April 2024 at Atworth

We have had lots of new families join us over the past month so a big hello and welcome if this is you! It has been so lovely settling some new faces in to the rooms and watching them get stuck in making some new friends!

Babies have been enjoying the outdoors and taking in every little bit of sunshine they can get! They have been shaping up their skills on the balance bikes, and enjoyed a little scoot around the garden with some of the grown ups! They have also been taking their messy resources outside and adding a splash of colour to our fences!

Toddlers have been getting v e r y messy indoors and exploring all new kinds of textures! Not only have they been making puffy paint by mixing the shaving foam and paint together with their hands, but exploring the different marks they can make with textured rollers!

Pre-School have been busy getting our vegetable patch ready for its next season! They have been refreshing the soil and have sprouted some seeds ready to plant! They have been talking about what the plants need to help them grow and have done such a good job of taking care of them. This year we will be growing some corn, broad beans and cucamelon!

Its warming up!

Now that the sun is starting to shine and we are spending more time in our lovely outdoor spaces we do ask that you provide a named suncream and sun hat for your child. If we don’t have these items your little one may not be able to enjoy as much sunshine as we’d like! Extra changes of clothes are also a bonus, as in the warmer months we do like the hose pipe!

Earth day

This month we celebrated Earth Day on 22nd April. This years focus was ‘planet vs plastics’. We have been talking about all things recycling and even created a littered beach in our pre-school room which they cleaned with a real litter picker! We have been discussing why it is important to look after our planet and the world around us, including the little bugs in our forest garden! Toddlers enjoyed making some collages of land and sea using blue and green tissue paper and paint, whilst babies mixed blue and green playdough to create the globe!

If you want to find out more about Earth Day and how you can do your bit, please follow the link below.

A few staffing updates

Whilst Jadea is still patiently awaiting the arrival of her little one, we have been celebrating the news that Kim is also expecting a little one in the coming months! Kim will be here to see our older children off to school before she kicks back on maternity leave and awaits her arrival in July. Congratulations Kim and family!
We also have news that Gabby has joined the team at Atworth! Gabby has been part of Snapdragons for eight years, covering roles from head of room to head of early year practice and even manager. Gabby will be spending the next year with us here at Atworth overseeing both our Baby room and our Pre-School room whilst we eagerly await Kim and Jadea’s return! Gabby will also be supporting the nursery as our deputy manager so feel free to grab her for a chat!
We are also wishing Charlotte a HUUUUGE CONGRATULATIONS on being with Snapdragons for a whole ten years! Charlotte started out as our nursery chef here at Atworth before moving to our Pre-School room where she is now so close to completing her Early Years qualification! A big thank you to Charlotte for all of the smiles and delicious bakes she provides for all of us!

If you are a pre-schooler…

It is that time of year where some of our children are ready for their next phase in their education - school! Now that you all know which schools your little ones will be attending we really ramp up the school readiness in to full swing! Over the coming months we will be looking at pictures of the schools your little ones are heading to, having visits from teachers and passing you lots of information around open days and settling days. In the mean time we ask that if your child attends on a Monday or a Thursday in the Pre-School room and they are going to school this year that you bring in a change of clothes to act as a ‘pe kit’ for them on these days. One of the main aspects of school readiness is independence, so our lovely Charlotte will be hosting a little ‘pe session’ twice a week for our school leavers!

Upcoming dates

Friday 24th May - end of term for our TTO children
Monday 27th May - nursery closed: bank holiday
Monday 3rd June - first day back for our TTO children
Tuesday 18th June - international picnic day
Saturday 20th July - Pre-School leavers celebration

March at Atworth

Another busy month here at Atworth! Take a look at everything we have been up to…

We started off the month with St. Davids's day!

St David’s day is a Welsh celebration on 1st March in memory of St David. Typical celebrations include parades with bright yellow daffodils and a focus on culture. Here at Snapdragons we celebrated by making daffodil sun catchers using tissue paper and sticky back plastic. You may have spotted these on our windows! We also got stuck in making Welsh Cakes, the Pre-Schoolers used their hands to mix and knead all of the ingredients together before giving them to Mel to cook in the pan on the hob.

If you would like to have a go at making Welsh Cakes at home, take a look at the recipe we used!

We have been very keen bakers throughout the month of March! Lots of our little ones enjoyed cooking up some yummy treats for Mothers Day. they worked really hard to carefully measure out all of the ingredients, mix it all together, roll out the dough and stamp out the shapes. We hope all of our mums enjoyed their little treat (if they made it home!)

