Classic Children’s book of the week
Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world therefore it helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
Every week we select one book as our classic book of the week. This week’s classic book is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt book
http://amzn.to/2mHDTP9
Reading a book aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
Every week we select one book as our classic book of the week. This week’s classic book is Guess How Much I Love You.
Bach to Baby is an innovative and award-winning concert series for babies, tots and their parents/nannies to enjoy together.
LONDON — The critically acclaimed classical series Bach to Baby, is set up by mum and pianist Miaomiao Yu after becoming frustrated at not being able to take her children to the sort of quality classical music concerts that she regularly enjoyed as a professional musician.
Miaomiao, an award-winning pianist, wanted to perform for her son in a concert setting, but found it unrealistic for many reasons, including the late nights.
“And then I thought, this is silly: why not play for him and his friends and other babies and toddlers, at a kid-friendly time? The idea grew from there,” said Miaomiao, who is also a professor of piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Miaomiao set about to design a rigorous musical programme for babies that wouldn’t have been out of place at the Proms. Programming range from Bach to Barber, from Chopin to Shostakovich. “I didn’t want to dumb it down for children. Studies show the positive effects of classical music and children are like little sponges at this stage. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to experience the same high calibre performances as that enjoyed by adults in the best concert halls of the world?” asks Miaomiao.
“I’ve been bringing my son Aubrey to concerts since he was 2 weeks old. He listened and slept and bounced to music,” says the mother of two rambunctious boys. “He is enthralled, and proves my theory that children will thrive in a concert setting as long as they are given the opportunity in the first place.”
Miaomiao was encouraged by the overwhelming response to her first concert — one fan posted this video on Twitter . Bach to Baby now performs in 46 venues across London, Surrey, Kent, Thames Valley, and Essex, with special events at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the Royal Albert Hall.
Instead of playing at modest community halls, venues with a specific sense of atmosphere were chosen. “I want babies to enjoy sophisticated music and that’s aided by fantastic atmosphere and acoustics, as well as fabulous guest artists, ” said Miaomiao, adding that exhausted parents deserve an inspiring setting as much as anyone.
Being a mum first and foremost, Miaomiao welcomes all the frenzy that comes along with being a parent of a young child. “It’s about Mozart and Bach, feeding and crying, and dancing to music – all of it,” said Miaomiao. “We haven’t made it through a concert without at least one nappy change. That’s the way it should be,” she said.
Concerts run from weekday mornings and afternoons, as well as Saturdays in locations across the South East.
For more information on venues, dates and tickets visit Bach to Baby
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30 Hours’ free childcare – will your child get it?
Government plans to double free childcare to 30 hours a week for 3 and 4 year olds have been updated by George Osborne in his Autumn Statement 2015. The Chancellor revealed a couple of changes to the original plans…
1 The 30-hours free childcare will now only be available to parents who work more than 16 hours a week. This means parents who work 2 days a week or under are not eligible – although it looks like they will still receive the 15 hours free childcare that is currently available.
2 There’s also a salary cap, although it’s at the very high end. Parents who individually earn more than £100,000 a year will not be eligible.
The Government is planning to roll out a pilot scheme in a few areas in September 2016 – it’s yet to be announced where those pilot areas will be. The scheme is scheduled to go nationwide in 2017.
To find out more about the scheme, how it will work, when it will start and if your child will qualify please visit the following links:
The Osteopathic Centre for Children is a charity that seeks to ensure that paediatric osteopathy – an effective and gentle treatment – is established as an option for parents and carers concerned for their children’s health. They run a three day a week clinic in Wandsworth, two days in Shoreditch and an afternoon in Mill Hill where they welcome babies, children, teenagers, new mums and mums-to-be.
Their aim is to offer osteopathic treatments as an option for all children regardless of their parents’ ability to pay.
During our first weeks at home with our baby boy I noticed that he never turned his head to the left. At first I didn’t think much of it but after 6 weeks I noticed a slight flattening on the right side of his head and started to get concerned, so I decided to search the internet for answers. My findings pointed to the fact that he might have Plagiocephaly, more commonly known as flat head syndrome.
Having had previous experience of Osteopathy I thought it would be a good starting point, so decided to look for a Paediatric Osteopath and found the Osteopathic Centre for Children.
After a consultation at their Wandsworth branch they confirmed he had Plagiocephaly, caused by Torticollis, muscle tightness in his neck, which can prevent a baby turning their head in a particular way, meaning one side of their head is placed under more pressure. This was as a result of his position in the womb and a very traumatic birth.
