Supervisor’s Blog
Supervisor s blog
Supervisors Blog 17/05/13
Cannot quite believe how quickly this term is zipping by, one more week until the break, I think our children will be glad to have a week’s holiday.
We have been very busy once again in club this term.
We have planted some carrot seeds which when I checked yesterday are just beginning to sprout. The plan is that we will have them for snack before the end of term 6!
The children have been enjoying the freedom of the school field with lots of secret clubs and dens.
We also indulged in a little May pole dancing
Inside Wendy has been planting cress and encouraging knitting and weaving. The older children have been taking apart an old car radio though this is more brute force at times with a hammer than investigative.
This is a very good activity supervised of course as it allows the children to use tools they may not otherwise use and allows them to release any pent up energy.
The usual activities painting, drawing, play dough, dressing up remain as popular as ever.
Wimpy kid two has been the film of choice this term. We are currently reviewing the rules with the children.
Mandy and the team
Supervisors Blog 19th April 2013
Welcome back to the new term.
We are looking forward to being able to spend lots more time outside as the weather finally gets warmer!
This term we are going to have a few theme days, we will be celebrating St Georges day with traditional English food. We have a large painted dragon and will be looking for a Knight!
We will have a French food themed week later on in the term.
We want the children to feel as at home as possible at club, so if they would like to bring clothes to change into after school we would be happy to accommodate this.
The children in club this week have been enjoying the table football /snooker table kindly donated by Mrs Appleton.
Den building, play dough and dressing up have also been very popular.
We have finally got our replacement notice board so will resume putting a weekly menu up, this does sometimes vary from week to week but we do try to stick to the same menu, but vary the days.
Amanda Baker and the ASC team
Supervisors Blog 12/10/12
Welcome back to the After School clubs second year.
We have had a number of staff changes over the summer.
Molly Noble has left for university and paediatric nursing. Judith Taylor has a job working for the charity Compassion and Fiona Revely left earlier this term. Fiona is studying Christian counselling.
We welcome Rupert Appleton to the team. Rupert is at Bennett Memorial studying A levels.
You may have seen or tripped over! A large notice board in the hall, we will be putting things on it which we hope will be of interest so please do read it.
You will have been asked to sign a parent agreement with your child which the staff will also countersign, we would be very grateful if you could do this, we have talked to the children about this and the importance of boundaries.
We have also introduced a different theme for each month which we will base some activities around.
Our weekly menus are on a three week rotation; we are looking at removing the crumpet option for something a little more filling. Following on from our berry breakfast we are also going to do some themed breakfasts, [any excuse for food!]
We are also going to be looking at changing the club routine as the winter evenings draw near. As a team we would like to have a very short altogether time with the children and introduce games in the hall after tea, with a quieter zone in the community room.
This year we are going to introduce a “buddy system” for the reception and year one and two children. Each of our juniors has been “buddied” up with one or two children from year R, one or two.
Year one and two do not really need a buddy but we thought it would be nice for them to have a slightly older child looking out for them.We hope that this will help the children to get to know each other a little better
We have been making the most of the days when the sun is shining to play outside.
Indoors Origami, den making, painting and making car ramps have been the popular choices!
Mandy Baker
Supervisor’s blog Friday 9th March 2012
It has been a very busy time in after school club these last couple of weeks.
We now have lots of space and shelving in our walk in cupboard and are busy labelling all the drawers so the children able to find things more easily.
We are beginning to collect sports equipment and have been able to go outside after tea which has been a real treat.
Activities the children are enjoying at the moment are the ever popular Hama beads. Making medieval weaponry, [this tends to be more male orientated] and involves lots of masking tape and sellotape. While this is not a planned craft activity; I would not know where to begin! It fires their imagination.
They have also been making football player finger puppets s with Fiona on a Tuesday. We have several teams now, almost enough for a tournament! This week there were also some footballers wives, they were very glittery!
Origami has been in evidence this week, some of the boys started to make swans out of paper, this then grew into a swan lake, as the week has progressed frogs have been added. The lake is now surrounded by an urban development of houses and a railway station!
Fun times!
Mandy Baker
10th February 2012
It seems hardly any time at all since Christmas and here we are at the end of term three.
This term at after school club we have tried to incorporate the theme of space into our craft activities. The craft activities are popular and the children help themselves from a variety of materials. We are encouraging the children to help with tidying up after tea. As most parents collect after the majority of our activities are cleared away. I thought it might be helpful to give a brief outline of our structure.
The children are offered a snack of fruit or a rice cake when they come in; they choose what they would like to do, drawing and craft activities are always out and they are encouraged to use them freely.