Science week

The 8th-17th March was science week! This year was the 30th anniversary making it extra special. The babies experimented with magnets, they had a table with different objects such as spoons, forks, pots from the role play and a few non magnetic items. The babies enjoyed seeing which objects were magnetic, saying ‘stick stick’ as they successfully picked up objects. They also experimented with salad spinner pictures, squeezing paint in to the spinner and turning it around to make abstract art.
Pre-school explored sinking and floating. They filled their water tray and collected different objects from around the room to pop in and see if they sink or float. They found that sponges float and collect all of the water with a big squeeze! They also found that pots will float on the top of the water if they are empty, but they sink if they are full!

If you wanted to have a look at things to do at home, click the link below!

World book day!

World book day was another fun one this year! We saw some really great outfits from all of your favourite stories and we all enjoyed dressing up with you to celebrate. We explored lots of activities around our favourite books such as cutting and sticking to make our own ‘room on the broom’ magic wands. We explored both fiction and non-fiction books. The Toddlers enjoyed looking at books on butterflies and creating their own symmetrical pictures by painting on one side of their paper and folding it over.
The Babies enjoyed listening to stories read by authors on the sonos and had their very own the tiger who came to tea picnic! They also made their story time interactive by using our story sacks.
Pre-School shared their favourite stories from home and acted out their favourite characters in their role play.

We hope you all spent your book token wisely!

Persian new year

The Pre-Schoolers took a deep dive in to Persian new year. Persian new year, otherwise known as ‘Nowruz’ is a celebration that marks the beginning of spring. One of our pre-schoolers brought in their ‘haft sin’ box from home with items that symbolise this celebration. In the box they had "sib" (apple), "senjed" (oleaster or Russian olive), "sumak" (a spice from a flower) "sir" (garlic), "sabzeh" (greenery) and "serkeh" (vinegar). There would also usually be a "sonbol" which is a hyacinth. After they had a little look at these items, the Pre-Schoolers painted their own hyacinth flowers and baked some barbari bread. Barbari bread is a type of flat bread that is a traditional part of persian cuisine, the Pre-Schoolers enjoyed sampling this alongside their tea!

Upcoming dates!

April is national pet month! If you have pets at home we’d love to hear about them and see some pictures. We may also organise some visits from some special guests!
April 22nd is ‘Earth day’ when we will be placing a focus on our planet and how we look after our environment
We have Babies and Toddlers parents evening coming up on Monday 8th April so please contact the rooms if you would like to book a slot!
Pre-School parents evening will be on Thursday 25th April, again if you have not booked your slot please chat to the team!
Our next concept photo shoot will be on Wednesday 8th May. If you child attends on this day, please bring them with an outfit you’d like them to have their photo taken in. If your child does not attend on this day and you’d like them to have their picture taken, please let the office know

Just a quick reminder also that the nursery will be closed this Friday 29th March and Monday 1st April due to the Easter bank holidays.

Staffing updates

As most of you know Jadea is expecting a little boy in May! Her last day with us before her maternity leave will be Thursday 18th April. We cannot wait to meet her new arrival and wish her all the best!

Holly is also moving on to a new adventure. She will be moving on to become a year one teacher at a local primary school. We are so excited for her to embark on this journey and have loved having her as a part of our Atworth team. Holly’s last day with us will be Tuesday 9th April. Some of you may be seeing her again as your little ones take their steps in to school!

Helena will be stepping up from deputy Head of Toddlers to Head of Toddlers and taking over from Holly. Helena has a wealth of experience in the Toddler room and is really excited for this next chapter. If you are a Toddler parent and Holly is your key worker, please bear with us as we assign these ahead of our staffing changes. Keep an eye on your iConnect for these updates!


The last thing to say from us is that we hope you all have a wonderful Easter - and as always, if you have any queries please get in touch!

February 2024 at Atworth!

What a busy month! We have had lots to celebrate in February including the British Heart Foundation, Pancake day and Valentines day, and we have plenty more coming up in March!

Children’s mental health week

From 5th to 9th February we promoted children’s mental health week here at Atworth! The aim this year was to give every child a voice and an opportunity to express themselves. We encouraged children and staff to come to nursery in clothes that make them feel like them! We spoke about what makes us unique and expressed ourselves in new ways such as through art, dance, and being out in the community.

Place2Be say ‘When we feel empowered, there’s a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a greater sense of community and self-esteem. This year, we want children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be empowered to work together to create a positive change for their mental health and wellbeing.’

We really enjoyed watching your little ones get stuck in throughout the week and empower them. If you wanted to explore this at home, please find some useful links below.

