Previous News Items

27th February 2012

Thursday 1st March is World Book Day - join Petra in toy library on this day for some special activities. Our toy library runs every Thursday at the Children's Centre from 10.00am until 12.00pm. We are delighted that on Thursday 8th March, Michelle Lloyd from Stevenage Library will be visiting us in toy library and delivering a short story session at 11.00am.

This week our Early Years Network will be meeting at the Children's Centre - giving our local pre-schools, day nurseries and school nurseries the opportunity to meet up and share ideas and good practice, and discuss ways that we can all continue to work together to support families living in the Bridge Road Children's Centre area.

Finally, on Thursday an advisor from HCC's Family Finance Project will be visiting the Children's Centre. This project has been funded by Children's Services to provide welfare benefits and debt advice to families in Stevenage. The service is free and confidential. If you would like to book an appointment please telephone the Children's Centre - 01438 202692.

20th February 2012

This week is the final week that Hertfordshire County Council will be carrying out their Parent Satisfaction Survey - if you haven't already done so, please could we ask you to spare 10 minutes to complete the online survey - this gives you the opportunity to share your thoughts and comments about Hertfordshire children's centres and helps the Council understand how satisfied parents are with the services provided and make improvements if necessary. If you provide your name and contact details at the end of the survey you will be entered into a prize draw - to begin the survey please click this link - Parent satisfaction survey.

We are delighted that this week a new toddler group will be opening in our children's centre area - the group will run every Wednesday afternoon from 1.00pm until 2.30pm at Symonds Green Community Centre. We wish the group's volunteers the very best of luck with their new group!! For more details please contact the Children's Centre, or go along to the group on Wednesday.

Woodlands Pre-School & Nursery will be offering afternoon sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays for 2 year olds starting from Monday 27th February. Afternoon sessions already run on these days for 3 year olds and above. For more details contact Woodlands Pre-School & Nursery on 01438 746398 or visit their website www.woodlandspsn.co.uk.

Don't forget to join Sarah and Lindsey this Wednesday morning at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery from 9.30am until 11.00am for a FREE drop in activity session. For more details please contact the Children's Centre.

13th February 2012

Don't forget that we are open as usual this week!

It looks as though the weather may be warming up slightly after last week, however it is important that we all keep warm and stay well and we have been asked to look out for individuals or families who may be at risk or vulnerable because of the cold weather - if you know of anyone who may need some help or support at this time, with paying heating bills or installing emergency draught-proofing or heaters for example, please contact Hertshelp on 0300 123 4044 (local rate) or visit their website www.hertsdirect.org/hertshelp.

Healthy Start - FREE vitamin drops for children under 5 and vitamin tablets for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are now available at Bridge Road Children's Centre. Simply bring your Healthy Start vitamin coupon along to the Centre and exchange for the drops/tablets.

Finally, a date for your diary. Join us for a fun Spring themed activity session on Wednesday 22nd February at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery, Pound Avenue, Stevenage, SG1 3JA. The session is FREE and runs from 9.30am until 11.00am - everyone welcome!

6th February 2012

Next week is half-term and although the Children's Centre will be open as normal all week, please note that there will be no toy library at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School on Monday 13th February.

Are you are parent aged 22 or under living in the Bridge Road Children's Centre catchment area? Please join us for lunch and some fun activities this Friday 10th February here at the Children's Centre from 1.00pm-3.00pm. Find out what is on offer here at the Centre for you and your family and make some new friends!

Parent Satisfaction Survey - please could we ask you to spare 10 minutes to complete Hertfordshire County Council's online survey - this gives you the opportunity to share your thoughts and comments about Hertfordshire children's centres and helps the Council understand how satisfied parents are with the services provided and make improvements if necessary. If you provide your name and contact details at the end of the survey you will be entered into a prize draw - to begin the survey please click this link - Parent satisfaction survey. (For more details about this survey please read the attached letter).

30th January 2012

The weather is getting colder this week - we would like to remind you all that if local schools are forced to close at any point over the coming weeks due to heavy snow, it is important to visit our website before visiting the Children's Centre to check that we are open.

Little Stars Toddler Group at Symonds Green Community Centre has now closed but we are delighted to tell you that we will be working with a local parent to re-open the group on Wednesday 22nd February. A member of staff from the Children's Centre will be at the group each week, helping to run the group, but also there to see how the Children's Centre can support local families. The group will run from 1.00pm to 2.30pm each Wednesday and we look forward to welcoming families to the group! More information to follow on our website over the next few weeks.

