Wilbury CentralThe staff magazine for Early Years Childcare Issue 65 December 2010

Launch of Business Plan for 2010/11

vein; continuing to look for cost-

savings, streamlining our processes

to make them more efficient

and economical, and avoiding

wastage. The SMT, Managers,

and Finance team will also be

looking at how we manage our

financial data and how we can

use this to inform decisions.

This is an area where you can

really do your bit, being conscious

of conserving energy, recycling,

looking for cost-savings and

sharing these with colleagues.

Back to Basics

This objective refers to our core

proposition, returning to what

we believe is the very essence

of Early Years. We’ve never

Despite the ongoing economic

gloom, 2010 has been yet

another fantastic year for EYC

which, without doubt, is down to

the support and dedication of our

wonderful staff.

As we move into both a new

financial and calendar year the

SMT (Senior Management Team)

have their eyes firmly on the

continued success of the business,

and recently unveiled the 2010/

2011 business plan. This year’s

plan has two key objectives that will

enable us all to grow the business:

A company in motion

The objective of the last two years

has been centred firmly on saving

money and spending wisely. We

have embraced this theme whole-

heartedly across the company and

this is one of the reasons why we

have remained so economically

buoyant whilst others have

struggled.

This year’s objective is in a similar

bought into fads such as teaching

children in our care yoga or French,

and pride ourselves on the quality

of our nursery provision. But we

want to ensure that we re-focus on

delivering the service on which our

reputation is built; creating special

memories for parents, running

traditional activities like cooking and

role-play and finally, engaging with

the wider community. In support of

these aims we would like to support

your development to its fullest and

encourage you to think outside the

box and explore new ideas.

2011 looks set to be an exciting

year and I am sure we’ll all rise to

the challenge and make it another

outstanding year!

EYC supportsChildren in Need!

How EYC coped during snow

Snow may have caused problems for schools and nurseries throughout the country, but here at EYC we managed to keep all of our 9 settings in the South East open, and they continued to operate despite the conditions.

Staff at each nursery worked hard to keep open, with some staff walking for miles in the snow to ensure that the nursery ran as normal. Staff monitored local travel and weather updates – responding to parents queries, as well as offering advice on travel routes. Parents at all of the settings continued to send their children to the nurseries, enabling them to continue their working week without disruption.

Children and staff in all of our nurseries wrapped up warm and ventured outside to the nursery gardens to play and explore in the snow, returning back inside with a rosy glow!

Here are some photos of what the nurseries got up to in the snow:

Greenwich...

Crawley...

The staff and children at our Crawley nursery did their bit for Children in Need by having a ‘spotty’ themed day.

For a voluntary donation of £1 per child, children wore an assortment of spotty or stripy items of clothing. Meanwhile the staff were tasked to design their own t-shirts and the best was judged by the children. Spot related activities took place throughout the day including spotty face-painting and drawing spotty teddy bears.

Horsham...

Staff and Children at our Horsham nursery raised money for Children in Need by holding a sponsored Danceathon. They dressed up in their zaniest dance outfits including leotards and luminous clothing and ensured that throughout the day someone, somewhere in the nursery was dancing!

News RoundupThe Danceathon was just one of a number of fun activities which took place on the day including drawing spotty teddy bears and face-painting. In all over £250 was raised towards Children in Need.

Greenwich...

Staff and children at our Greenwich nursery all wore their pyjamas to the nursery, as part of many activities they ran in order to raise money for Children in Need.

For a voluntary donation of £1 per child, children wore an assortment of slippers, dressing gowns, pyjamas and night-dresses as well as bringing their teddy bears to nursery.

They took part in a range of bear themed activities including drawing pictures of bears and having a teddy bear’s picnic, all as part of their fund-raising efforts.

Finally the nursery ran a Pudsey bear sweepstake for staff and parents with a huge box of chocolates and toffees as the prize.

News RoundupWorthing...

Horsham...

Hove...

Brighton...

Free movement with a Christmas twist

When planning activities for Christmas, Hove manager Sherrie and her staff decided on the idea of a Christmas themed free movement session, not just offering a range of Christmas activities in each room but giving the children the opportunity to learn about the different ways in which Christmas is celebrated across the world. Staff in each room had chosen a country and taken the time to research something particular about the way in which people from that country celebrated Christmas and then related this to an activity and learning experience for the children. So for example in Turtles, the toddler room, the children were making and decorating instruments, embracing the Italian culture of walking through the town playing instruments on Christmas day. Whilst in the Caterpillar family room children were using soap flakes, glitter and food colouring to produce beautiful hand-made soaps for parents, recognizing the Micronesian theme of making and giving out soap at Christmas time.

Food was a strong theme of the session with two rooms offering children the chance to ‘bake’. Chef Nicola prepared gingerbread men and babies (part of a Swedish Christmas tradition) for decoration in one family room, and Norwegian Yule logs in another. ‘Safe’ alternatives were prepared for allergic children who had details of their allergies on name labels on their backs and were closely monitored by staff in the room.

The children loved the chance to be a little more independent, to interact with other children and to see the variety of Christmas themes across the nursery.

AnnouncementsFestivals &

CelebrationsNew Starters

Promotion & Change of Role

We would like to welcome the following new memebers of staff, what a great time to start with all the fun Christmas actvities going on!

Mandie Alderton – Crawley – EYP (Mat Cover)

Grace Wetherall – Horsham – EYA

Stephanie Clarke – Horsham – EYA

Louise Stewart – Horsham – EYA

Joanna Knowles – Brighton – Float EYP (Mat Cover)

Emma King – Brighton – Trainee EYP

Louise Bull – Brighton – EYA

Celia Bush – Head Office –

Marketing Assistant to Administrator

Emma Bristowe – Horsham

– EYA to Trainee EYP

Jodie Rice – Horsham – EYP to

Team Leader

Rachel Strudley – Horsham

– Bank to EYP (Level 2) (Mat

Cover)

Christmas competition!

Throughout the newsletter we’ve hidden some snowflakes. The first person to email marketing@eyc.co.uk with the correct number of snowflakes will win a prize!

1st Jan - O’Shogatsu - Japanese

festival (New Year)

4th Jan – World Braille Day

- the inventor of Braille was born

this day in 1809

5th Jan – birthday of Guru Gobind Singh - Sikh festival

6th Jan – Epiphany Christian

celebration - take your Christmas

decorations down!

7th Jan – Christmas Day Eastern Orthadox (not Greek)

14th Jan – Makara Sankranti

- Hindu celebration; a festival

that signifies the beginning of the

harvest season for the farmers of

Indian Sub-Continent

18th Jan – Winnie the Pooh day – A A Milnes birthday, born

1882

20th Jan –Tu B’Shevat - Jewish

festival

25th Jan – Burns night - Scottish

celebration, celebrating the work

of the poet Robert Burns

26th Jan - Australia Day

27th Jan - Lewis Carroll’s birthday - born in 1832

What a year for fundraising!

It’s been a great year for fundraising and we are proud to announce that we’ve raised over £4,500 for charity through the hard work and imagination of our nursery and head office staff. Our nurseries have prolifically fundraised through a number of fun filled activities including a sponsored Sleep Walk in aid of St Peter & St James Hospice, many fun filled Children in Need events and Summer fetes.

Kim, Ali and Pam from Head Office have all been charity queens this year in organising a variety of Head Office fund raisers.

We’ve also continued to support the Sussex Community Foundation, a local organisation which supports the most deprived communities in Sussex, providing expert advice and services to those most in need.

We will continue to raise money for charity in 2011 and if anyone has any new and exciting ideas to help raise money get in contact with your nursery manager or HR.