation of medals, learning journals and a little treat for each child. This service will be a farewell to our School Leavers but also a sad goodbye to Reverend Bob and Claire B, which is sure to be very emotional!
Full details will be sent out to you soon.
School Transitions
The summer term is both an emotional and exciting time as we prepare to say goodbye to those children leaving for school. If your child is due to start school this September please be assured that we are already in the process of arranging transition meetings with the schools. Relevant information about specific transition arrangements and / or teacher visits will be communicated with you as soon as we receive it. In the meantime if you have any questions or concerns please speak to a member of staff.
Clothing & Sun Cream
We are looking forward to continuing to spend as much time as possible outside this term. As the weather continues to warm up we would ask that you start applying sun lotion to your children before they come to playgroup in the mornings. As you can imagine we simply don’t have enough hands or time to apply lotion to every child so we would really appreciate your support. It is also a good idea to bring in some sun lotion CLEARLY NAMED. This can be stored and reapplied by staff through the day when appropriate such as if your child has been playing in the water and we feel we need to re-apply some more lotion we can do.
It is important that your child wears suitable clothing and footwear for the weather each day. Please also ensure that you DO NOT send your child to playgroup in their best clothes or coat. As the children need to feel free to explore and play; and the staff cannot be held responsible for keeping their clothing clean.
PLEASE make sure you write your child’s name clearly and visibly on all of their belongings to avoid any confusion. Some children do enjoy taking their shoes and socks off whilst playing indoors so it would be helpful if you could clearly name their shoes.
Personal details:
Please ensure you inform us immediately of any change of details such as mobile phone numbers or other contact details for parents and your emergency contacts. It is essential that our records are kept up to date in case of emergencies. Please also remember we will be unable to let your child go with anyone else unless you have previously advised us and provided a contact number for the person collecting your child.
Medicines in Playgroup
Please be advised that any medical products needed at playgroup, MUST be given to a member of staff and paperwork will need to be completed. Please do not leave any medication in your child’s bag under any circumstances as the children have free access to the cloakroom area.
If your child is put onto a course of antibiotics please keep them at home for the first 48 hours. Once they return to playgroup please inform a member of staff of the medicine they are taking and how many days the course lasts for. You will not need to sign the form everyday in this instance, just the first day.
Please do come and speak to a member of staff if you have any queries or questions. Alternatively, you can call the Rascals mobile number or email us. All the contact details are shown on the front of this newsletter or on our website.
Dates for your diary:
Forest School (SCHOOL LEAVERS ONLY) – Wednesday 22nd June
Parent Consultation evening – Wednesday 22nd June
Stay & Play Sessions - Tuesday 21st June 9.30am-10.15am
and Thursday 7th July 9.30am-10.15am
Last day of Term and Leavers Celebration – Thursday 21st July
FIRST DAY AUTUMN TERM – Monday 5th September