Babies

The babies have been enjoying their sunshine circles sessions this month, they particularly like rubbing lotion in to their hands! Sunshine circles is a type of theraplay that we incorporate in to the children’s day here at Snapdragons! By taking turns, exploring different senses and textures, singing and playing games, children are able to build confidence and self esteem and form positive attachments. The babies took time to massage the lotion in to their hands, and played a game of peekaboo with the coloured scarves before a little song and dance! Our ‘rub lotion’ song is a firm favourite, so keep your ears peeled for this at home.. and keep your lotion out of reach!

The babies have also been exploring sound and light using the musical instruments and the colour changing pebbles. Some of our little ones have mastered the skill of the maracas this month! They created a little den in their room and took turns to sit inside, watching how the colours changed around them as they pressed the buttons on the pebbles.

The babies loved making their little valentines treat to bring home too - carefully stamping hearts on to their cards to bring home.

Toddlers

The toddlers really went all in on pancake day! They had their own little pancake making station with playdough pancakes, scented leaves for toppings, frying pans and some scales to make sure they got all of their ingredients right! The toddlers cooked up enough playdough pancakes for the whole nursery before enjoying their own at snack time made by Mel in the kitchen. Although they decided to top their pancakes with fruit instead of leaves!

The toddlers have also been exploring Handa’s surprise - a story of Handa delivering delicious fruits to her friend, but meets some hungry animals along the way! We had some very hungry toddlers when Handa’s fruit basket ended up at nursery! They sampled orange, avocado, mango and even lemon! They spoke about the different smells and textures and chose their favourites!

Pre-School

To start the month the pre-schoolers learned a little bit about Chinese new year. They looked at some pictures of the celebrations in China and decided to make some spring rolls for their snack to mark the occasion! They enjoyed their spring rolls alongside a sneaky prawn cracker which went down a treat! Yummy!

Pre-school’s story of the month was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They started the month by making their own bears out of loose parts, thinking about what shapes would be good for each body part. They then enjoyed a bowl of yummy porridge for their breakfast - it was just right! Some of the pre-schoolers got stuck in making bread to have with their tea - but they made sure this was bear shaped to fit in with their theme!

Pre-school have also been exploring lots of new textures, they took some paper and crayons out into the garden to create some rubbings. They rubbed the crayons over wood, stone, and astroturf to see what patterns they could create! Whilst making their beautiful pictures they realised that it is nearly time to plant our seeds in our vegetable patch! They remembered that when we planted our raspberries last year the birds had a little nibble before we managed to pick them, so they drew some scarecrow designs to keep them away from the fruit this year!

What’s coming up?

Hopefully you have all received your book tokens ready for world book day! If not, please let us know as we have plenty of spares we can give you. We will be celebrating world book day on Thursday 7th March. Please come to nursery dressed as your favouite book character! If you’re looking for something to do to mark the occasion, head along to Broughton Gifford and join their world book day trail!

Dates for your dairies..
Thursday 28th March - last day at nursery for term time only children before the Easter break
Friday 29th March - Nursery closed to all children (bank holiday)
Monday 1st April - Nursery closed to all children (bank holiday)
Monday 15th April - first day back for term time only children after the Easter break

Is it a bird.. is it a plane?

Throughout the month we have been talking to all of the children about the birds in our environment and seeing which birds we can spot around the nursery using the big garden bird watch! The little ones have had their listening ears and their beady binoculars out to see which birds they can find hiding in our apple trees! Please find below a link to our article from last year on how to make bird feeders. We love this activity at nursery, and it is super simple for you to do at home for the garden, or the local park and sit to see who visits!

Wear it Red for the British Heart Foundation

We hope you've had a great week! Today we had a fantastic time celebrating "Wear It Red Day" in support of the British Heart Foundation. It was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness about the incredible work they do and discuss the importance of maintaining a healthy heart.

Our little ones had a blast making red play-dough and using their hands to shape it. The Toddlers had an exciting trip to the meadow, where they learned how their heart rate increased after running around the fields. As for our pre-schoolers, they had a great time making heart-shaped bread to enjoy with their chicken and vegetable soup for tea. They also created beautiful red pictures during their art session.

This cause holds a special place in our hearts here at Atworth, as we have a brave little warrior in our pre-school room who underwent life-saving heart surgery as a baby. She takes immense pride in her scar and what it represents, all thanks to the amazing work of the British Heart Foundation.

In light of this special day, the British Heart Foundation has released a free 15-minute training session on basic CPR. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to enhance your knowledge and skills in emergency situations.

Thank you for your continued support and for being part of our nursery community. We look forward to sharing more exciting updates with you soon.