We have tea then tidy up some of the messier activities. The children can choose to use the community room or play more robust games in the hall. We are looking at introducing a slightly more structured approach with adult led games after tea; or a quieter option in the library.
This week we have enjoyed the snowy weather on the field, we are looking forward to the lighter evenings when we will be able to play outside for longer.
We would value your comments on the after school club and any suggestion you may have. There is a book for parent comments on the table at the club. We are still looking at ways to improve the coat and bag storage to make it easier for parents to locate their Childs things. We do seem to have acquired some hats, scarf’s and gloves which would love to be reunited with their owners! Please do check when you collect your child
Mandy.
16th December
Hello and happy Christmas from St James after School Club.
Well we have completed term two and Christmas is almost upon us. We have had a relatively quiet week at club this week. Although we did plan to have party food and party activities, the children have had such a hectic school week that we decided to keep it as calm at club as possible as the children are so tired.
We have had sausage and chips and angel delight this week, it is almost Christmas after all! The Christmas word searches and colouring have been well used. DVDs and laptops have also seen good use this week.
Thank you for the support you have shown us since September. We hope you all have a happy and peaceful Christmas and we will see you next year.
Mandy Baker
Christmas has come to ASC this week, causing great excitement.
We have a small rather lavishly decorated tree which is added to daily with a lovely eclectic mix of paper art and other creations.
The star chart system is working well; we have many enthusiastic volunteers at tidy and washing up time.
Ten stars will earn a small reward. We are encouraging positive behaviour where ever possible. At the end of a school day the children can be very tired which at times has a negative effect on behaviour.
We are not able to go out as much at the moment but we do go outside for a short while everyday weather permitting. We have been going out before school to run off any high spirits!
The star system is encouraging them to work together. Stars are awarded for kind and thoughtful behaviour as well as tidying up!
We are hoping to purchase some large boxes to put the school bags into as the pegs become very crowded and all the bags are green!
We were able to buy some cds this week. ASC now reverberates to the sounds of JLS and One Direction.
In the week s leading up to Christmas we will continue to make decorations and Christmas type crafts. The last week of term we hope to l have party type activities all week, as well quieter options for the more tired or less excited!
Mandy Baker
Supervisors blog 18/11/11
Another week gone the time really does seem to fly past, we are now well into the second term. Things are progressing well; the children now all seem to be settled at the club. We have been making use of the community room as a quieter area for board games and non messy craft activities.
I thought it might be useful to explain the daily after school timetable as I am aware that when the children are collected a lot of the activities may have been put away. At the start of the afternoon the children have a drink if they like and a piece of fruit, there are not usually many “takers” for this unless there is a biscuit on offer then everyone is hungry!
The children then have the opportunity weather permitting to go outside and “let off steam” f they wish.
We have a activity in the hall, this week we have iced biscuits, made stained glass windows and we are currently decorating sweetie jars for the schools Christmas fair in a couple of weeks time.
We always have games and colouring available and the children are able to help themselves to most things from the cupboard. The laptops are very popular. We were lucky enough to be given a pinball machine which the children love; the staff are not so keen!
We aim to have our tea at 4.30, but this does not always happen. After tea we are now clearing away some of the activities so we can do other things. This week we have been watching Happy Feet and might have even finished by 6.00 tonight. We are encouraging the children to tidy and help with the clearing away, just as they would at home. They are fairly cheerful helpers mostly!
We are also slightly changing our reward and strike system. Each child will now have a star chart with a certain number of “stars already on it, they will then add to it every time they do something kind or helpful.
The strike system remains only after each strike they will now lose a star. We are hoping that we will have a lot more stars than strikes. Each child starts each session with no strikes, even if they had three strikes at breakfast it would not carry over to after school.
It has been brought to my attention that the school fair is on a Friday this year. Obviously the children will want to go so we will build that into the session.
Please do not hesitate to speak to any of us at the club if you have any concerns.
Mandy Baker
Supervisors blog 21/10/11
We have completed our first term [or half term] we have now established a working routine and the children seem to know us fairly well and seem happy and confident in our company which is great.
We have been fortunate that the weather has been so good we have been able to go outside with the children to run off energy after a hard days concentrating at school.
This week we made leaf pictures very successfully and attempted origami very unsuccessfully, though the children do make great paper aeroplanes. The scalextrix is set up most days though frustratingly the cars spend most of the time in the pits.
Craft activities are very popular with the children, we put out the materials and they produce some amazing pictures, we have quite an art display on the wall in our “cupboard”
Junk modelling has proved a popular activity this week.
