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Welcome to the newsletter of

Term 4.
Curriculum: The theme for
Term 4 was Healthy Living for
both the Over and the Under Twos
and was all about learning how to
eat healthy, live healthy and be
healthy. The theme mostly revolved
around the vegetable garden that
the children planted and tended to
over the past few months. Every
time they would go outside, water-
ing the plants would be the high-
light activity. Even the younger
ones enjoyed using the watering
cans to make a difference in the life
of a plant. As a result the vegetable
garden has been a huge success and
we regularly use it to make fresh
salad. Too bad theres no dairy farm
to get fresh steak from to go with
the salad. The children were also
given some seedlings to take home
and grow themselves . Finally, the
children have been learning to make
healthy choices such as washing
their hands on a regular basis,
choosing to eat fruits rather than
chips and getting involved with
exercise and physical play. They
have benefitted greatly from the
theme for Term 4 and Im sure the
next one will be just as beneficial.
Islamic Education: Most
of the Islamic education has been
given during mat times which I
have been taking after Huda for the
past 2 months. It has mostly come
in the form of Islamic songs such as
I am Muslim and 1,2 Lets make
wodo but we have also been recit-
ing quite a bit of Quran with the
children on a regular basis. Most of
the children are now able to recite al
-Fatihah as well as Al-Ikhlas, Al-
Falaq and An-Nas. All of the chil-
dren are familiar with the songs and
Im sure they would be more than
willing to sing them to you if you
asked them. Arabic words and let-
ters were taught hand in hand with
Islamic studies.
Swimming Sessions: The
swimming sessions for ladies and
children are ongoing every Tuesday
at 6:30pm and Saturday at 4:30.
The turnout has been wonderful,
especially during the warm season.
The ladies have also been having a
regular picnic after the Saturday
swimming which has been wonderful
for all involved.. For further enquires
call Maysoon at 349 3223 or 021
2369254.
An-Nur Blog and Face-
book: We now have a Facebook
page for the childcare centre (thanks
to teacher Natasha) where you can
view photos , see staff information,
event information, and much, much
more. The url for it is:
http://www.facebook.com/
AnNurEarlyChildhoodEduca-
tionAndCareCentre. Please note that
there is no dash between the Educa
and the tion
The Blog is still up and running and
is being updated on a regular basis, so
please continue to check it
at :annurchildcarecentre.blogspot.com/
OSCAR and Summer
Programme: The OSCAR was
held in mid January for two weeks
and was a huge success Alhamdulil-
lah. The children enjoyed many dif-
ferent activities including swimming,
baking, Islamic education and watch-
ing movies. There is a full report on
the OSCAR programme on the An-
Nur Blog.
Along with the OSCAR programme,
we ran a childcare summer pro-
gramme for a few of the under 5s.
Teacher Luul was in charge of taking
care of the children over 4 weeks and
we hugely appreciate her willingness
to work during the holiday. Every-
thing ran very smoothly and the
children enjoyed the increased
amounts of 1 to 1 student-teacher
time.
Hajj: The children observed the
An-Nur Childcare Annual Pretend
Hajj and once again it was a success.
The children were taught the basic
rituals of Hajj and then put them
into practice which is becoming an
annual celebration at An-Nur where
the children perform Haj at the cen-
tre followed by Eid celebrations.


As-Salamo Alaikom! Greetings! Tena Koutou! s,. ;..

Newsletter Vol. 67, February 2013
General News: The Centre has been
undergoing general refurbishment over the
past few months. There have been many
repairs, improvements, paint jobs and
extensions done so far with few more still
to be done. A new swing set has been set
up in the playground and this has been
especially popular amongst the children.
We would like to farewell some of our An-
Nur graduates who have recently em-
barked upon a newer adventure in the
form of primary school. Asiya
Mohammad, Saynab Ibrahim and Ramla
Abdi have all turned 5 and we wish them
all the best at their new schools and hope
they enjoy it as much as possible. We
would also like to welcome several new
students who have started recently at An-
Nur. Paskelle Owen, Hakim Masoumi,
Soheilla Masoumi and Ali Mann have
settled in very well and are enjoying the
opportunity to interact with new people
and make new friends.
Staff News: Congratulations to Teacher
Huda Mahmoud who recently gave birth
to a baby boy (Rayyan). We have had to
bid farewell to a number of Teachers this
term. Teacher Shumsun Nihara has moved
to Dunedin and Teachers Kristal and Anar
have left the centre. We wish all of them
all the best for the future and they will be
missed. When one door closes, another
one opens and with every goodbye comes a
new beginning. We would like to extend a
very warm welcome to teacher Natasha
Galloway who is our new head teacher.
She has worked with us before during her
teaching practice and we are very excited
to have her back. and we could definitely
use many of her fresh ideas.
Staff professional Development: All staff
have been participating in an ongoing
whole group Internal Review training
with a specialized team contracted by
Ministry of Education ( CORE ).
Best wishes from staff
and management.
May Allah
accept our good
deeds, Ameen.

Teacher Haneen Alayan
A Message from
Haneen: As-Salamu-
Alaikum everyone, I just
wanted to say a huge thank
you for having me at the
centre for the past 2 months
as it has truly been an in-
credible experience. I have
thoroughly enjoyed working
with the children and they
have never ceased to amaze
me with their intelligence
and adorable personalities. I
will definitely miss them a
great deal. I am heading back
to Dunedin for my study and
wont be back for quite some
time but I do hope to get the
opportunity to work here
again in the near future in-
shaAllah. Thanks to all the
teachers and parents for
making me feel welcome, I
appreciate it more than you
will ever know.
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