It's Friday!

[Panders]

oooooo, we didnt get any

[sunnyday]

5 hours ago, zigzag said:

Oh no! 

Oh yes! 🤣

[sunnyday]

5 hours ago, zigzag said:

Oh no! 

 

2 hours ago, Panders said:

oooooo, we didnt get any

I really am beginning to think my little village has somehow offended the gods 🤦‍♀️

[sunnyday]

It's Friday - yay! whoop! whoop! - I am so glad to see the back of this very stressful week

We have decided that we will plough on to the end of term but will obviously monitor the situation carefully

Happy weekend y'all

[Panders]

2 hours ago, sunnyday said:

 

I really am beginning to think my little village has somehow offended the gods 🤦‍♀️

Was it this Snow Thunder they had up North?

[sunnyday]

21 minutes ago, Panders said:

Was it this Snow Thunder they had up North?

Oh no - that would have been exciting!

[finleysmaid]

I told all the children about my 'friend' with snow today😊 they were very excited It was certainly cold here today. Been a really busy week and frustrating. We seem to be having issues with parents incapable of reading simple instructions🙄 it takes SOOOO long to sort the simplest of things out.

On the plus side we have taken over £700 on the raffle so far❤️ I have of course spent it already!😂

[louby loo]

13 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

 Been a really busy week and frustrating. We seem to be having issues with parents incapable of reading simple instructions🙄 it takes SOOOO long to sort the simplest of things out.

 

Tell me about it!!!!!   I had one parent ring and complain about something on our newsletter (within about 5 mins of dad collecting the child) when I asked if she'd actually read the letter she admitted not properly  😬

Good new about your raffle  

[Mouseketeer]

11 hours ago, finleysmaid said:

On the plus side we have taken over £700 on the raffle so far❤️ I have of course spent it already!😂

Brilliant! We took about £950 on ours less some gift aid people added that we can’t include, PayPal fees and a bit of outlay like the lotteries licence we expect to clear £850 which is 4x what we would have made on normal Xmas raffle.

indoor play as a whole group for the first time this week ...oh boy the noise and mess, they have so forgotten how to adjust from outdoor to indoor play, has anyone else noticed this?

So  wishing we’d started back a week early and was finishing on the 11th now, a few challenging children have staff moral quite low as it is and now a couple of staff are getting anxious about having a positive case in the last week, I’m trying not to even think about that and the feeling of guilt that will ensue if it happens and it messes up their Xmas plans

hang in there everyone 🤞

[louby loo]

4 hours ago, Mouseketeer said:

Brilliant! We took about £950 on ours less some gift aid people added that we can’t include, PayPal fees and a bit of outlay like the lotteries licence we expect to clear £850 which is 4x what we would have made on normal Xmas raffle.

 

So  wishing we’d started back a week early and was finishing on the 11th now, a few challenging children have staff moral quite low as it is and now a couple of staff are getting anxious about having a positive case in the last week, I’m trying not to even think about that and the feeling of guilt that will ensue if it happens and it messes up their Xmas plans

hang in there everyone 🤞

I'm so impressed with everyones raffles! The last time we held a raffle we raised about £35 which didn't even cover the prizes 😭 (and we live in a relatively affluent area!)  I've always noticed it's always the lower income families that support these things the most - I guess it's because winning would really mean something them 

This year we introduced a 'fairer funding charge' (I think I stole that terminology form Mouseketeer?). Well it was 25p a day............. I was questioned left right and centre about it!!!!.................. again, it was our few lower income parents who all happily paid without comment. 

 

Re. Early finish- just do it from next year.   We've always done this anyway, staff are more than happy to start back early in September, and the one's with younger children usually find it easy to get childcare that time of year for the odd few days if needed.  Doing this  means the staff always get a week to do their own Christmas preparations while their children are still at school     I have to admit though- this year I am more than glad we do this.

Parent's know the term dates well in advance so no complaints from them.  One year we did offer a few extra days -which would need to be paid a full rate(paid in advance) obviously no one actually wanted to pay for them! though 🤣🤣🤣

Note: I've just realised we've been doing the early start back for so long- almost none of the staff even have children still at school any more! 😳.... but hey- we can now support our own grown up children in that week by looking after the grandchildren 😁.

