A Step Up Nursery

With a heavy heart unfortunately we have made the tough decision to close our doors at 6pm today until further notice. We cannot apologise enough for the short notice.
On Friday we were optimistic and planned to remain open but on further review this unfortunately will not be the case. The safety of children, parents and staff is our main priority. But with the drop in numbers it is financially not viable for us to remain open.
... Please, for anyone who is in receipt of any childcare elements which include tax credits, universal credits, or childcare vouchers can you inform the appropriate people that you receive the payments from that the Nursery has now closed and therefore no childcare payments are expected from the parents.
As we are closing, for now, the staff are now all forloughed workers and therefore will be back as soon as it is safe to do so.
We hope that everyone stays safe during these difficult times and we look forward to welcoming you all back when the time is right.
Best Wishes, Yvonne Morgan and Staff. 07926985095 A Step Up! Nursery
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**This post has been edited as there seems to have been some confusion around schooling**
As we all know the schools are remaining open for the families who have front line working parents. What some people may not have realised is that for some schools this only caters for families that BOTH parents in the household are front line workers. (We will include a list of front line workers at the end long this long post).
Therefore we would like to just clarify that for all worki...ng parents, especially to the families who have two working parents with only one front line worker, we have space to cater for your children who may not be eligible for a school place. We offer very flexible hours and are certain that we can cater to your family’s needs.
Our setting offers 8 functioning rooms which include: ▪️1 baby/wobbler room ▪️2 Toddler rooms ▪️ 1 preschool room ▪️ 4 Afterschool rooms
Each room has its own key working staff who have been allocated to the appropriate age group determined by their qualifications and experience.
We are aware that schools have given home learning packs to each of their pupils - we are more than willing to help with these to the best of our abilities by laying out set times of the day where this work is made priority within the Afterschool rooms.
For anyone still worried or concerned about good sanitisation, we can put your minds at ease and let you know that we do have plenty of soap, hand sanitizer, toilet roll and paper towels 🙈😂
Please call 02841762897 for more information, prices, and to allow us to answer and questions or queries you may have. Please look after your loved ones during these uncertain times.
‼️A list of front line workers as promised ‼️ ▪️doctors and nursery ▪️teachers and social workers including those essential to the justice system, religious staff and public service journalists ▪️Local and national government workers deemed crucial to delivering essential public services ▪️Workers involves in food production processing disruption, sales and deliveries ▪️Public safety workers including police, armed forces personnel, firefighter and prison staff ▪️essential air, water, road and rail transport workers ▪️ Utilities, communication and financial services staff including postal workers and waste disposal services.
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‼️‼️We would like to reassure parents that it is business as usual.‼️‼️
Please rest assured that ‼️All surfaces, toys, handles etc are cleaned throughout the day ‼️That the staff and children are both practicing frequent hand washing and using the sanitizer on arrival and throughout the day,... ‼️ Please can we encourage all parents to use and encourage their children to sanitize on theirs way into AND out of the building.
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‼️ A message to all parents regarding payments ‼️
We understand that these are uncertain times but, as of this week (16th March - 20th March) ALL childcare payments MUST strictly be paid weekly on a Friday.
We are trying our Utmost to keep parents as upto date as we are regarding Covid-19. For now, we intend to remain open for business until we are told otherwise.
... Can we please remind all parents that if you do intend to withdraw your child/children’s place/s from the nursery then 2 weeks notice is required in order to receive your deposit. Without 2 weeks notice then unfortunately your deposit is non-refundable.
Also; any parents who have withdrawn their child/children who are in receipt of Universal Credit, Tax Credits or childcare vouchers can you please report that said children no longer attend our nursery to avoid any penalties occurring.
I’d like to take this opportunity to remind parents that we continue to do our very best to sanitise surfaces, door handles etc and to continue daily hand washing throughout the day with both children and staff. Also a big thank you to the parents who continue to support us by using our services during such troubling times. Any questions on the above points please contact Yvonne Morgan via the nursery number 02841762897.
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🦠Due to the ongoing concerns regarding Coronavirus, also know as Covid-19 we are following the advice of both the public health agency and the southern health and social care trust. We would like to ask all parents to be extra vigilant to ensure if you or your child has been in contact with anyone with the virus that you please DO NOT ATTEND NURSERY As you will already know we have hand sanitiser stations at the entrance to each room and in the lobby. We would like to remin...d all parents to please use these. 🧴 Both staff and children are practicing regular hand hygiene, a video of how to properly wash hands can be viewed below. We would encourage you to do this with your children. 🧼🚿
Any parents or children who have travelled to any of the affected areas are to stay at home for 14 days. We would like to ask that from Monday 16th March children with the symptoms of a cough and high temperature should stay at home for 7 days. 🩺 We would appreciate parents co operation with this matter.
The public health agency can be contacted on 03002007885 for advice.
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We have another book man delivery today with even more deals! Again, have a look through the photos and the price list and let us know if there’s anything you would like or call in and get a closer look 😊