We are very grateful to the school for the use of three laptops and the television.
Last night [Thursday] Ruth brought in a DVD called Wimpy Kid which was a nice treat too watch, that and Pizza. As well!
We hope you have a good break and see you in term 2!
Mandy Baker
Supervisor’s blog 14/10/11
This week saw the arrival of the small air hockey table which has been much enjoyed; we have continued to spend as much time outside as we can. When indoors we have had use of the library and our vintage play station, [very good at teaching patience as it is rather slow to load.]
The laptops are also in use, more popular with the younger children who enjoy word and number shark. I will purchase a memory stick so art work or writing can be saved to print out at a later date. We now have a homework box with pens, geometry sets and other homework related items for any children wishing to do their work while at the club.
Our craft activities have had an autumnal theme with leaf pictures in many shapes and forms; we used our new painting aprons to good effect this week! Junk modelling has seen some interesting creations and the play dough has again been well used.
Mandy Baker
Supervisors blog 7/10/11
We have had the painting out this week; it started out as potato printing and ended up as egg box painting or anything else that fired their imagination. If you received an orange child home my apologies! And we now have painting aprons which is very good news.
We have so much artwork now that we are going to put unclaimed pieces on the wall in the After School cupboard our own exclusive art exhibition.
There has been a lot of den building this week including a hammock.
The CD player continues to be very popular, if anyone has any unwanted children’s CDs or music suitable for children we would be very happy to receive it, There is only so many times you can listen to Jesse J in an afternoon.!
We now have use of the community room and this will be used as a quiet area, somewhere for games and homework or reading. We are also able to use the television.
The arrival of a play station one brought in by Judith has caused great joy among many this week. This is initially only for the use of the juniors, to give them something different from the infants.
The use of this will be restricted to 10 minute turns and is dependent on positive behaviour. We have started our reward system and are pleased to report that we have given out more tickets than strikes which is great.
Mandy Baker
Supervisors blog 30/09/11
Another busy week in after school club, we have been making the most of the fine weather, spending a lot of time on the field.
The children appear to have settled well, we have been discussing ideas for things they would like to do in the future and we now have a long list!
We were given a CD player by Mrs Shackleton a decision she may regret! Children never seem to get tired of their favourite songs.
Painting and glitter has proved very popular we have a lot of artwork now!
Food wise fish fingers and beans followed by popcorn was hugely popular!
We hope to purchase some more sports equipment very soon. There have been requests for Rugby balls and Uni hoc equipment.
This week we have been talking with the children about the need for rules and boundaries, we have come up with a strike system very similar to St James Urban saints, this is on the club notice board.
The reward system for good/kind behaviour will work on a ticket system, a ticket will be given for good, kind or helpful behaviour we hope to give a lot of these out! The tickets will be placed in box and every week a ticket will be picked the name on the ticket gets a small prize. We have had to rein the children in a lot on this one!
Prizes will be something like a packet of stickers or a novelty pencil no Xboxes as someone suggested or trips too Disney land!
Mandy Baker
Supervisor’s blog September 16th
It is hard too believe that we have completed two weeks already.
We are all getting into a routine now and the children appear relaxed in our
company as they get to know us.
We have been able to use the field this week as the weather has been good. The
children go out if they wish too after they have had a drink.
Tea is as ever very popular with a fish finger frenzy yesterday! The children have
been choosing and reading the grace prayer before tea, we have had a wide variety
and length of graces this week!
Activities wise we have been painting. Play dough has been popular with all age
groups. Fiona spent a very happy session on Tuesday making a puppet theatre out
of cardboard with some of the children. Paper aeroplane making is a popular activity
with fine specimens flying all over the hall. Ruth has been leading some indoor ball
games, and lively games of “It” outdoors.
We have been given a CD player now and will be able to play the high school
musical twister game.
The hall will I am sure be ringing with the dulcet tones of Troy and Gabriella!
Mandy Baker
We have now completed our first week at After School Club and it has gone well.
We know that that spaghetti on toast is very popular and bananas are not. Dodge ball is fun parachutes games are boring!
We have concentrated on getting to know each other this week. We have talked about boundaries and come up with a set of rules not too many but enough so the club is fun for everyone.
We have talked about what the children would like to do; some very achievable such as cooking; some achievable one day like a laptop or a wii; some not achievable like a swimming pool!
The play dough was popular with all, next week we may well have the paint out! Every day we have drawing, a cosy corner and games out. Most of the children have been playing outside on the field and playground.
We will be having an ideas board for the children to write or draw what they would like to do and we will see what we can achieve!.
Mandy Baker club supervisor