[Mouseketeer]

9 minutes ago, louby loo said:

This year we introduced a 'fairer funding charge' (I think I stole that terminology form Mouseketeer?). Well it was 25p a day............. I was questioned left right and centre about it!!!!.................. again, it was our few lower income parents who all happily paid without comment. 

Our FFC is now 30p an hour and there isn’t anything optional about it 🤭

great planning on the getting out earlier...enjoy 🙂 

[Panders]

20 minutes ago, louby loo said:

 

 

Re. Early finish- just do it from next year.   We've always done this anyway, staff are more than happy to start back early in September, and the one's with younger children usually find it easy to get childcare that time of year for the odd few days if needed.  Doing this  means the staff always get a week to do their own Christmas preparations while their children are still at school     I have to admit though- this year I am more than glad we do this.

Parent's know the term dates well in advance so no complaints from them.  One year we did offer a few extra days -which would need to be paid a full rate(paid in advance) obviously no one actually wanted to pay for them! though 🤣🤣🤣

Note: I've just realised we've been doing the early start back for so long- almost none of the staff even have children still at school any more! 😳.... but hey- we can now support our own grown up children in that week by looking after the grandchildren 😁.

We used to do exactly the same.  It meant we could do so much for our own families,  goodness knows how school teachers manage to work right up to the last knockings.    When we were in charge of term lengths they were also only about 10 weeks long, as a pre-school we weren't offering day care, just somewhere safe, fun and affordable for  parents.  So much has been achieved in raising standards across the board, it does seem churlish  of me to hark back to the "olden days" 😂

[sunnyday]

15 minutes ago, Panders said:

We used to do exactly the same.  It meant we could do so much for our own families,  goodness knows how school teachers manage to work right up to the last knockings.    When we were in charge of term lengths they were also only about 10 weeks long, as a pre-school we weren't offering day care, just somewhere safe, fun and affordable for  parents.  So much has been achieved in raising standards across the board, it does seem churlish  of me to hark back to the "olden days" 😂

A few things from the 'olden days' were actually pretty good!

[louby loo]

42 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

A few things from the 'olden days' were actually pretty good!

We seemed to have moved back to a few!   Our children really have settled so much better without the parents hanging about 🙀

How was your day yesterday ? (other than snow that is!).  I  have just heard there is a confirmed case at one of our local primary schools (we're between two) .......  We haven't been told formally - just the local grapevine 😬🤣.  We've come so far I just want to get through this week now.  (plus I have just ordered all the party food for Friday 😳)

[sunnyday]

3 minutes ago, louby loo said:

We seemed to have moved back to a few!   Our children really have settled so much better without the parents hanging about 🙀

How was your day yesterday ? (other than snow that is!).  I  have just heard there is a confirmed case at one of our local primary schools (we're between two) .......  We haven't been told formally - just the local grapevine 😬🤣.  We've come so far I just want to get through this week now.  (plus I have just ordered all the party food for Friday 😳)

We actually had a brilliant session, thanks for asking

Have decided that we are going to plough on to end of term unless anything drastic happens, did have confirmation late yesterday evening that the brother of one of our little girls has now tested positive (poor love) their little girl has been self-isolating along with rest of family since he started with symptoms on Tuesday, one family have taken their child out because he has grandparents at home I completely understand their decision

We don't finish until Friday 18th so two more weeks to get through - we will see, staff team happy to carry on at the moment

[finleysmaid]

On 05/12/2020 at 07:56, Mouseketeer said:

Brilliant! We took about £950 on ours less some gift aid people added that we can’t include, PayPal fees and a bit of outlay like the lotteries licence we expect to clear £850 which is 4x what we would have made on normal Xmas raffle.

i

Amazing . How much are paypal fees as a matter of interest? 

are you spending on anything in particular?  Ive organised a couple of experiences for next term as children haven't been able to visit farms etc 

Lotterylicence £25 so i have to take that off ...everything else donated. I really think people wanted a bit of normality. Selling tickets in advance (printed) works SO much better if anyone is thinking about doing it.