January 2024 at Atworth!

Welcome back! We know it’s been a while.. but we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Here is everything we have been up to over January, and a few things we have up and coming this side of 2024!

Burns night!

We got stuck in to celebrating burns night on 25th January. All of the rooms had a wonderful day of crafts and food tasting whilst talking about burns night and what it stands for. We learned that burns night is a Scottish tradition to celebrate the poet Robert Burns. One of his most famous poems is called ‘address to haggis’! Toddlers made blue playdough to re-create the Scottish flag, Pre-School painted their very own tartan pictures whilst listening to the sound of bag pipes! And babies chomped away on their haggis which they really enjoyed!

Babies!

The babies have been exploring the story of ‘The Tiger who Came to Tea’ this month. They had their very own tea party in the baby room where they shared items of food with eachother, and carefully mixed and cooked their different ingredients. They even had a special visit from the tiger who came to tea himself.. who really did come to the tea party! Despite the tiger being bigger than the babies, they welcomed him with open arms!

Toddlers!

Toddlers have been really exploring the dinosaurs this month which seems to be a common interest across the age group! They have been talking about the different names of dinosaurs and where they live. The toddlers created a home out of playdough and collected some sticks and other natural resources from the garden to make sure they had something to eat, and places to hide!

Pre-School

Pre-School have been getting very hands on with their activities so far this year! They explored painting using forks and toothbrushes. They dotted and dragged the utensils across the paper to see what different marks they could make. The Pre-Schoolers have also been getting our tables nice and grubby! They used their fingers to swirl patterns in paint on to the table and pushed their paper on to the top to see what would happen… they sure do know how to make a mess!

Updates and reminders

• We have a new member of staff on the block! As you all know, our admin Kathryn has moved on to a new role in central bookings. This means we have a new admin assistant, Kerry! Kerry is learning the ropes being the scenes at the moment but it won’t be long until you see an e-mail pop through from her or meet her at the door!

• We would like to inform you that Ellie has made the decision not to return to us after her maternity leave. Both Ellie and little Harley are doing really well and are going to spend a bit more quality time together!

• We kindly ask that you name as many items of your little one’s belongings as possible. This includes their clothes and water bottles. We try our utmost to make sure that belongings make their way back to the right child, however we cannot always remember which blue top belongs to who! When items are named, it makes it much easier for us to return them to their rightful owner!

• A polite reminder that our nursery sessions run from 8.00 until 6.00. These are the times that our wonderful team start and finish for the day. We are seeing an increasing number of parents arriving before 8am making it tricky for some of our staff to make their way in to the car park and set up ready for the day. We are also seeing an increase in parents picking up at 6pm. If you require a detailed handover of your child’s day we do ask that you collect before 6pm to allow the team time to chat to you before they finish at 6. We do offer an early drop off at 7.30 for a small fee so please do get in touch if you feel this would benefit you.

• Toys toys toys.. along with items of clothing, toys can quite easily be misplaced in a nursery full of them! We do encourage that all toys other than comforters needed for sleep time are left at home. If toys come in to the nursery, we cannot guarantee that they will not get lost or broken.

Upcoming dates and events

• Friday 2nd February: Wear red day for the British Heart Foundation

• Tuesday 13th February: Pancake day

• Friday 9th February: Last day of term for term time only children

• Monday 19th February: First day back after half term for term time only children

• Wednesday 14th February: Valentines day

• Thursday 7th March: World book day

• We also have Mothers Day on the horizon on 10th March so keep your eyes peeled for this one!

Nursery kit list

New here?! Let us give you some pointers of what to pop in your nursery bag!

• spare changes of clothes including socks/vests

• weather appropriate outdoor wear - at the moment an all in one waterproof and wellies and really helpful along with a warm hat and gloves/mittens

• a water bottle

• comforters for sleep

• nappy cream if your little one is still in nappies

• suncream in the summer months with a sun hat

Childrens mental health week

We will be supporting children’s mental health week from 5th-11th February! This years theme is ‘my voice matters’ to empower, equip and give a voice to every child in the UK. This is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves. The aim is for all children to be able to say and believe ‘my voice matters’. Feeling empowered can have a positive impact on wellbeing - children and young people who feel that their voices are heard can make a difference have a better sense of community and self-esteem.

During the week we will be..
Monday - Wear whatever makes you feel like you! Whether this be a superhero outfit or your pyjamas!
Tuesday - We will be heading out and about to take in the fresh air which is known to reduce anxiety and build a connection to nature
Wednesday - We will be putting the spotlight on sign language and learning some key signs for everyday communication
Thursday - We will be expressing ourselves through song and dance
Friday - We will be taking part in expressive art so please come to nursery wearing something you don’t mind getting messy.. as the paint may be flying!

