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Welcome!
We would like to extend a warm welcome to all our families both new and old. We are working hard to ensure the experiences and delivery of childcare are both as normal and valuable as possible, in these not so normal times!
What's going on?
Take a look at the highlights below for news on what the children have been up to. There's an update for each room so you can see the fun and interesting things your child has been doing.
We send these updates every couple of months and we hope you find them useful. We'd love to hear any feedback you have. You can tell us here.
Don't forget to visit the Parent Area online to see regular important updates and find really useful information.
The Babyroom
We have been welcoming our new children, making friends and forming relationships. We are pleased at how quickly these bonds are being established, with the babies responding well to our nurturing care.
We’ve been exploring our new environment further by going on walks on our beautiful Campus where we have collected objects to enhance our sensory areas. As Autumn approaches we were able to find colourful leaves and acorns to add to our sensory bottles.
We’ve also been exploring textures and encouraging tummy time with our new sensory pockets with different things inside to investigate such as beans, glue, rice and oil colours. This stimulates and encourages the babies as they build core strength, developing those important skills that aid future development for sitting, crawling and walking.
Creche 1
Welcome to the new term in Crèche 1.
Firstly, let us say how delighted we are to see the children return! We have lots to look forward to this term, and we are dedicated to providing learning experiences for our children in the safest way possible.
We have got the term off to a wonderful positive start with a focus on making relationships and quiet sensory & malleable activities facilitated this. We have had herb scented water, mint cloud dough and provided lots of open-ended play opportunities such as cardboard box play, balls and tubes, scarves and shredded paper.
We have had some lovely fine days and have made the most of the outdoor space to settle the children and to ignite their curiosity, especially sitting under the trees as the leaves fall down around us. We plan to use the forest area in the coming weeks, too.
We will now begin to focus on room routine as we provide a structure around the children’s day which will further help them to feel safe, happy and secure. Singing time, a washing hands routine and afternoon dance time will help add shape to their day in addition to the basic daily routine.
To create strong home and Crèche links with our families, we have created a “Wow Wall” to display our artwork, photos of play and to celebrate our achievements both in and out of Crèche. If you have something to share please pop it on the app and we will display it with pride!
Creche 2
Hello and a warm welcome to faces new and old in Crèche 2. As we all know times are somewhat different with staff, children and families adjusting to the new measures in place to keep us all safe! We are of course working extra hard to settle the children into their Creche and give them the best experience possible.
As we settle the children and build relationships with families, we have been using the outdoors to facilitate our learning. We have explored the natural outdoors with crunchy leaves, herbs in the garden and mini beasts.
Many of us have observed the building works opposite which has provided rich language opportunities and action songs. We look forward to introducing more exciting Autumn activities which include exploration with the senses, autumn animal stories and songs as well as fun physical play with tents, tunnels and the parachute. We cannot wait!
Nursery 1
Hello! And welcome to all the parents and children who have recently joined us.
This term our adventures are continuing to focus upon our environment. Several children have begun to notice the changes in their environment, asking questions about the leaves falling from trees and the temperature dropping. Looking at stories and photos we have been exploring and explaining the four seasons, focusing on autumn. To build upon the children’s learning we are beginning to carry out autumnal activities and games, as well as bringing some elements of the outdoors into the room. The children have been playing with leaves that have dropped to the ground, combining them with paint to make leafy pictures. Using celery, Vickie has been inviting the children to do vegetable printing. With pinecones the children have been making remarkable patterns in play-dough. In the mud kitchen, the children combined the mud, pinecones and leaves to make a ‘delicious’ soup!
In the next few weeks we are planning to create our own hedgehogs using clay and autumnal items that we find in the garden, forest and outdoor area.
To help consolidate your child’s learning we would request that when you go on autumnal walks, you pay attention to the signs of autumn and help your child to observe and discuss what you see. If you are able to photograph and upload the images via Parentzone this will be a great way for us to expand on the topic and support our shared interests when back at Pre-School.
Nursery 2
As we begin the new term we have been building relationships with our new children and their families as well as sharing ideas and inspiration to support those already settled.
