The property, Ellsbridge House, was previously the vetinerary teaching centre for Norton Radstock College and sits in 2.2 acres of grounds beside the A4 just outside Keynsham between Bristol and Bath. The nursery is due to open in September 2012.

As with all our other nurseries, Snapdragons Keynsham will provide fun and stimulating learning supported by qualified and caring staff. The gardens and additional buildings at the site also offer an exciting opportunity to expand our Forest School sessions and outdoor learning, including growing our own resources and caring for nursery pets.

The nursery will create around 40 jobs and we have already begun actively seeking the high calibre staff that will allow us to maintain our existing exemplary standards. The new team will be supported by a team of Snapdragons colleagues who will share the expertise we have built up over the past 14 years. Additionally an on-site training centre will be established where professional development and training courses will be run by outside professionals and qualified Snapdragons Teachers for the staff from all of our nurseries.

We have some truly exciting plans that we know will benefit all the children, families and staff in Snapdragons and we really want you to be a part of it. Take a look at the plans and watch this space for more news. 

We have been creative with tissue paper this week. We have been painting on tissue paper with water and looking at the beautiful colours left on the paper. We have been playing with shaving foam and watching and looking at all the different marks made in the foam. Well done Flo for making big circles.

We have been talking about our loved ones for ready for Valentines day. We all made and decorated a poem for them. We hope you all like them.

We have been wrapping up warm and playing in the garden. We have been playing on the slide, seesaw and  tunnel. 

Yey it snowed....We have created our own snow using shredded paper and created a little small world land. We have been walking the people through the snow.

Toddlers: This week we have done cooking. We made chocolate chip cakes and chocolate cornflake cakes. We have been playing with animals. We made a farm using the animals, barn and hay.

We have really enjoyed dressing up this week we have all been dressed in different outfits. Pedro loves being a princess. Austin came in as Batman and Jamie looks good as a doctor.

We made playdough this week and added chocolate powder to it and custard powder they smelt yummy! We have been bathing the babies in a bubble bath this was great fun Lily really enjoyed it.

Our book of the month is "Princess and the pea" so we have been reading this and getting to know the story. We have been creating Valentines pictures for our loved ones. 

We had a visit from PC Dave and his police van. This was very exciting we absolutely loved having him here. We heard his sirens and watched the flashing lights. 

We played with shaving foam and pretended it was snow. We had the people in there and were interested in making footprints in the snow. 

Pre-school: This week we have been playing in the water tray. We have been adding flavourings to the water to create different smells. We have been putting objects in to the water to see what can float and what can sink. 

We have been using number lines and looking to see what numbers  we can recognise. Well done Daniel you independently wrote numbers 6-10 on the white board.

We have been playing with sand and adding rice to it to make super sandcastles.

We have been making our own fruit smoothies. We chose the fruit we liked and to make them. They were yummy!

We had our own catwalk fashion show. We all dressed up in our favourite dressing up clothes and walked down the catwalk.

We played group games and really enjoyed a 'describe it' game, we have been describing animals and guessing which one it was.

We have been having races to get ready for the garden. We have been putting our coats, shoes, hats and gloves on independently.

Big steps: This week in big steps we have been carrying out experiments. We have been mixing items together to see what might happen. We have been predicting what will happen if we mix bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. 

If you would like to contact Hayley Fitton week commencing 13.2.12 she will be available Mon-Fri 9.15-6.15.

This will allow all of our Managers to concentrate their efforts on the day to day running of the nurseries and most importantly the children.

We do appreciate that this is a big change for many parents that have been with Snapdragons for a number of years but we are keen to delegate this growing responsibility to a team of professionals who are trained in this area.

For those of you who have signed up for our new e-billing service you will now have received your electronic bill which for the first time has been sent to you from our dedicated invoicing email address. Any invoicing queries or questions should be directed to this address where a team of accounts wizards will be waiting and happy to assist you.

The contact details for the Finance and Administration team is: accounts@snapdragonsnursery.com. At the present time we do not have a dedicated phone number for this team but this is currently being organised and in the mean time we are happy to call you back so that you can speak to someone directly if you provide a contact number at the time of enquiry.

Please ensure that all invoicing queries are sent via this method however your Nursery Manager will still be able to assist you with basic questions or account balances.

Any families that have not yet signed up for e-billing can do so by emailing the above address stating the name of their child and the nursery that they attend or by advising the Nursery Manager.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation throughout this period of change.

We had fun playing with the farm set, which toddlers very kindly let us borrow, we are able to repeat all the animal sounds. We included the houses and people in our play and really used our imaginations. We enjoyed taking the people in and out of the house. 

We had lots of fun in the garden playing on the bikes. We had to wear lots of layers though to keep us nice and warm. We have been exploring with large pieces of materials. We created a big den and had great fun playing pee-po with our friends.