If you would like to read up on this a bit more at home, please find a helpful link below.

Fancy a winter warmer!?

As you know, we really pride ourselves on our fresh menu’s here at Snapdragons and we love to extend this out to you at home! If you fancy giving it a go, below you will find a link to our recipe for our spiced root vegetable and lentil soup with wholemeal scones! If you have a go at this recipe please send us some pics!

December 2023 at Atworth

We’ve made it.. the end of the year! And what a year it’s been!

What have we been up to in December?

Forest school

We have had the pleasure of having Nat, our forest school leader, with us throughout November and December! We have been super busy with trips, cooking and crafts. A few of us have hopped on the minibus and headed over to Whitehall Garden Centre where we discovered the festive lights, and got to see some reindeer, donkeys, sheep and goats.. although our favourite part is singing on the minibus!
We have learnt how to make flatbreads and cooked them over the fire. Some of us had a little nibble outdoors after they had cooled down, and we let the rest of our friends at nursery try them for our snack!
Nat has also been helping your little ones make some resources for the nursery. They have made a Christmas tree in the garden by balancing lots of different shaped logs, a mobile using natural resources such as leaves for the Toddler room, and a few reindeers to make our nursery look that little bit more festive!

Nat has written a blog on how you can encorporate forest school at home, click the link below to have a read!

It’s Christmas!

We have had an action packed December here at Atworth on the lead up to Christmas! We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to those of you who attended our Christmas party. We hope you enjoyed having a little insight in to nursery life and your little ones enjoyed their gift from our special guest, Santa!
The Pre-Schoolers worked really hard to put on a brilliant show for their Nativity this year! We are so so proud of them, and if you are a parent, we’re sure you are too! They did such a good job and remembered ALL the words! If you are a Pre-School parent and would like to purchase a digital copy of the performance, please bring £5 in to the nursery office.
Aside from our big events the team have been putting together lots of Christmas activities for the children to explore, and they have been crafting away on their Christmas bags to bring home. We even enjoyed a Christmas lunch complete with yorkshire puddings and pigs in blankets! Each room has decorated ornaments to place on our tree, and put their own unique twist on a little Christmas gift.

What else have we been up to?

This month the babies have been focusing on their ability to mark make. They explored this through all different kinds of media such as a sticking, drawing, and printing. They especially liked using cookie cutters to stamp Christmas shapes on to their paper bags.
Toddlers have been learning how to make shortbread! They listened really carefully to the instructions and made lots of different shaped shortbread biscuits for their friends all across the nursery to enjoy as a little treat after their Christmas dinner!
Pre-School have been sharing their favourite Christmas stories with their friends before settling down to read them together. They have also been really creative, turning boxes in to Santa’s sleigh and delivering presents to all of their friends. They also sculpted clay in to different shapes to make their very own reindeer!

A little look back at 2023!

We have had an INCREDIBLY busy year this year! We thought it would be nice to have a little look back at everything we have done!
In January we tried haggis for the first time whilst we celebrated Burns Night. We also cooked sausages over the fire to celebrate Australia day for one of our friends in Pre-School!
February brought love and pancakes with valentines day and pancake day! We got up to lots of crafts and made our very own pancakes which we topped with berries.
March was a particularly busy month at Atworth, we got all dressed up for World Book Day, cooked up a storm for Mothers Day, and hosted our very own wellbeing week all about the importance of exercise and connecting to our community!
April was all about Forest School. We painted with mud, toasted apples over the fire, and hopped on the minibus to Whitehall to choose which seeds we wanted to plant back at nursery!
In May we took some goodies we collected for wellbeing week to our local residents in one Atworth’s care homes. Whilst we were there we met a little cat! Back at nursery we planted all of our seeds in our vegetable patch and invited our mummies and daddies in to celebrate the Kings Coronation with games and a picnic in the front garden.
In June we prepared to say goodbye to some of our Pre-School friends. They enjoyed their leavers trip to Bath City Farm where they got to feed baby sheep!
We took a step back in July to enjoy the sunshine. We spent lots of time outdoors creating new activities and exploring our environments.
We harvested our crops in August! Everything had been really well looked after and we were able to enjoy our potatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and carrots in our meals and snacks! It was also time to say goodbye to our Pre-School leavers who headed off on their new adventure at school.
The weather began to change in September, so we hopped back on the minibus, this time to Westonbirt, to have a look at what was happening to the trees. We saw lots of pretty colours!
In October we hosted another wellbeing week, we enjoyed yoga outdoors. October also brought Halloween! We had a particularly spooky party in our best costumes.
In November we supported armistice day by making our own poppy wreaths and walking them up to the clock tower in Atworth where we left them for the community to see. We also had our delicious s’mores event, toasting marshmallows over the fire!
And here we are.. December! We have really enjoyed getting in to the festive spirit and sharing this with you back at home.