A reminder that Lily's Day Nursery is holding an Open Evening on Wednesday 8th February from 5.30pm until 7.00pm - if you would like to visit please confirm your attendance by contacting 01438 842233 or text 'Open Evening' and your name to 07546 570631.

Finally, we now have a Comments Box located in our Children's Centre foyer - whether you are a parent, grandparent, carer or early years setting, if you have something you would like to tell us you can post your comments in the box next time you are in the Children's Centre. Alternatively you can always send us an email to the above address.

23rd January 2012

Join us this week as we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Dragon here at Bridge Road Children's Centre! We have a Chinese New Year drop in activity session taking place at the Children's Centre on Wednesday morning from 9.30am until 11.00am, please do come along! We are looking forward to welcoming staff and children from both Woodlands Pre-School & Nursery and Lily's Day Nursery who have asked if they can join us for this event.

This Thursday evening, from 7.00pm - 9.00pm, we are holding our first Parents' Network of the year - this takes the place of our ealier Parents' Forums - and, carrying on with our Chinese New Year celebrations, parents will have the opportunity to help prepare and taste some simple dishes and meet other local parents. This event is only open to families living in the Bridge Road Children's Centre catchment area. Places are limited and must be pre-booked - to book a place, please contact Lucy at the Children's Centre (please note this event is for adults only and we do not provide a creche for evening activities).

This week a representative from Hertfordshire County Council's Family Finance Project will be visiting our New Start and Movers and Shakers groups - if you are a family living in Stevenage and would like to make an appointment with an advisor from the Project please contact Lucy at the Children's Centre.

Finally, staff from the Children's Centre are looking forward to joining staff from early years settings across our Children's Centre area for an "outdoor spaces" training session on Wednesday evening at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery - as the session will be outside we are all keeping our fingers crossed for dry weather!!

16th January 2012

From this Thursday, Toy Library will be operating at its new earlier opening times of 10.00am until 12.00 and this week families will be able to make gloop within our Thursday Toy Library session. If you haven't already visited our Toy Library please do pop along! If you are not able to visit on Thursday, please remember that we run a second Toy Library session every Monday (during term time) at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School from 9.30am until 10.30am.

If your child was born between 1st September 2008 and 31st August 2009 you will shortly be able to apply for a nursery place for September 2012. You can apply online from Monday 20th February 2012 at www.hertsdirect.org/nurseryadmissions. The application deadline date is Sunday 1st April 2012.

Finally, a date for your diary - we are having a drop-in Chinese New Year activity session here at the Children's Centre on Wednesday 25th January from 9.30am until 11.00am. Please join us to find out more about Chinese New Year and enjoy some traditional activities!

9th January 2012

Important information about Toy Library - we have taken the decision to change the opening times of our toy library session that operates every Thursday here at the Children's Centre. From Thursday 19th January our new opening times will be 10.00am until 12.00pm. This enables us to free up our community room in the afternoons for other Children's Centre services. We will shortly be writing out to toy library members about these changes. If you are an early years setting that currently uses our toy library facility, please do not worry as these changes will include some new arrangements for settings which we hope will make things easier for you to use resources from our library.

Please don't forget that there is no rhyme time session this Thursday!

Staff at Lily's Day Nursery have asked us to let all our families know about an Open Evening they are holding on Wednesday 8th February from 5.30pm until 7.00pm. If you would like to attend please let them know on 01438 842233 or text 'Open Evening' and your name to 07546 570631.

Finally, if your child was born between 1st September 2007 and 31st August 2008 you need to apply for a school reception place by this Friday 15th January!! You can apply online now at www.hertsdirect.org/admissions. If you do not have internet access at home or need help with making an application please contact us.

2nd January 2012

A Happy New Year to all our families!

Bridge Road Children's Centre re-opens this week after our Christmas break. We are closed for staff training on Tuesday 3rd January, but baby clinic will operate as usual.

There will be no adult numeracy and literacy courses this week. Rhyme Time and Toy Library will be running on Thursday 5th January and New Start and Movers and Shakers will be running on Friday 6th January.

Rhyme Time - Please note that there is no rhyme time session on Thursday 12th January. We are currently in the process of recruiting a new member of staff to join our team but in the meantime Sarah will continue to run our rhyme time sessions as often as possible. There may be times, however, when Sarah is not available due to other commitments and so we may have to cancel the session. Please check the diary page on our website each week to see if the session is running.

Please keep watching our website for details of events we are planning for this term!

