At Swiss Gardens this past half term we've had lots of fun, discovered new games and met new people. We had a very successful Easter holiday club here this year, and we were very lucky with the weather! We had fun playing and making things for a whole day, and had plenty of picnics on the Meads and with such glorious weather we all arrived with smiles on our faces, and left with them too.
We had two very successful workshops, making lanterns and planting seeds, we loved the planting so much we planted some pots of cress and beans at After School Club! The plants have grown up nicely and thrived on the mantlepiece at club, and we think that they are ready for their planters to take them home.
We have welcomed a new member of staff, Rachael, who will be with us in club on a Wednesday and a Thursday. Rachael comes to us from Early Years, and has worked for several years in nurseries.
She loves horses, and is a horse riding and Natural Horsemanship teacher. She is also very musical, and plays the ukelele and sings blues and jazz in her spare time. She is also one of our first aiders. She's settled in really well and the children are lucky to have her to play with them!
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We've also continued to cook and have made french toast, pizza and the major hit of the half term- chocolate brownies! The children liked them so much we had to make them twice in one week and made the teachers happy too- they were delicious!
The staff have all met together and reflected upon the half term and how we could improve the club. We set ourselves three targets for improvement based on this meeting and we have agreed that the new foci for improvement are to develop the outdoor playspace, particularly in anticipation of the long summer holidays, to increase the range of play resources and activities for the younger children and increase and improve the range of role play and dressing up activities for the children.
If you as parents have any suggestions or feedback please don't hesitate to approach any of the team, or phone, write, e-mail or even write in our suggestions book. All feedback is gratefully received!
On a personal note, we are coming to the end of the first full academic year of Swiss Gardens After School Club and my first year in the club, and I have been privileged to work with such a fantastic group of children, without whom the club would not be the club that it is- so thank you for giving me the opportunity to get to know your children, it has been an absolute pleasure!
Sarah-Louise, Rosie, Naomi, and Rachael
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And Finally...Childcare Vouchers and Employer Perspective
In past newsletters we have focussed on how Childcare Vouchers are a good way for parents to save money on their childcare costs. If you are an employer, or a senior manager or a company that does not have a childcare voucher scheme, now may be a good time to investigate operating a scheme.
Childcare vouchers are an excellent benefit to offer parents as it allows them to pay for their childcare from tax free earnings. The schemes are reasonably easy to administer, and can either be administered in house, or via a third party organisation. The benefit to the employer is that the scheme is self financing as the employer saves money on their Employer NI contributions, so whether the scheme is self administered or via a third party, it usually will not cost the employer anything.
We accept any childcare vouchers, all the providers are good, we would not necessarily recommend one over another.
The main voucher providers we currently work with are:-
Care-4
Computershare
Edenred
Early Years Vouchers
Fideliti
Imagine Childcare
Kiddivouchers
Sodexho
If you would like more information about childcare vouchers, please contact us.
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