Newsletter – Autumn Term 2026

 

Dear parents/carers,

Welcome back after the half term break. We would like to draw your attention to a few updates and dates for your diaries: 

 

New children – My first 3 weeks

We will be sending out a ‘My First 3 Weeks’ form to all the new children starting in September. This gives a general overview of how your child has settled, their progress and what they have been enjoying at Rascals. There will be a comments section for you to add any questions or concerns you may have regarding their progress. For the relevant families, this will be sent out the week beginning 21st September.

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Stay and Play - Monday 9th November

From next half term we will be reintroducing our Stay and Play sessions to allow our families to come into Rascals and see what your children are enjoying taking part in. We would like to welcome you to come along and play for the first 45 minutes of this session (9.30am-10.15am) although we would ask that just one adult per child stays please to prevent it becoming too busy. Younger siblings are very welcome but will remain your responsibility whilst on the premises please. We also ask that you ensure you inform a member of staff when you are leaving so that they are able to supervise who is in the building and ensure all doors are secured once you have left. If you can’t make it to this session, please don’t worry as we will be doing some other Stay and Play sessions throughout the year, future dates will be Tuesday 12th January, Thursday 4th March, Friday 23rd April and Friday 18th June.

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Parent consultations

Once a term you are offered the opportunity to meet with your key person to discuss how your child is getting on at Rascals. This will take place on Wednesday 11th November. If your child is new to Rascals, this will be an opportunity for you to discuss how well your child has settled at Rascals with his/ her key person and to discuss any questions or concerns you may have regarding their progress.

If your child is returning to Rascals after the summer break this will be an opportunity for you to catch up with your key person and discuss your child’s progress and agree targets for their next steps. This evening runs from 5pm and your key person will be in touch to confirm an appointment time. We realise you may not be able to make the appointment time given to you and if this is the case then 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.

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Children in Need

This year we will be supporting Children in Need on Friday 20th November, further information will be sent nearer the time.

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Wellies

Please could we ask you to provide a pair of CLEARLY NAMED wellies for your child to keep at Rascals. With the weather changing recently, the children continue to enjoy playing outside in the rain or exploring messy play such as sand and water. We do have a few spare pairs if you have trouble getting hold of some. Thank you in advance.

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Christmas Nativity Performance

We are very excited to invite all the children to participate in a short nativity play. This involves the children wearing a costume and taking their place on the stage as the Christmas story is read followed by a few Christmas songs. We are planning our Christmas Performance for Friday 11th December at 12pm, more details to follow nearer the time.

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School Starters 2027

School admissions for children starting school in 2027 will be opening on Monday 6th October 2026. We encourage families to visits the schools that they are interested in by contacting the schools and booking on to their open days and taster sessions. We will email out dates for these and share on our Facebook page so please keep an eye out for updates. If you require any further information on this, please don’t hesitate to ask a member of staff.

The final date to apply for your child’s school place will be 15th January so we will check in with you all before then to ensure you have made your choice and that you have applied online.

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Rascals Facebook group

Please ensure that you have joined our Rascals private Facebook group by clicking on the link below: https://www.facebook.com/groups/146062360093618

This is a private page and can only be used by current parents/carers of children attending Rascals during this academic year. It is a great way to communicate with other families and may help you all to become more familiar with each other as we realise this can be difficult when dropping off and collecting children. You can follow our public Facebook group for regular updates and reminders throughout the term.

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Please keep in mind that this group is intended to be used for the purpose mentioned above and we would ask that any issues, concerns or worries you have about Rascals are not discussed within this group but be brought directly to us as usual so that we can address any such issues immediately.

You can also visit our general Rascals Facebook page which is available for everyone to follow. This can be found by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/RascalsPreSchoolPlaygroup

If there is anything you are unsure of or if you just need a bit of advice about something, please do speak to a member of staff who will be more than happy to help you.

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We look forward to enjoying the Autumn Term with you all.

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THANK YOU.

THE RASCALS TEAM

Rascals mobile: 07546584314 Rascals email: rascalsplaygroup@gmail.com

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[PLEASE NOTE: The Rascals mobile phone and email address are constantly monitored by Tracey. During out of hours and particularly over weekends and holidays you may not receive an immediate response. However, if you are contacting us with a matter of urgency an email is always the best form of communication].