19th and 26th December 2011

Bridge Road Children's Centre will be closed for the next two weeks. We reopen on Wednesday 4th January 2012.

Baby clinic will not run on 20th or 27th December but will operate as usual from the Children's Centre on Tuesday 3rd January. For information or advice you can contact your health visiting and school nurse team during normal working hours (North team 01438 737792). During bank holidays health related advice can be obtained from NHS Direct 0845 4647.

Merry Christmas from all the team here at the Children's Centre - we look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year!

12th December 2011

Thank you to those of you who visited the Christmas Tree Festival and voted for our tree - following the Festival Finale on Saturday evening, Helen and Lucy took the tree to Scarborough House in Symonds Green. The residents there were absolutely delighted to receive it! Scarborough House is a residential care home for adults with learning disabilities.

The Children's Centre will close at 12.30pm this Friday 16th December for the Christmas holiday period. The baby clinic which operates here on Tuesdays will not be running on 20th or 27th December. Baby clinics will operate at Southgate Health Centre on 20th December and The Oval Community Centre on 21st December. Due to staff training on 3rd January, the Children's Centre will re-open on Wednesday 4th January 2012 (baby clinic will be open on 3rd January at the Children's Centre).

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Jo this month as she is leaving the Children's Centre. Jo has worked here for over 3 years and she will be greatly missed by families and Children's Centre staff. We wish Jo all the best for the future.

And finally, all the staff here at Bridge Road Children's Centre would like to wish all our families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

5th December 2011

This Wednesday the Toddler Groups Initiative is holding their Toddler Groups Forum here and we look forward to welcoming them to the Children's Centre.

Our Christmas tree will be going down to Holy Trinity Church tomorrow to take its place in the Stevenage Christmas Tree Festival. Please do pop along and look at the trees - you will have the opportunity to vote for your favourite ones! For details of the Festival opening times please look at last week's news.

There will be no rhyme time session this week as the infant school hall is being used for school Christmas productions - rhyme time will run as usual on Thursday 15th December and this will be our last session of 2011.

28th November 2011

Our toy library at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School will reopen this week - for the next few Mondays until the Children's Centre shuts down for two weeks over the Christmas period the toy library will operate every Monday from 9.30am until 10.30am. Our Thursday toy library opening times remain the same - 11.00am until 1.00pm. Please keep an eye on the website for details of opening times in the New Year!

Thank you to all those families who came and helped us decorate the Children's Centre on Friday - everywhere is now looking very festive and we now have two beautiful Christmas trees, one of which will be going on to Holy Trinity Church next week to take its place in the Stevenage Christmas Tree Festival.

The Christmas Tree Festival will take place at Holy Trinity Church in the High Street from Wednesday 7th until Saturday 10th December. Opening times: 7th & 8th December - 12.00 noon - 8.00pm, 9th December 12.00 noon - 6.00pm and 10th December 10.00am until 4.30pm.

21st November 2011

Join us on Friday for our Christmas Decs Day! The event will run from 9.00am - 2.00pm and until 9.30am breakfast will be available in the Children's Centre. Come and help us decorate the Children's Centre for Christmas and have fun with your under 5s. This year we will be entering a decorated tree into the Christmas Tree Festival which takes place at Holy Trinity Church from 7th-10th December - we will be decorating our tree on Decs Day.

From this Thursday 24th November our rhyme time sessions will return to one session only which will run from 10.00am until 10.40am. Please read the attached letter which has been sent out to all families who have attended our rhyme time sessions since September.

14th November 2011

We are delighted that our rhyme time sessions this Thursday will be led by Jane from Herts Music Service - our rhyme time sessions take place every Thursday at 10.00am and 10.50am. Please arrive a little before the start to allow everyone to get settled before the session begins - if you arrive late for the 10.00am session, or the session is already full, please come round to the Children's Centre.

This week's childminder network group is not taking place due to staff training which is taking place in the Children's Centre - the date of the next childminder network is Wednesday 30th November.

Finally, Sarah is currently after re-cycleable bottles with large necks to use in the children's centre, such as fabric conditioner bottles. If you have any used, clean bottles which we can use please bring them round to the Children's Centre.

7th November 2011

Our Monday toy library session at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School will open this week from 9.30am until 10.30am. As we are still not able to resume our usual service, we will be closing the Monday toy library session for the next couple of weeks - please keep an eye on our website for an update on this service. Don't forget that your membership is also valid at our toy library here at the children's centre which runs every Thursday from 11.00am until 1.00pm.