And so on to 2024!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support. We really hope you have enjoyed the year as much as we have - it’s been a busy one! We will re-open to our all year round children on Tuesday 2nd January, and we will welcome back our term time only children on Thursday 4th January. We kindly ask that you remember to return with a named water bottle, coat, waterproof, wellies and hat/gloves if you are able. If you want to send some last minute Christmas cheer to any of the staff here at Atworth, please do so by nominating them for a snappy superstar below. All that’s left for us now is to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

November at Atworth

Winter is coming! What a busy month we have had, and what a busy month we have ahead!

What have we been up to?

We have had a busy month celebrating all things Autumn. We started off the month with bonfire night arts and making poppies for Armistice day, and ended it with our pyjama day, blue day for UNICEF and s’mores around the fire! We have been lucky enough to have Nat, our forest school leader, here with us throughout Autumn which has meant lots of outdoor activities and sneaky trips! We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who contribted to any of these recent events and joined us for our wonderful s’mores evening. Our team really enjoy hosting these events for you and putting smiles on the little ones faces! We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.

Babies

As the colder weather draws in, the babies have been exploring their creative side! They have been painting using different tools and parts of their body to make marks.. including their feet! They made some wonderful collages for Diwalli using glue sticks and coloured paper, sticking each piece down independently to make their own rainbow! They used black card and DIY stampers to create some vibrant firework pictures alongside! The babies also headed out to the garden to collect the fallen leaves and used their new artistic skills to create an Autumn collage.

Toddlers

We just can’t keep the Toddlers inside! They have absoluted loved playing out in the Autumn weather. Like babies, they collected the fallen leaves in all different shades of green, brown, orange and red and turned them in to a beautiful mobile to hang in their room. They have also been exploring our garden games, seeing how many balls they can bounce on the parachute, practicing their aim with a spot of croquet and seeing who can score the most points on the beanbag game!

Pre-School

Pre-School have been reading ‘Whatever Next’ this month! They have taken the theme of space and explored this in any way they can! They have been using large bubble wrap to print some textured moon pictures and mixed their own colours to paint their very own planets. They also constructed their own wooden rockets from different shaped pieces of wood threded on to a dowling, and conducted their own experiment using oil, water and colourings to create their own planet in a jar!

Forest school fun

SO… what have we been up to with Nat!? Our little ones have been working on their balancing skills on their new see-saw in the garden, made from all natural wooden materials! Nat has also helped the children add to our garden games collection, teaching them how to make a ring toss game and an abacus to work on their counting skills. We have had plenty of fires to toast our snacks over, and even tried our hand at making some flat breads for our snack, they were delicious! Pre-School would like to say a huge thank you to Nat for creating all the bits and bobs they needed to create their very own wooden rockets.

Staff updates

We have just a few changes heading our way that we are delighted to share with you. Kathryn, our lovely admin here at Atworth, will be packing up her desk and moving in to head office! The way we register our new families is changing a little bit from the new year, so Kathryn and another member of the Snapdragons team, Stevie, will be starting a new role around all things bookings! You may still be lucky enough to see Kathryn around however we wish her all the best with her new role. We have a new admin lined up to deal with all of your queries in the meantime, so don’t panic!

We would also like to share the news with you all that our Deputy Manager and Head of Babies, Jadea, is expecting her own little one! Jadea has been trying to hide a bit of a bumpy secret over the past few months and is thrilled to be able to announce the news to you all! Jadea will remain with us in her role in to the new year, and we cannot wait to meet her new addition!

Usual dates and reminders

Our Pre-Schoolers have been working extra hard on perfecting their roles for this year’s nativity! The Pre-School nativity will take place on Friday 8th December at 10.30am at St. Michaels church. If your child already attends on this day, please drop them to nursery as normal and we will walk with them up to the church. If your child does not attend on this day please drop them at the church for approximately 10am. As always please note that we unfortunately do not allow pictures or recordings during the nativity due to GDPR, we will be recording the entire performance which can be ordered from us for a small fee of £5. If you have not yet ordered this and would like to, please drop us an e-mail.