We have been using the bricks and stacking cups to build towers. Well done Carys you built a tower all by yourself.

We have also been painting using different sponge shapes, although most of us used our hands to create marks.

Toddlers: This week we have been working really hard in our groups to get messy. We have had all sorts of messy play. We really enjoyed making car tracks in through flour and glitter. We used our tea-set to play with cooked pasta and mashed potato. We put our dinosaurs in the sand pit and created a massive dinosaur land. Well done Hal this was a great idea!

We have really enjoyed dressing up this week. We have some new princess dresses and shoes and we all want to wear them. We look beautiful. Pedro and Poppie enjoyed dancing in their dresses.

We have a new farm set which we have been playing with. We have been role playing with the animals. We have been singing and learning new songs. We really enjoy singing especially when we have actions to the songs. We have been pretending to be on an aeroplane whilst singing our songs and Shelley was our air hostess. 

We have had forest school this week and we are really getting to know Leah now. We have been exploring with clay and have been on a treasure hunt. We have enjoyed it so much that when asked to come in Christopher said "no thank you".

Pre-school: This week we have been making sock puppets and pot puppets. We have made a texture table so we can explore our senses. We covered our table in paint and then wrapped it in cling film. We used our hands and fingers to move the paint around.

We have been making playdough and adding different items to it. We really liked the smell of the peppermint playdough. We made gloop and added strawberry to it. Leyton said "it smells yummy". 

We used jellybath in water which made the water go really sticky and thick. We have been making spaceships using all sorts of junk. 

We made pitta pizzas for all of our friends at nursery for tea. We used lots of different vegetables, ham and chicken. They were yummy!

We made people using balloons and other materials. We have been drawing pictures of our families. They are displayed in the hall down to pre-school come and have a look. We have been working in our teams doing games. We enjoy playing snap and happy families. 

Big steps: This week we have been designing our own aliens. We have been discussing what we think they might look like, where they live and what they do. Make sure you have a look in our big steps bags to see our great work!

If you would like to contact Hayley Fitton week commencing 6.2.12 she will be available 7.30-4.30.

Shelley has attended a Supporting Speech Sounds course and a Speech and Language course.

Elizabeth has attended a Healthy Early Years course on active play.

Kyan has attended an Observations to Support Planning course.

Lily, Kyan, Amy and Katie have all completed Paediactric First Aid.

Leila, Shelley, Lily, Amy, Katie and Amanda have all completed Basic Food Hygiene.

Great work team keep up the good work!

Would you like to come and sit in the police car?

Would you like to listen to the siren?

Would you like to try on their hat and see their badge and handcuffs?

Then come along and join in the fun. Even if it is not a normal nursery day then come along anyway.

We have been playing with animals in shredded paper to see if we can find our favourite ones. 

We have been playing with the footballs in the garden. We really enjoy kicking them down the ramp in the garden to see how fast they go.

We have shown a keen interest in animals so have been exploring with our mini beasts. We have painted pictures of ladybirds, bumblebees and butterflies. These are displayed in our room so come and have a look.

Toddlers: This week we created a dinosaur world, we put mud, sand and lots of natural resources in our tray and explored with the dinosaurs. We have transformed our pixie pod into a fire station as we all love transport. We are really enjoying dressing up as firefighters and rescuing people. We have been playing in the garden on the bikes and scooters. We have been practising our balancing skills.

We have been playing with jelly this week, this was a new experience for some of us and we absolutely loved it. We got very messy and sticky but it was so much fun.

We have been baking biscuits. We have been continuing to sing the songs that we learnt in Voice play this week. We love the hokey cokey!

We have been playing with the cars and road mat, practising moving the cars around the road and learning to take turns.

We have been talking about emotions and what makes us happy. Lily said pulling a face makes her happy!

Pre-school: This week we have been playing with our new farm set particularly the horse stable. We have created our own little farm using hay and all the animals. 

We have been working in our teams in the garden to play group games. We have been playing stuck in the mud which is really fun.

We have been performing a talent show. We made our own stage using the big wooden blocks. We all took it in turns to show our talent. We did singing, dancing, made funny noises and told jokes!

We have been doing a threading activity. We have been using needles and canvas to create a picture. We have been celebrating Chinese new year as well and have been tasting new food. We made a dragon finger puppet using lots of resources. We really enjoyed playing with these and showing our mummies and daddies. 

We have been playing with shaving foam and using different sized bowls and spoons to practise mixing. Some of us really enjoyed making faces in the shaving foam on the wooden spoons. 

We have been making playdough this week and have added different herbs and spices to it. We have really enjoyed exploring with our senses.

Big Steps: This week we have been making a poster. We have been cutting out body parts and sticking them in the correct place. We have been talking about healthy food and making a healthy lunch box and an unhealthy lunch box and talking about the difference between them.