We have been discussing and describing our feelings and emotions and recreating their expressions using natural materials. We have also been exploring a range of different natural resources to extend our play for example dried herbs, flavoured tea leaves and lavender scented rice which we used to create a calming tray.
Outside we have extended the use of herbs and created an interactive herb wall, the children have helped to plant the different herbs that we used and have been investigating them using their senses to describe the different things that they see, smell, touch and feel. Following on from the children’s interests indoors we have expanded the activity to incorporate the outdoor area and we have created a dinosaur garden, once again the children were very involved helping to sow and grow the grass seed and plant the different plants we used, as the term moves on we will create other small gardens to further develop our play based on the interests of the children.
Pre-School 1
What a great start to the term, the children have all adapted well to the new room and routines. After a couple of weeks to allow for the adjustment we were keen to help support and increase the children’s independence. Self-serve lunches have been re- introduced with the children making choices, and using the serving tools effectively. They are also enjoying the social aspects and interaction at meal times. Their progress has been wonderful and reflects their ‘Can do’ attitude and capable skills.
The children have loved being outdoors, enjoying the last of the summer weather. The children have been creating their own obstacle courses using a variety of resources. They have been developing their gross motor skills by moving indifferent ways including balancing, stepping, climbing and jumping.
We have further supported physical development through visits to the trim trail and large outdoor garden. This will continue and we look forward too many more autumnal adventures. Please share with us via Parentzone any photos of any adventures you have as a family.
Pre-School 2
Everyone has settled back into the daily routine well and have been very busy enjoying lots of exciting activities. Days spent in the last of the summer sun down in the big garden have been popular with everyone.
As a group and with Emma the children have been talking about what they can see when they are in their car. They decided they would like to paint what they have observed so we provided them with a large piece of paper on the floor, the children chose which colours they would like to paint with and what media to use. The resulting artwork consisted of pictures of trees, footpaths, play areas, houses, the sky, grass, rainbows and the sun. The children decided to name the finished picture “Our Village”.
Asking questions and commenting on aspects of their surroundings that are familiar to the children is a very good way to develop their knowledge and understanding. As a family you could look for familiar local landmarks and places that are of significance to you and talk about these. If you could share photo’s with us via the Parentzone app we can add them to the village.
Pre-School 3
This term we have focused on introducing the new children into the room and looking at our routines. We have and will continue to focus on developing independence within the day to day routine of:
- Self-serve snack time
- Self-serve lunch time
- Independent hand washing
- Using the sneeze station
Encouraging these day to day activities will enable the children to become increasingly independent. It promotes self-esteem, encourages responsibility and supports them to become good decision makers. It also helps develop other attributes such as patience, concentration, cooperation and self-care. At home you could support this by giving your child small tasks for example setting the table, tidying toys away.
We have introduced a Buddy system with the older children supporting and guiding the newer members of the room. It has been lovely to see their nurturing skills and empathy as they have shared the room routines and welcomed the children into their play.
We will be looking at Mindfulness over the next few weeks and how we can relax and feel in touch with our emotions. You could practice together, listen to calming music with your eyes closed and talking about how it makes you feel. Share you pictures of your tranquil moments with us via the ParentZone app.
More news
The children took part in a range of activities this week for the British Nutrition Foundation's annual Healthy Eating Week.
During October we will be undertaking assessments prior to holding Developmental Reviews with parents during November.
We will shortly provide information from the school’s admissions team for parents whose children will be starting school in September 2021.
We are extremely lucky to have such extensive grounds and the autumn term provides a host of opportunities for us to extend our learning.
Coming Up
We are busy planning for the coming months, adapting ideas as a team to ensure the children and families still have memorable experiences.
We will share in more detail nearer the time, but as a taster, look out for:
Winter Wonderland
‘we’ll be walking in the air’, and will need your help with decorations, we’ll be in touch 😊
Virtual Dough Disco
You'll receive an invitation to take part in our Virtual Dough Disco soon!
Chameleon Christmas Card fundraiser
You will receive an invitation to view, personalise and place an order for the artwork created by your child.
Christmas performances
Not to be thwarted and to ensure the stars of the future are still able to shine this year we will be performing inhouse productions.
Invoice and Term Dates
Did you know? Important dates like invoice dates and terms dates are now posted on our website.