The book man has been with lots of offers as always! Have a look through the price list to see what the prices are and a look through the photos to see what you need (or want 😉) and we’ll put your name down for it. Or alternatively call in for a better look to put your name down.
**He will return on Wednesday 26th Feb to collect and drop off so please can all payments be made before then**

On behalf of all the staff we would like to wish everyone a magical Christmas and we hope everyone gets what they wished for! 🎅🏼🎅🏼
To keep everyone updated we were delighted to be able to present a cheque for £500 to cash for kids NI. In Northern Ireland there’s 16,000 disadvantaged children who would wake up to no presents this year, with the help of donations from the public towards mission Christmas they were able to provide gifts to EVERY one of these children which is ...amazing.
We also were able to pass on all donations in our boxes to the Simon community who were so very grateful and have assured us that these will be used up in no time and have asked us to pass on their thanks to everyone who donated.
Merry Christmas everyone and we will see you all in 2020 🎄🎉🎅🏼
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A reminder to all parents about our Christmas break. Happy Christmas, we hope the big man in the red suit is good to you all! 🎄🎁🎅🏻

Port Inn- White Wine-Ann Donnelly Port Inn- Red wine-Kenny Pue 8 TIL Late- Devon Toffee Sweets-Lyra Lamb Medical Hall- DKNY Perfume Set-Grainne Maguire KWM-White Wine-Niamh Herron ... Floresco-£10 voucher- Sharon Graham Gordon’s- Glamoriser Hairdryer-Rebecca Pue Essence of Beauty-Gelish Polish-Susan Phillips Kilkeel Pet Centre-£15 voucher-Lisa Donnelly BS Valeting-£30 Mini Valet-Kyle Cummins Beauté L’Amour-Pick me up facial-Tara Phillips Kilkeel vape-£20 starter kit-Lynn Butler Kyle Cummins-£10 off window cleaning services-Donna Magorrian Whisk-Afternoon tea for two-Chloe Franks Lee Stewart-Free garden cut-Theresa Killen Cunningham’s Kitchen-£10 Voucher-Ava Chatwin Espanage-Wash & Blow Dry-Katerina Marcheva Mr & Mrs Kutz-£10 voucher-Leah Rooney Mauds-Family tub of ice cream-Laura O’Hare Mourne Meats-£10 voucher-Brenda Dougherty Honey Bee Bakery-£10 voucher-Zara McCullough Nicholson’s Butchers-£20 voucher-David Hunter The Hatch- Gift voucher-Lee Stewart Port O Call-£10 voucher-Roberta Graham Harbour Dental Practice-Teeth Whitening Gels-Sarah Rooney Anne Morgan-Complementary Therapy-Niamh McAteer A Step Up! Batman Cake-Regina Rooney A Step Up! Animagic unicorn-Brandon Stewart A Step Up! Winnie the Pooh toy-Alex Donnelly
Once again thank you to all the above businesses and please remember to shop local this Christmas. All prize winners will be able to collect their prize from the office 😊😊
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We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas evening. It’s safe to say it was a great success which wouldn’t be possible without the support of our parents and our hard working staff. We would also like to thank the generous local businesses who donated prizes for our raffle: Port Inn- White and Red wine 8 TIL Late- Devon Toffee Sweets Medical Hall- DKNY Perfume Set KWM-White Wine ... Floresco-£10 voucher Gordon’s- Glamoriser Hairdryer Essence of Beauty-Gelish Polish Kilkeel Pet Centre-£15 voucher BS Valeting-£30 Mini Valet Beauté L’Amour-Pick me up facial Kilkeel vape-£20 starter kit Kyle Cummins-£10 off window cleaning services Whisk-Afternoon tea for two Lee Stewart-Free garden cut Cunningham’s Kitchen-£10 Voucher Espanage-Wash & Blow Dry Mr & Mrs Kutz-£10 voucher Mauds-Family tub of ice cream Mourne Meats-£10 voucher Honey Bee Bakery-£10 voucher Nicholson’s Butchers-£20 voucher The Hatch- Gift voucher Port O Call-£10 voucher Harbour Dental Practice-Teeth Whitening Anne Morgan-Complementary Therapy
Thank you to all the above businesses and please remember to shop local this Christmas. A list of prize winners will be posted shortly and keep an eye on our private page for our Santa photos 🎅🏼🤶🏼🎁
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Hi everyone, We would all like to say thank you to everyone for coming along to our Christmas fair this evening. I think it’s safe to say it was a great success which wouldn’t have been possible without your support. Thanks also goes to the staff for their hard work in the lead up to our event and to Santa 🎅🏼 and Mrs Claus🤶🏼 for their appearance...they looked amazing 😊 Keep an eye out on our page for updates from the night and again thank you for all your support!