I'm really interested in this fairer funding charge...Our borough will not entertain it, i'm just wondering how it's ok in other boroughs ? anyone any help or advice on this ?? (please read this as intended that it is asking for info NOT having a go🙄)

[Mouseketeer]

56 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

Amazing . How much are paypal fees as a matter of interest? 

are you spending on anything in particular?  Ive organised a couple of experiences for next term as children haven't been able to visit farms etc 

Lotterylicence £25 so i have to take that off ...everything else donated. I really think people wanted a bit of normality. Selling tickets in advance (printed) works SO much better if anyone is thinking about doing it.

I'm really interested in this fairer funding charge...Our borough will not entertain it, i'm just wondering how it's ok in other boroughs ? anyone any help or advice on this ?? (please read this as intended that it is asking for info NOT having a go🙄)

PayPal fees cost us 20p per transaction +1.4% (the £1 donations were costly), you can’t just run a raffle through PayPal though so had to find a platform that would allow a raffle and there weren’t many of those, we came across ‘total giving’ eventually and setting it up as a charity was free, (we had to include everything that should be on a ticket in the blurb) you then had to choose a payment option from 3 (I hadn’t  heard of a couple so stuck with PayPal).

FFC - It does seem unfair that some counties are still dead against making a consumables charge when they’re clearly not giving us enough, my county tell parents to expect it now on the parent funding agreement terms, we say it covers snack, seasonal activity supplies, visitors, we supply waterproofs, at the moment it’s all the extra cleaning products we are getting through. Our charge doesn’t cover the difference lost between hourly funding rate and fee rate but it will be  an extra 1.5k on the Spring 2021 term, some are just charging the difference end of. 
what will your county do if you introduce it? 

I keep reading the living wage is going up by 19p an hour but funding only 8p an hour, I wonder how some  manage their budgets when they can’t work out 1x 19p an hour against 8 x 8p an hour is still a profit 🤔 

 

[louby loo]

2 hours ago, finleysmaid said:

I'm really interested in this fairer funding charge...Our borough will not entertain it, i'm just wondering how it's ok in other boroughs ? anyone any help or advice on this ?? (please read this as intended that it is asking for info NOT having a go🙄)

I haven't actually given that any thought.  I've just told parents we now have a 25p a day fairer funding fee to cover - snacks,  craft activities, and extra cleaning. 

Meaning I haven't actually checked whether or not this is allowed in our LA, although I think I vaguely remember reading someone we could ask for donations but not make them pay it?    

Edited December 6, 2020 by louby loo

[finleysmaid]

thanks guys. We are allowed to charge for extras i guess it is the terminology that is used that the council would object too and we HAVE to make it clear it is voluntary. We do ask for a hire fee for waterproofs (don't give them much choice but SSSHHHHH!) The answer to what would they do, is that they reserve the right to remove funding i think if i remember the blurb! 😬 we were due an audit this year but they have no staff left so doubt if this will happen!

[sunnyday]

Well done the to the rafflers! 

Have just sent a letter to all of my parents - we are going to finish this Friday (instead of 18th) - I need to be ruled by head and not my heart......the family with one confirmed case, now has three confirmed cases, all young boys all coping well thankfully, he cheerfully told me they can come out of isolation 14th December and my heart sank - rightly or wrongly I don't want their little girl back this side of Christmas, so that was it for me decision made

 

[Mouseketeer]

39 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

Well done the to the rafflers! 

Have just sent a letter to all of my parents - we are going to finish this Friday (instead of 18th) - I need to be ruled by head and not my heart......the family with one confirmed case, now has three confirmed cases, all young boys all coping well thankfully, he cheerfully told me they can come out of isolation 14th December and my heart sank - rightly or wrongly I don't want their little girl back this side of Christmas, so that was it for me decision made

 

Well done on being brave enough to take the decision to close this Friday 🎩 of to you, was waiting on a result to know if even opening tomorrow but thankfully that has come back negative.

