Swindon Foodbank We would like to say a huge thank you to all of you who have donated food in the last couple of months, the hamper in reception has constantly been getting fuller and fuller! All your donated food goes to families who desperately need help in this current economic crisis and we know they are very grateful for your help. June Half Term holiday 31 st May 4 th June To celebrate the sunny (!) half term week we will be offering some exciting events Family Week On Wednesday 2 nd June a bookable Bookstart Breakfast Session will be put on between 8-8.45 with stories from Carolyn from Bookstart. The Stay & Play session will run slightly earlier also from 9-10.30. (Suggested donation 1 per family) Centre Closures The centre will be closed completely on Monday 31 st May for Bank Holiday. We will also be closed Tuesday 1 st June with a half term holiday timetable in place, see below for details! Please also keep an eye out for closure signs in the centre as we sometimes have to close at short notice due to staff related issues. On Thursday 3rd June, get your hats and sunglasses ready as we are putting on a family picnic at Lydiard, 11am 2pm. (There will be no Stay & Play session on this day). No need to book a space for this just turn up with your picnic. Our last half-term adventure will be on Monday 7 th June at Lower Shaw Farm. We ll be meeting there and enjoying the experience between 10am-2pm. Again, places need to be booked so please put your name down in the booking form. Booking forms can be found on the training noticeboard in the break-out area.
Dad/Male Carers Group This group caters for 0-11 year old children The next groups are: Saturday 22 nd May and Saturday 26th June 10.00 11.30am Come and experience fun play time with your Dads / grandads / uncles / male carers. Snacks available. (Suggested donation 1 per family). Dates/Workshops for your Diary Is your baby 6 months or coming up to 6 months? Lynne Smith, Health Visitor and Dana Dodson, Playworker will be delivering a one off session about weaning on: Monday 19 th July 11.30-12.45 at Salt Way Children s Centre. The session will include meal ideas, recipes, methods, time saving ideas etc. If you put your name down on any of the activities but are unable to make it, it would be helpful if you could let us know as soon as you can as we will be able to offer your space to somebody else on the reserve list, particularly in order for us to save on our crèche costs, thanks. Parent Forum The parent forum noticeboard is also up and running in the breakout area so take a minute or two to have a catch up with what they re doing. If you would like more info about the forum or would be thinking of helping out, talk to Tracy Petty, Chairperson or any of the other members and find out their latest plans and events (contact details available). Their latest St George s Day cake sale raised 50! Your donations How would you like to create some special mum and child time while helping your child develop in a fun way? Our resident.plum Hutton will be showing us how on Tuesday 8 th June, come along! And finally, we ll be offering a Toddler Teas workshop on Wednesday 16 th June to give ideas on appropriate finger foods and lunches etc. A FREE CRÈCHE is available for these sessions - limited spaces are available for the sessions so please place your name on the booking forms, or ask at reception. To date, your kind donations during groups have contributed to the children s snacks (and adult teas & coffees!) and most recently the chocolate eggs for the Easter egg hunts in April. As a charity we will not charge an entrance fee to come into our groups, however, we do ask for a donation if you can manage it (suggested donations 1 per family per session)..
National Child Safety Week Have you ever thought about what would happen if we didn t.. or why we do. Would you like to sit in a fire engine or try on a police hat? During the week of 21 st June we will be focusing on all aspects of child safety. Our big event is on Tuesday 22 nd June (10am-2pm). Come along and have fun with all kinds of people. As we are having this event there will be no Stay and Play session. No booking required for this event, open to all families Vouchers Closing date for Tesco vouchers has happened, we had approximately 600 and will be looking to purchase outdoor equipment of some sort, watch this space! Going back to work.? Salt Way has access to lots and lots of lovely childminders who, along with the children they look after, create some fantastic colourful pictures and promote fun social time during their groups - lunchtimes can get very noisy with lots of chatter (and sharing of food!). Take a look at their noticeboard in reception to see what fun they have. If you are looking for a local childminder, why not come to their group on Tuesday 11.30-1.30 And have a chat to them? Sparcells and Peatmoor Stay and Play The stay and play group for families with children under five. The next group will be on Thursday June 10th atthe Oakroom, Peatmoor Community School, Pepperbox Hill, Peatmoor 1.15pm 2.45pm. All parents and carers are welcome. Refreshments provided. Please note this is a Stay and Play group for Peatmoor and Sparcells families only! (Suggested donation 1 per family) Work Experience Would you like to gain some office skills experience? We are looking for volunteers to help out in the Salt Way office doing data entry, taking telephone messages, helping with updating the noticeboards etc. You will have to be CRB checked and provide 2 references before starting but you can then start updating your skills ready for going back to work! Also remember, you can put your experience on your CV for future employment and if you are with us on a regular basis, we will be able to provide a reference for any new employer Ask at reception or call 01793 465364 for more details. Parent Feedback Board Keep an eye on the board, it will be updated very soon.!
Tidy Up Time! After a hard session playing and mixing with their friends, lets show the children how we clear away. by putting the books on the shelf, by packing away those bricks, and then lets let them show us how they can do it too - they can then show you how they ve learnt to tidy away and help you at home! Message from Kay Tuesday & Thursday Stay & Play sessions Since restructuring the opening times of these sessions to allow our very local residents the chance to use the groups, we are pleased to let you know that the feedback has been positive from those attending. Just a reminder though that the groups are still open to anybody, simply that the entry timing is staggered. For those living outside our immediate area, please feel free to telephone the centre around 9.30am to see if there are any spaces still available and come along! I appreciate the decision to offer a staggered entry system to our Stay & Play s hasn t been a popular decision for you all. Ideally we would like to be in a position to offer sufficient Stay & Play s to meet the demand for you all, however, that is not possible as we are a very small team and are here to deliver various other services in order to meet the Children s Centre agenda. We think it is great that you all want to use our services at Salt Way and we do not want to stop anyone coming, which is why we are offering this staggered entry system. So please do make use of it, there are quite often spaces at 9.45am. If you are still not happy with our decision then we do have a formal complaints procedure which I d be happy to talk you through. Kay Kane, Centre Manager