Our Raffle table is filling up in time for Thursday evening Raffle. Come on in and get a raffle ticket or two it’s all for a good cause! 😊 £1 per strip or 6 strips for £5 Prizes include: • 2 teeth whitening sticks - Harbour Road Dental... • £25 voucher for a starter kit (includes a vape and 10ml Liquid) - Kilkeel Vape • Afternoon Tea for 2 (worth £20) - Whisk • £20 Voucher - Nicholson’s Butcher • £15 Voucher - Kilkeel Pet Centre • Glamoriser Ultraviolet Hair Dryer - Gordon’s Chemist • Bottle of Red Win - KWM • Bottle of Red wine - Port Inn • Bottle of White wine - Port In • Wash and Blowdry - Espanage • £10 Voucher - Floresco • £10 Voucher - Port O Call • £10 Voucher - Honey Bee Bakery and Cafe • £10 Voucher - Cunninghams Kitchen • £10 Voucher - Mourne Meats • Family Tub of ice cream - Mauds ... and much more!
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Don’t forget about our Christmas Jumper night and Fair this Thursday 12th December!
With a special performance from the Afterschool and Preschool Children singing their favourite Christmas songs 🎶 All donations are going towards supplies for the homeless to make this cold weather and Christmas season a little more bearable for them. All Welcome 🎅🏻🤶🏻

Hi everyone, we have a tree on display at the fisherman’s mission Christmas tree festival over at Kilkeel Presbyterian Church. Please call over and have a look with your child to find their decoration 😊🎄

⭐️For all prospective primary 1 parents⭐️ It’s an important stage in your child’s journey and they start a new chapter in P1. One of the schools we work with has provided us with a poster to share with you. This gives details of their open day, feel free to visit and get an insight of what the school is like and find out what benefits they will provide for your child’s education 🌸😊👩🏼‍🎓👨🏼‍🎓

⭐️ SAVE THE DATE ⭐️
🎄🎄🎄 Thursday 12th December ‘19 7pm - 9pm 🎄🎄🎄
We are hosting a Christmas Jumper Night in the Nursery.... Preschool and Afterschool Children will kick off the evening with some Christmas song in our Preschool Room.
There will be tea, coffee, mulled wine (both alcoholic and non alcoholic) served with the sale of buns and traybake’s, a Sweet Shop, Playdough Making Workshop, Winter Wonderland, Gingerbread Decorating, Arts & Crafts and Story Telling, Raffles and a special guest! (Ho Ho Ho 😉)
In lieu of our Christmas night we will be collecting for the Shoe Box Appeal for the homeless and will have a collection box in the Nursery for the run upto the night which parents can add suitable donations to. Donations can include anything from a bar of soap to a child’s toy to a blanket or a duvet.
*All donations made from each room on the night will also go towards this charity*
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