News Archives From St Mary's Playgroup
The following newsletters are available to download as a Word document.
October 2009
Welcome back to a new school year at St Mary's Playgroup! We extend a special welcome to the new children and their families who are joining us this year. All the children are settling in well, thanks to Paula and the team.
The New Year brings a new group of pre-schoolers who are enjoying the responsibility of being the 'big' children and guiding the new starters and younger ones to help them find their feet.
We start the term looking at autumn by collecting leaves, pine cones, stones and twigs for our Interest Tray and incorporating them into our craft activities with lots of glue and paint. We will also be enjoying tasting some Autumn fruits by using them in our cooking which the children always enjoy.
We are pleased to announce another night of fun at our Frog Racing night at St Mary's School on Saturday 1Oth October (real frogs are not involved!). The evening will be run by the Cotswold Frog Racing team and is being hosted jointly by St Mary's Playgroup and St Mary's School in aid of playgroup and school funds. Racing will begin at 7:30pm and will culminate in a grand final. You can own a frog, jockey a frog, or simply bet on a frog and be entertained. Nibbles will be provided, please bring your own drinks! Entrance fee is £2.50 per person and tickets available from St.Mary's Playgroup.
For more information on any of the above please contact Paula on 01666 5O3777 or via email. To find out more about the Playgroup, its aims and the activities the children enjoy, please visit our website at www. stmarysplaygroup.co.uk.
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group, run by Emma, is held on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 11:30 at Christ Church. The session includes toys, craft activities and songs for the babies and toddlers and that ever important tea/coffee and chat for their carers.
All are welcome, from new born babies to toddlers. Please come along.
June 2009
We are nearly at the end of our playschool year and the children are looking forward to their holidays. Still to come is a leaver’s trip to Go Bananas for the pre-school children and an end of term party, with a visit from Mr Whiz for all the children.
The pre-school children have really enjoyed their Monday sessions and recently spent a morning at the fire station where they talked about fire safety and of course enjoyed sitting on the fire engine! We say goodbye and good luck to those children who are leaving to start school in September and wish them all the very best.
From September 2009, we will be opening our Thursday morning sessions to children aged 2 years and 6 months. So if you have a child who is due to start preschool at some point in the next academic year and you would like them to start at 2 years 6 months then please contact us. Once your child is 2 years 9 months they will be able to increase their attendance to include the other playgroup sessions.
Finally a big big THANK YOU to the playgroup staff for their hard work and dedication over this last year and for making the playgroup such an enjoyable, interesting and stimulating place. Thank you also goes to the parents on the committee who have given so much of their time and energy this last year.
For more information about the playgroup, please contact Paula on 01666 503777 or via email. To find out more about the playgroup please also visit our website .
St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group
Emma runs St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 11:30. The sessions include craft activities, snack time and songs for babies and toddlers whilst carers can relax and catch up over tea/coffee. For the summer term only, the toddler group will be held in the front of Christchurch, The Chipping. All are welcome, from new born babies to toddlers. Please come along.
Thank you to Emma for all her hard work and dedication this last year and for making the toddler group such an enjoyable place for the young babies and toddlers, and for parents and carers to socialise and make new friends.
May 2009
The year is flying by and we are already in our last term of the playgroup year. The topic for this term is ‘Summer’ and the children will be bringing in their sunglasses, beach toys and holiday photos and enjoying talking about their Summer holiday plans. The pre-schoolers have been covering topics about ‘The World’ and ‘Ourselves’. They will be considering their journey to playgroup and in particular discussing things they see and pass on the way such as the importance of traffic lights and road signs and how letters get from the post box to their letter box.
The children always enjoy visitors to playgroup and this month they have enjoyed a visit from Clemency and her Music Monsters. Thank you Clemency for another enjoyable session filled with singing, dancing and instruments.
This month the children visited WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre where they enjoyed feeding the many different types of ducks and birds. They also loved splashing and wading through Welly Boot Land building dams to change the flow of water and winding through the willow maze.
For more information about the playgroup, please contact Paula on 01666 503777 or via email. To find out more about the playgroup please also visit our website .
St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group
Emma runs St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 11:30. The sessions include craft activities, snack time and songs for babies and toddlers whilst carers can relax and catch up over tea/coffee. For the summer term only, the toddler group will be held in the front of Christchurch, The Chipping. All are welcome, from new born babies to toddlers. Please come along.
April 2009
Now that spring is well and truly here, the children are spending more and more time out and about in Tetbury. They have an opportunity to appreciate spring in its full bloom by exploring and interacting with nature on our trip to Westonbirt, looking at the colours and running off some energy with a game of hide and seek.
The preschool children have been enjoying their Monday sessions. The pre-schoolers have recently spent a craft afternoon at St Mary’s school and are getting more used to the idea of ‘big’ school.
