Spring 2021 Edition

A very warm welcome to our new families and welcome back to all our existing Pre-school families.

It was lovely to see so many of you return after the Christmas break.  I appreciate and respect that this was a difficult decision for some families due to individual family circumstances and following the government’s announcement on the 4th January. For those families who have not yet re-joined us we look forward to welcoming you back in the near future, for the families who are attending I hope you are reassured by the measures we have in place.

Once again, I want to highlight the work of the superb Pre-School team who continue to go above and beyond to provide a safe environment for all the children who attend, whilst ensuring the same high-quality learning experiences are consistently and enthusiastically delivered. Many of the team are also home schooling, like many of our families, you all have my utmost admiration.

To date we have experienced one positive Covid case in early January, this was an isolated case and following a 10-day closure of the bubble all staff and children returned safe and well.

Since January members of the Pre-School team can access twice-weekly Lateral Flow tests at the University. From 22nd February we are expecting our delivery of home testing kits from Lancashire County Council. The use of these kits will offer the team and yourselves further assurances on the safety measures being undertaken.

Please take the time to read the important reminder in relation to the current guidance and procedures in place at the Pre-School Centre at the moment.

If you have any questions, queries, concerns or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Baby Room 

This term we have welcomed some new babies and their families. It’s been lovely to meet everyone.

Building new relationships with unfamiliar adults is a big step for our babies. We encourage these specials bonds with lots of nurturing activities, songs and cuddles. It’s lovely to watch their confidence grow.

We have also been making the most of the weather using our senses to explore the tactile snow. The babies faces were very expressive as they touched the cold, wet snow. It was an exciting new experience.

Creche 1

This term we have been working on creating play opportunities based on curiosity, the child’s choices and interests, open ended resources and loose part play.

We are describing this process as “finding enchantment”. Enchantment is defined as “the state of being under a spell”. Early childhood trainer Alistair Bryce Clegg argues that this “state of enchantment” promotes the highest level of learning, engaging the child fully.

Here are some pictures of some of the play opportunities we have provided for the children. Some activities, such as the winter ice tray and the plaster of Paris tray encourage the children to explore through touch and by encouraging them to combine textures and “see what happens when...”

In all cases, we stood back and let the children decide how to approach them. It has been wonderful watching the children direct their own learning and we’re excited about seeing where this approach takes us next.

Creche 2

We have been researching and looking at enchantment. We are providing the children with more activities that encourage individual exploration. These open-ended play experiences are allowing the children the opportunity to become more focused, engaged and increasingly independent. The Couscous tray encouraged exploration of texture and the children were absorbed as they mixed, stirred and transported it.

Using natural materials and everyday items the children’s play is unlimited. Pebbles in pans can be explored for the noise they make, how heavy they feel or used to represent food, it’s individual and open-ended, different for each child.

Nursery 2

We have had a busy start to the term, we have welcomed both new children and staff into the room and are developing our new team.

The children have been busy exploring their environment and we have followed their lead and interests which has involved lots of role play in the home corner. Providing the children with some real foods to explore, they used them to make pretend carrot cake. We extended this experience by providing the children with the resources to make their own real carrot cakes to try at snack time, this activity went down really well! We then further extended the experience by setting up a tactile activity which allowed the children to make their own carrot goupe, there was a lot of language, pouring and mixing involved in the activity and the children had great fun.

Pre-School 2

We are encouraging the children’s physical development, exploring different ways of moving, building and strengthening their stamina. We took part in online P.E sessions with Joe Wicks, stretching, jumping and balancing. It was good fun, but hard work and we were all a bit tired afterwards. The children are all very aware of the benefits and importance of exercise. They can describe how their bodies feel and talk confidently about how to stay healthy.

We are also enjoying our Phonics sessions which Gemma records and sends to us, so we stay safe in our bubble. If you would like to know more about Phonics please click on the link below.