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

- For NEW children: ‘My First 3 Weeks’ form to be given out:

Week beginning Monday 21st September

- School Admissions Open: Monday 6th October

- Parents Consultation: Wednesday 11th November

- Half term: Monday 26th – Friday 30th October

- Children in Need: Friday 20th November

- Christmas Nativity Performance: Friday 11th December 

- Last day of term: Friday 11th December

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IMPORTANT TERMLY REMINDERS

 

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 REMEMBER TO TELL A MEMBER OF STAFF IF SOMEONE DIFFERENT IS COLLECTING YOUR CHILD. WE WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO GO WITH ANYONE UNLESS WE HAVE YOUR PRIOR PERMISSION. THIS APPLIES IN ALL CASES. WE ARE OPERATING A PASSWORD SYSTEM FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT COLLECTED PREVIOUSLY SO PLEASE BE PREPARED TO THINK OF A SPECIAL WORD THAT YOU CAN SHARE WITH US AND YOUR ELECTED PERSON. 

 

Change Bags:

• Please ensure that your child’s bag is NAMED CLEARLY as some children do have similar bags and it is difficult for them to tell us which is theirs. 

• Please always check your child’s bag when you get home as used nappies or soiled clothes will be placed in there during the day if necessary.  Unfortunately, we do not have facilities to dispose of soiled nappies on the premises and therefore these will be placed into a nappy sack and put into your child’s bag.  

 

Clothing:  

• Please make sure your child wears suitable clothing for the weather each day.  

• It is important to send your child to playgroup with more than one set of spare clothes as they will most definitely get dirty at some point!

• Please ensure that you don’t send them to playgroup in their best clothes or coat as the children need to feel free to explore and play.  

• If the weather is warm and sunny please ensure you apply sun cream to your child before you bring them to playgroup as it does get very hot in the garden. 

• PLEASE make sure you write your child’s name clearly and visibly on all their belongings to avoid any confusion.  This includes their hats, gloves, scarf, and shoes etc. 

• IT IS VITAL THAT LUNCHBOXES AND WATER BOTTLES ARE NAMED. IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN, PLEASE ASK FOR A LABEL. 

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Health and Safety:

• For safety reasons we prefer jewellery is not worn at playgroup. We do understand that the jewellery may be of cultural or religious significance, and we are happy to make an exception for this.  However, this will be at your own risk; as we are unable to take any responsibility for injury, damage or breakages.   We would also ask that if your child has their ears pierced, please could you ensure they wear plain studs for playgroup.

 

Food Allergies/Safety:

• We are a NUT FREE setting, please could all parents refrain from putting nuts in your child’s lunch or any products containing nuts.  We do have a child with an allergy to nuts this year, so it is vital everyone follows this request please.

• Please ensure that no food is left in your child’s bag.  If you need to bring them a packed lunch to have after playgroup please pass it to a member of staff who will keep it safe. 

• Please also ensure you chop any food such as grapes, large blueberries, olives etc length ways or ideally quarters before putting them in your child’s lunch.  Also items such as sausage, cheese, cucumber, carrots should be cut into long thin strips rather than chunks.

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Birthday celebrations:

We would ask that no sweets or cakes are brought to Rascals to celebrate birthdays please.   We are doing our best to promote healthy eating within the setting and would prefer not to have sweets or cakes brought into the setting please and this also ties in with us being a NUT FREE setting. 

 

Medicines in Playgroup:

Please be advised that any medical products needed at playgroup, MUST be given to a member of staff for us to store in our medical box in the Main Hall and paperwork will need to be completed.

 

Please could all parents check NO medical products are left in their child’s rucksack on their peg during the course of the morning, as all the children do have free access to their pegs. 

 

Illness:

Please DO NOT send your child to playgroup if they are unwell. You will be asked to take them home again. We also ask you to consider whether it is appropriate to bring your child to Rascals if they need medication in the morning such as Calpol.  As we all know, Calpol tends to wear off after 4 hours so children very often go downhill very quickly once the medication has worn off. In this instance it is better to keep your child safely at home to be monitored closely please. 

If they have suffered from diarrhoea or sickness please keep them at home for at least 48 hours after the last episode of sickness or diarrhoea. This also applies to those children who have started a course of antibiotics. Children need to have taken the antibiotics for at least 48 hours before returning to the setting. 

 

Policies and Procedures:

Please ask a member of staff if there are any particular policies you would like to see so these can be forwarded to you electronically. 

 

Car Parking and Children’s safety:

Please remember not to use the Tesco car park or the front church car park which is used by Rascals staff and Church office staff.  It can become quite dangerous with cars going in and out so we would ask that everyone uses the car park on the far side of the church please. 

 

Please ensure your child is fully supervised when waiting to come into playgroup in the morning.  We have had experiences in the past where broken glass or other unsavoury litter has been found discarded on the church grounds and would not like any of the children to injure themselves.

 

Rascals occupancy list:

If you have a younger child or you know of someone who would like to put their child on our occupancy list to attend Rascals, please speak to Tracey.  We have a list for the next few years, so it is important to register children as soon as possible. 

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