Hello July!!

Date: 29th Jun 2016 @ 3:43am

So, here we are ... after an eventful and enjoyable 10 months of the school year we are on the homeward straight with just 3 weeks left until the Summer holidays (and still witing for Summer!!)  Over the next few weeks there will be some significant changes as children move on to their next classes (and in some cases their next school) so we are in the process, as staff, of preparing for this exciting new chapter.  Some of you will notice that there have already been a number of changes which we are hoping will help children at what can, although exciting, sometimes be a bit of a scary and overwhelming time, especially as the yr 2s cross over to become juniors.  Chris Forshaw, who has already built up strong relationships with the infant children, has taken over on the junior side so is ready to greet them and be a familiar face as they settle into their new club and surroundings.  In return, the infants have gained the leadership of Claire Keegan who will be working more closely with the infant children next year so it seemed appropriate for her to get established in the infant club now ready for September when we expect to be joined by a number or fresh new faces.  We hope this managerial 'swap' will help the children to settle into their new clubs much quicker than has previously been the case. I will continue to oversee the running of both clubs so if you have any concerns please feel free to contact me.

Even with all these changes going on behind the scenes, club has continued to carry on as normal with children trying to make the most of some of the drier days but, in true British fashion, we have had to rely heavily on indoor activities to keep us entertained as the rain continues to pour.  July activities are based around a Summer theme so, whereas we were lucky to have a good spell of weather and take the 'indoors out', we are now going to make our very best efforts to bring the 'outside in' wherever necessary to ensure we don't let Summer pass us by!!

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After several weeks of football, we have spent this week brushing off our disappointment as we leave the competition and have instead turned our focus to Wimbledon.  This has involved learning a number of new games using tennis balls, designing tennis kits and, our favourite of all, making chocolate dipped strawberries.  

Next week's activities celebrate some US traditions relating to July 4th so we have our stars and stripes at the ready!

Summer club is starting to fill up niceley and preparations are under way to make sure there are a good selection of activities on offer for children of all ages over the 6 weeks.  Our 'Cultural Olympiad' begins in Ancient Greece and finishes in Rio so we will be doing a whistle stop tour throughout the summer visiting a different host city/country each day with a number of sporting activities slotted in.  Due to the introduction of the school sport courses this year we will no longer be running the 4-day S4YC sport courses as advertised on the booking forms but will be doing plenty of sport within the general play scheme anyway with the help of some of our trusty sport coaches.

One of the main topics of conversation over the last couple of days has been concerning the closing of school on Tuesday due to the NUT strike.  We are pleased to say that, should the strike go ahead, we have been given permission to offer some childcare provision but this is limited to a number of places throughout the day.  Please contact me for further details. With nursery continuing as normal we will be running breakfast and after school club in the usual way.