Clothing and Footwear

Children should not wear their best clothes to pre-school, although we do provide aprons for messy play they may still get dirty. We do give each child  a free T-Shirt, and you can buy extra uniform if you wish.  Appropriate footwear should be worn with Wellington boots to change into.

As part of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage we are required to take children outside, so please ensure they bring a coat with them.

Please ensure all clothing has your child's name in it.

A great option for naming items is Stamptastic. If you use code TN233NZ then they will make a donation to Little Acorns.  A fast, easy and cost effective solution which can be used for many years.

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Sickness / Diarrhoea

In accordance with Health Protection Agency guidelines, if your child is sick and / or has diarrhoea there must be at least 48 hours after the last episode before they are able to return to pre-school. This is for the protection of both children and staff.

Extreme Weather Conditions

Should we need to close, we will notify Radio Kent, Heart and KMFM as soon as possible, and for those that have opted into the text messaging service, we will send a text message

Absence

Please advise us if your child is absent for any reason, on the first day of their absence. This is especially important if they receive Government Funding, as we understand that KCC is considering introducing an audit of children’s attendance at the pre-school for those that receive funding. In this respect we are now logging details of all absences and may ask you why your child was absent, Please note that if we are advised of cases of, for example, chicken pox and head lice, we will put a note up on the notice board to ensure that you are all aware.

Healthy Eating

At Little Acorns Pre-school we believe that it is important to encourage children to eat healthily and to have a varied balanced diet that will provide energy for them to learn, play and flourish at pre-school.

To help the children start some good food habits we are actively discouraging the following items in the children’s lunch boxes:-

• Crisps and other savoury snacks

• Pastry products such as sausage roll and pastries

• Cakes, cookies and biscuits

• Sweets and chocolate

• Fizzy drinks

• The following items are not allowed in the children’s lunch boxes due to health and safety:-

• Glass bottles and ring pull cans

• Flasks

• Nuts (or any foods containing nuts) due to allergies and choking risk

 

Practical tips

• Encourage your child to help prepare their lunch as children are more likely to eat something they have helped to prepare.

• Don’t put too much in your child’s lunch box as this can sometimes put the child off eating if it seems such an enormous amount of food. A child’s size portion is the amount they can fit in their fist.

 

Lunch box ideas

• Sandwich fillings – ham, chicken, tuna, egg, cheese.

• Use different breads- wholemeal, granary, wraps, sandwich thins, chapatti, pitta bread.

• Vegetables – carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers, cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, celery, lettuce.

• Dips to have with vegetables or breads – hummus, sour cream and chive, yogurt and onion dip or salsa.

• Make a pasta, rice or couscous salad by adding some tuna, cheese or chicken with some diced cucumber, grated carrot or sweetcorn.

• Something sweet- fruit, yoghurt, grapes (cut in half) banana, apple or melon.

 

To comply with health and safety regulations, please ensure that an ice pack is placed inside their lunch box and finally please put their name on the outside of their box.