[finleysmaid]

1 hour ago, sunnyday said:

Well done the to the rafflers! 

Have just sent a letter to all of my parents - we are going to finish this Friday (instead of 18th) - I need to be ruled by head and not my heart......the family with one confirmed case, now has three confirmed cases, all young boys all coping well thankfully, he cheerfully told me they can come out of isolation 14th December and my heart sank - rightly or wrongly I don't want their little girl back this side of Christmas, so that was it for me decision made

 

good idea. Well done you. enjoy a little rest if you can and stock up on vitamins for next term!😘

[sunnyday]

33 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

Well done on being brave enough to take the decision to close this Friday 🎩 of to you, was waiting on a result to know if even opening tomorrow but thankfully that has come back negative.

Thanks for the support mousie, so pleased that result was negative, have just had copy of the latest letter that the school have sent to parents - it is now only Y4 unaffected - scary stuff 

[sunnyday]

1 minute ago, finleysmaid said:

good idea. Well done you. enjoy a little rest if you can and stock up on vitamins for next term!😘

Thanks fm - crossed posts there

[sunnyday]

The school have such a good system set up - a text message comes through saying 'urgent check your emails' - I must work out how to do that

[louby loo]

1 hour ago, sunnyday said:

Well done the to the rafflers! 

Have just sent a letter to all of my parents - we are going to finish this Friday (instead of 18th) - I need to be ruled by head and not my heart......the family with one confirmed case, now has three confirmed cases, all young boys all coping well thankfully, he cheerfully told me they can come out of isolation 14th December and my heart sank - rightly or wrongly I don't want their little girl back this side of Christmas, so that was it for me decision made

 

Good decision 😁   I'm pretty sure if we weren't actually  finishing this Friday- we would, like you choose- to mainly for the staff's mental health and wellbeing. I would happily pay back the funding if need be. It's been a hard half term and we're all getting old!

We have schools in some parts of Essex asking to close Friday but they are not getting government approval.  

[sunnyday]

33 minutes ago, louby loo said:

Good decision 😁   I'm pretty sure if we weren't actually  finishing this Friday- we would, like you choose- to mainly for the staff's mental health and wellbeing. I would happily pay back the funding if need be. It's been a hard half term and we're all getting old!

We have schools in some parts of Essex asking to close Friday but they are not getting government approval.  

Thanks louby - I asked LA for advice last week and was told that I can't close - oh well, I am not known for following orders!

I really don't give a flying flamingo about funding, will repay that if that's what is required

[zigzag]

3 hours ago, sunnyday said:

Well done the to the rafflers! 

Have just sent a letter to all of my parents - we are going to finish this Friday (instead of 18th) - I need to be ruled by head and not my heart......the family with one confirmed case, now has three confirmed cases, all young boys all coping well thankfully, he cheerfully told me they can come out of isolation 14th December and my heart sank - rightly or wrongly I don't want their little girl back this side of Christmas, so that was it for me decision made

 

Great decision, I wish you luck for the coming week. Xx

[louby loo]

I'm beginning to loose patience with some of our parents 😬.  

We have got so far without any incidence - all good.....

However, now our local school as cases and some parents are seriously taking the micky.  'Isolating siblings' were today climbing all over the railings by our doorway at collection time- and one parent was a bit miffed when she found out that the sibling would not be able to see our Father Christmas on Friday!!!  She then asked if a member of staff would be available to look after said sibling while she saw Santa with her younger child. ... Erm- NO!!!

We have worked so hard to ensure we have a safe party and  Santa visit- I'm now at the point were I just want to cancel the whole thing.  Some (most) parents have been respectful and fantastic .... it's just those 2 or 3 p**** takers.

Rant over ..... just 9 hours of contact time to go. 😳 I just want my staff to happy a safe, healthy break. Most have been very low contact with their own families for the whole of the term.

[Panders]

😁 always is just the one or two parents - they don't take on board why there are restrictions of any type.   One should pity their ignorance I suppose.   

calming breaths Louby - so very nearly there!