The recent Bike-a-thon was a great success! Congratulations to the children who were sponsored to cycle laps of the playgroup, they all did really well. Thank you to all who sponsored the keen cyclists and everyone who helped organise it. The money was raised in aid of playgroup funds which are used for activities such as Music Monsters and trips out.
Places for September are still currently available so if you are looking for a space for your child, please contact us as soon as possible. Please contact Paula on 01666 503777 or via email. To find out more about the playgroup please also visit our website .
St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group
Emma runs St Mary’s Baby and Toddler Group on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 11:30. The sessions include craft activities, snack time and songs for babies and toddlers whilst carers can relax and catch up over tea/coffee.
For the summer term only, the toddler group will be held in the front of Christchurch, The Chipping. All are welcome, from new born babies to toddlers. Please come along.
March 2009
The children go into April making preparations for Easter by decorating eggs and making Easter cards. Hopefully, as term progresses the children will be able to spend more time outside, enjoying the water table and messier craft play and exploring the outdoors.
This Summer term is an important time for the older children starting school in September as they start their pre-school sessions. In these sessions, they will be talking about school and focusing on numbers and letters to help prepare them for big school. They will also bring their gym kit with them on a Monday morning to practise getting changed for PE. We will be arranging school visits to help get them ready for their next big step.
For more information on any of the above please contact Paula on 01666 503777 or via email:. To find out more about the playgroup please also visit our website.
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group is led by Emma on Monday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 at Christ Church, The Chipping. Between April and July the group will be held in the front of the church. The babies and toddlers enjoy craft activities and play dough and are busy exploring the toys, slides and push along/ride on bikes whilst you relax and catch up with a cup of tea and a chat. All are welcome, from new born babies to toddlers. Please come along.
February 2009
The children have all enjoyed the recent snowfall with lots of talk of snowmen, snowballs and sledging and that was just en route to playgroup! We now look forward to spring and the children observing the change in season. Hopefully we can soon ditch those wellies!
St Marys Playgroup recently held its first Parents Evening, which gave parents a specific opportunity to speak to their child's keyworker on a one to one basis to discuss the activities their child, enjoys at Playgroup and to look at their folder. The evening was a great success and the next one is to be held in June.
Coming up this later this month is the children's sponsored Bike-a-thon in aid of playgroup funds. The children can see how much they raise by looking at our new Fundraiser Totaliser.
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group
St Mary's Baby and Toddler Group, run by Emma, are held on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 11:30 at Christ Church. The session includes toys, craft activities and songs for the babies and toddlers and that ever-important tea/coffee and chat for their carers. All are welcome, from newborn babies to toddlers. Please come along.
September 2007
A new term has begun and the children are looking forward to collecting leaves, feathers, stones and twigs for the interest tray. They will also taste lovely autumn fruits and make rhubarb crumble, chocolate muffins, pizza, and creatively making music shakers during our crafts and activities sessions.
Following the success of the last "Frog Racing" evening, the playgroup is hosting another evening of fun and laughter at the Dolphins Hall on Saturday 27th October. Frog racing will begin at 7.30pm and tickets will be available from Marshalls of Long Street, through St Mary’s Playgroup or on the night. Cost of tickets is £5.
March 2007
March is going to be a busy month for the children. We will be talking about spring, sewing flower cards, spring-cleaning, planting bulbs and of course making Mother's Day cards. The children will also be making and baking edible caterpillars! As we get nearer to Easter the children will be decorating eggs and icing biscuits.
The contemporary photographic session that the playgroup hosted last month was a huge success. The playgroups next fundraising event is a "Frog Racing" evening on Friday 20th April at the Dolphins Hall.
Finally a big thank you to TESCO for its generous assistance with our planning for Christmas 2007.
February 2007
February is going to be a busy month for the playgroup. February 5th the playgroup is running a "taster session" for anyone interested in joining the St Mary's Playgroup. The session will start at 10am and will be an opportunity for families to see what a playgroup session is like. The children will be able to join in some of the activities and parents and carers will ba able to meet the staff.
On the 10th February the playgroup will be hosting the Little Urchins Photographers who specialise in contemporary photographs. The session is free and can include all members of the family and is open to all families, not just those who attend the playgroup but bookings should be made. For more information on Little Urchins please visit their website. This link will open in a new window.
December 2006
Preperations are well underway for Christmas, including the making of crackers, bells and robins, and the practicing of songs and activities for the Nativity at the end of term.
There is also plenty of baking to be done with the making of mince pies and reindeer food and the icing of gingerbread men.
The term will finish with a Christmas party for the children and a visit from a very special person.
November 2006
During November the children took part in a Bike'a'thon, pedalling their way around the playgroup. Thank you to all the friends and families who supported the
children in this event and raised a significant amount for the playgroup funds.
Thank you also to the Tetbury Woolsack Committee for its generous donation to the playgroup this month
During November the children wrapped up for a trip to Westonbirt Arboretum and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the trees and collecting leaves, conkers and other autumn treasures.