My son is now 19 months old and is receiving ongoing treatment, not only for his Plagiocephaly which has improved hugely, but also for other childhood ailments including teething symptoms. As a new mum I also received treatment to help my recovery. The staff are all wonderful. The work they do at the Osteopathic Centre for Children is just amazing, even life changing for some and we feel very fortunate to have had access to their services.
For more information on services offered by the Osteopatic Centre for Children please visit their website at www.occ.uk.com
Below are links for the NHS and NCT with more information:
NHS on Plagiocephaly
NCT on Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly
NHS Torticollis in Babies
London for Kids
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At The Nanny Service we don’t provide a babysitting service, but if you are looking for short term ad-hock evening or daytime childcare we recommend getting in touch with Sitters.
Sitters began life in 1967 as ‘Childminders’ of London. The service flourished – and for more than 30 years, Childminders was London’s leading babysitting service. In 2006, Childminders merged with the family-owned Sitters.co.uk to offer the same quality of individually interviewed, professional childcarer’s – both in the capital and across the UK. Today we take great pride in providing you with the best childcare available.
Childcare Vouchers (Ofsted) – Cut childcare costs by £1,000/year
The Financial Benefits
Many of you may have read about the tax breaks that the Government introduced to assist with “approved” childcare, which includes nannies. If your nanny is registered with OFSTED you may be eligible for childcare vouchers or tax credits
Firstly, for further information on whether you qualify you can visit Tax Credits.
Click here for more information.
If your employer gives you childcare vouchers, the first £55 per week per employee is now exempt from tax and national insurance (and employer’s national insurance) provided registered or approved childcare is used. If both parents receive childcare vouchers they are each entitled to receive £55 per week free of tax and national insurance. Basic (20%) Taxpayer can make a saving of circa £900 per annum.
A childcare voucher scheme can be set up quite easily by your employer but there are various criteria including the scheme being available to all employees. The Human Resources Department should have further details.
If you are a director of your own limited company and would be interested in setting up a childcare voucher scheme, you should consult with your accountant.
To use childcare vouchers. You must:-
It is expected that employer-supported childcare vouchers will become an important way for parents to make a substantial saving, as this form of tax relief is available to all parents, regardless of income.
The self-employed are not able to benefit from childcare vouchers at present, but if you are a Director of a company you can, providing you make them available to all your staff as well.
The Childcare vouchers are just a different way of paying your nanny. Her salary will not change when you start using vouchers, nor will the amount of tax and NI you pay on her behalf. However, you will be able to save money on your own tax and NI payments, in some cases as much as £2,000 per family per year if both parents use vouchers.
Childcare vouchers can only be used to pay for childcare.
For more information:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/guide-registration-childcare-register
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/childcare-vouchers
What if the nanny I want is not OFSTED registered?
Nannies who would like to become registered with Ofsted can join the voluntary part of the Ofsted Childcare Register (OCR), however Nannies are not required to be registered on the Ofsted Childcare Register. Registration is entirely voluntary.
Parents who employ an Ofsted registered nanny can receive some financial contributions towards their childcare costs. There are two types of financial support available: employer-supported childcare vouchers and working tax credits.
If the parent requests that the nanny is Ofsted registered, and especially if it brings a positive financial benefit to the parents, it is increasingly common that the parents pay either partially or in full for Ofsted registration. If the parent does pay for the registration it is considered a benefit in kind and needs to be declared as such.
Who should pay for OFSTED registration?
OFSTED registration is a financial saving to families, therefore to register your nanny to OFSTED, it is typically funded by the employer. Any dedicated nanny should absorb the cost of a first aid certificate and nanny insurance if they do not already hold these.
We all want the best for our children but it’s often difficult to put money aside for their future. www.kidstart.co.uk is a free website for parents like yourselves that puts money aside for your children whenever you shop at over 1300 well known retailers. You can collect money back when shopping at on-line retailers such as Amazon, John Lewis, eBay, BA and a thousand more.
It’s easy to use and has helpful tools to remind you where you can save; you can also link friends and family so everyone can contribute to giving your children a greater future. Join the million other parents who have already registered.
It’s free to sign up so click the link below to register and start saving today.
New Law for Nanny Employers
Automatic enrolment is a new law with requires all employers – including nanny employers – to make sure they have a pension in place for their employee.
Most nannies will need to be automatically enrolled into the pension scheme, and both the nanny and the employer will have to contribute to it.
For more information please visit the Nanny Tax website on the link below:
https://www.nannytax.co.uk/additional-services/auto-enrolment