We will be hosting our annual Christmas party here at the nursery on Monday 11th December! If your child is attending nursery on this day you are more than welcome to join them between 3.00pm and 5.00pm for some festive fun and a little party treat! If your child does not attend nursery on this day, please feel free to pop along with your child to their base room between 3.00pm ad 5.00pm on the day! We cannot wait to get our party planning underway, and even have some intel that santa could be making a visit….

• Term ends for term time only children - Friday 15th December

• Nursery closes for Christmas - Friday 22nd December

• Children’s Christmas Dinner day - Wednesday 6th December

• Pre-School nativity day - Friday 8th December

• Whole nursery Christmas party - Monday 11th December

Kit list!

One final reminder of the bits and bobs we require here at nursery now the cold weather is closing in. We do go outside in all weathers and wet weather can sometimes come with lots of changes of clothes, so we kindly ask that if you are able, you provide the following for your child, all of which will need to be named

• A winter hat

• Gloves/mittens

• Wellies or shoes that you do not mind getting muddy/wet

• A waterproof suit/trousers

• A warm coat

• A water bottle

• Lots of fresh clothes

• Cream if your child is still in nappies

October at Atworth!

Another month gone, and what a busy month we’ve had!

Wellbeing week

Our wellbeing week was a huge success so thank you to everyone who contributed! Our little ones enjoyed visiting other rooms for their lunch and talking to some new faces, especially our siblings who got to join up for their meal! We did some really relaxing yoga outside in the garden and dropped all of our food bank goodies to ASDA, kindly donated by you. Whilst we were dropping them off the toddlers had a secret mission, to collect items on their shopping list containing flowers for Kim, formula for the babies, and a sneaky treat for the grown ups back at nursery! They did such a good job!

Babies

The babies have got really stuck in with their Halloween activities this month! They have created foot print ghosts to decorate their room, along with some spooky cobwebs and spiders. Some of the babies enjoyed using glue and collage materials to create some spooky pictures, whilst others used oranges to squeeeeeze in to their orange playdough to make it smell delicious! Then moulded the dough in to little pumpkins, using sticks collected in the garden as stalks!

Toddlers

Toddlers have been getting in to the autumnal spirit whilst exploring their book of the month ‘Room on the Broom’. They have been out in the gardens collecting natural resources such as conkers to roll through paint and make abstract patterns. They used leaves to create hedgehog pictures and enjoyed using craft materials to make their own broomsticks from their book of the month!

Pre-School

Pre-school have also enjoyed getting stuck in to Halloween. They have been exploring pumpkins and carving them out to turn them in to tunnels for the trains! They have also been making magic potions with lots of different colours and bubbles to stamp patterned pictures. Some of the pre-schoolers have also been showing off their artistic side, carefully drawing their self portraits to go up on the wall.

Notes and Reminders!

• We are now well and truly in to the autumn weather! We kindly ask that your little one has some essentials to keep here on site for the winter, as we do go out in all weathers!
  
  These are, a warm coat that is named, a waterproof suit or trousers that is named, a pair of wellies that are named, a water bottle that is named and a pair of shoes regardless of age so we can avoid soggy socks! If you’re willing we would also appreciate a pair of named slippers to keep our toes toasty indoors.

• Some of your children will be transitioning to their next step through the nursery at this time of year. If this is you, and you would still like a further conversation with your child’s new keyworker, or another tour of their new room, please just let us know.

• Charlotte was THRILLED at everyone’s efforts on pink day this month to raise awareness for breast cancer support! We are still planning some more events and games for you to be involved in so keep your eyes peeled.

• Jadea will be on annual leave from 6th November until the 15th November. If you have any queries relating to babies in this time please contact either Beth or Ella until Jadea’s return.

• We have a new team member! Martyna, our house keeper, will now be working on site from 5pm until 7pm, so if you see her around on pick-up please feel free to say hello!
  

• This year’s flu vaccination programme is underway.  Children aged 2 and 3 years old (on 31 August before flu vaccination starts in the autumn) are eligible for a free flu vaccine given as a nasal spray.  

  Bristol Early Years encourages all early year’s providers and schools to share the Flu Immunisation leaflets and information with families, and to encourage parents and carers to take their child for a flu immunisation in half term where appropriate.

  Annual vaccination of children helps provide protection to each child and reduces the spread of flu to their families and the wider community, protecting others who are at increased risk of becoming seriously ill from flu. The flu vaccine also promotes a healthy working environment in nurseries and childcare settings by reducing the risk of flu being spread to others including staff.

We are collecting!