Please join Sarah, Petra and Lindsey this Wednesday 9th November at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School for a FREE drop-in craft and story session - this session's story will be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The event runs from 9.00am until 11.00am.

This week we will be welcoming our Partner groups and settings to the children's centre; our Partnership meets three times a year and gives our early years settings, local health team, police localilty team, toddler groups and other groups that work with families with children under 5 in our local area the opportunity to meet up and discuss ways that we can all continue to work together to support local families. In addition to this our early years settings will also be attending a speech and language training session together here at the children's centre on Thursday afternoon as part of our ongoing joint Communication Project.

31st October 2011

Our toy library service at Letchmore Infants' and Nursery School will not operate as usual this week due to staff sickness, but we hope to be back up and running next Monday when the toy library will be open from 9.30am until 10.30am. We plan to resume our usual service as soon as we are able. We do apologise for any inconvenience or disappointment but please remember that your membership is also valid at our toy library service on Thursdays at the children's centre. Why not pop along and see us at the children's centre between 11.00am and 1.00pm! Please don't forget that because of staff training there will be no rhyme time and toy library sessions this Thursday 3rd November.

24th October 2011

This week we are celebrating the Hindu festival of Diwali here at the children's centre - please join us on Monday 24th October between 10.00am and 2.00pm for a Diwali Celebration - come and find out more about this colourful festival of lights!

We are open as usual over half-term and if you are looking for something to do with your family please come along to the children's centre on Wednesday 26th October between 10.00am and 12.00pm and join us for an Autumn walk and activity session - whatever the weather!

A note for your diaries - there will be no rhyme time sessions or toy library running on Thursday 3rd November 2011.

Finally, we would like to wish our families a very Happy Diwali!!

17th October 2011

Thank you to all those families who joined Sarah, Lindsey and Jo last Wednesday at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery for The Bad Tempered Ladybird story and craft session. We had some good feedback from families about this session.

We will be open during half-term and in addition to our usual activities we will be having a Diwali celebration on Monday 24th October here at the Children’s Centre – the activity session is FREE for families with a child under 5. There is no need to book – just come along!

Finally, thank you to those of you that have completed and returned one of our Summer holiday questionnaires – if you haven’t already done so please return your questionnaire to us by Friday 21st October. The prize draw will take place during half-term.

10th October 2011

There are some important changes to our rhyme time session from this week – please visit the what’s on page!

We are trying out some different activities on Wednesday mornings as lots of you have told us that you would like more activities for young children in the local area in the morning. Over the next few months we will be out and about in the Old Town and Symonds Green starting with an activity session at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery this Wednesday 12th October from 9.00am-11.00am. We will have craft and music activities and will be seeking your views as to the types of activities and venues you would like. Why not give it a try!

On Monday this week we are delighted to welcome The Learning Zone Pre-School and their families to the children’s centre when they come for a trip to see us. We are hoping to meet some new families who will then use the children’s centre with their children.

Our numeracy and literacy courses are going well – if you think you will be interested in attending one of these courses in the future please let us know as we hold interest lists and book courses when we have enough people interested.

3rd October 2011

This week we are looking forward to welcoming both the morning and afternoon nursery children from Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School who will be visiting the children’s centre during the week to take part in a fun story and craft session.

Don’t forget to join Jo and Sarah for a FREE story and craft session at Fairlands Primary School & Nursery on Wednesday 12th October between 9.00am and 11.00am – this session’s story will be The Bad Tempered Ladybird.

Finally, our Autumn programmes will be going out to registered families this week and through all our partner settings. We have some exciting things planned for this term and look forward to seeing you all over the coming months!

26th September 2011

We have been asked to let our families know about Dads & Kids Utd – which is a club for dads and kids from 0-18 years which runs every Saturday morning from 10.30am until 1.30pm at The Nobel School in Mobbsbury Way Stevenage.

If you have ever had a baby who has spent time in the neo-natal why not come along to the children’s centre on Monday morning this week between 10.00am and 12.00? A group of families meet monthly here at the children’s centre – activities are available for children aged 0-4. For details of further dates please visit our What’s on page.

We have some new diary dates for you, with some exciting upcoming one-off events! Please visit our What’s on page for more details.

Now, a change to our diary – our Christmas Decorations Day will now take place a week earlier than originally planned on Friday 25th November – come and help us decorate the centre from Christmas – drop-in between 9.00am and 2.00pm.

Don’t forget that from this week our Thursday toy library will now close at the earlier time of 1.00pm!