As you all know, we are a curiosity approach setting. As we are in the process of renewing this, we are looking to extend the provision that we have around this area. If you ahve any ‘curious’ or homely objects lying around that are not being used we would LOVE a donation! This can be anything from saucepans and vases to conkers and shells. We have put a little kit list below with a few suggestions.

- Bowls. - Spoons. - Trays. - Dishes - Boxes. - Massage rollers. - Trinket boxes Chopping boards. - Curtain rings. - Wicker mats. - WIcker baskets. - Mug trees. - Pots. - Wooden animals. - Baskets. - Picture frames - TV remotes. - Old phones

Key dates

• Babies and toddlers parents evening - Thursday 2nd November

• Pre-school parents evening - Wednesday 1st November

• Spooks and smores - Wednesday 22nd November

• Pre-school nativity - Friday 8th December

• Nursery closes for Christmas - Friday 22nd December

• Nursery re-opens for the new year - Tuesday 2nd January

September at Atworth

Rolling in to October!

What have we been up to?

Toddlers have been busy baking some gingerbread biscuits (that just so happen to be both gluten and dairy free!). They very carefully weighed out all the ingredients using the scales and took it in turns to tip each ingredient in to the bowl. They used their super strong muscles to mix mix mix the dough, until it was ready to be rolled out and cut into perfect little gingerbread shapes! Some of the toddlers enjoyed this so much they used some of the skills they used such as rolling and ‘cooking’ in their play, using playdough to roll out as dough and making their own campfire in the garden to cook over!

Babies have been exploring the balls! It turns out there’s quite a lot of things you can do with a ball… some of the babies have been practicing their throwing and catching skills with the grownups. Others realised that if you bash the balls together, they make a great noise! And some of us just enjoyed filling and pouring.. filling a container and pouring the balls over our heads! Hilarious!

Pre-school have really dived into their story of the month. The story for them this month is The Gingerbread Man. They have worked together to make a really lovely display of their artwork, of their own pictures of the gingerbread man! They used paint that they mixed themselves to make all different shades of brown with spices to make it super authentic and smell deeeelicious. They are so proud of their pictures and love pointing them out on the wall!

Want to try our recipe at home?!

Ingredients
100g dairy free butter
3tbsp golden syrup
100g dark muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
225g gluten free plain flour
50g icing sugar (optional, for decoration)

Method
Step one
In a small pan heat the butter, syrup and sugar together until melted, stirring occasionally.
Set to one side to cool slightly.
In a large bowl mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour.
Pour in the melted butter mixture and stir to combine.
Using your hands, bring together to form a dough. This will be soft but will set up in the fridge.

Step two
Take 2 sheets of greaseproof paper, lay the dough down on one, shapre it in to a rectange, and place the other sheet on top of it
Roll the dough out to 1/2cm thick and put flat in the fridge for one hour.

Step three
Heat the oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5 and line a large baking tray with non stick greaseproof paper.
Take the rolled dough out of the fridge and cut out shapes from it.

Step four
Pop the gingerbread in the oven for 15 minutes.
During this time make your icing if you’re using it, combining the icing sugar with 1-2tbsp of water
When the biscuits are cool - decorate and enjoy!

Out and about.. again!

Some of our pre-schoolers were lucky enough to take a trip to Westonbirt! They had loads of fun looking at all of the different trees and finding out what they were called. They even found a tree that fell down and took turns to use their balancing skills to walk from one end to the other. They then spotted some rabbits and followed them reeeeally slowly to see what they were up to! Once they’d finished their adventures they had a lovely picnic in the sun with some sandwiches, fruit, cucumber, breadsticks, and lots of water before popping back on to the bus and singing all the way back to nursery!

Equality and Diversity

We are delving into our equality and diversity policy next month. This means we are looking at how we celebrate diverse cultures and our differences. If you have anyone in your family, maybe grandparents, aunties, uncles or even yourselves that come from a different background, culture, or celebrate something a little bit different we’d love to know about it so that we can include this in our curriculum and celebrations. If this is you then please either get in touch by e-mail or let your child’s key worker know!
Have a look at our policy below

Wellbeing week

Some exciting news that 9th-13th October Is WELLBEING WEEK

This week Is all about the 5 ways to wellbeing, we will be focusing on a different aspect each day and we’d love for you to be involved!

On Monday we will be CONNECTING, so your little ones may visit a different room to have their lunch as an opportunity to mix with some fresh faces or their siblings. We may even treat the staff to a special lunch themselves! (shhh!)

On Tuesday we will be ACTIVE
Please send your little ones in in their active wear!! We will be having a day of getting up and moving. This may include a little bit of walking (maybe even to the park) and a little bit of yoga!

On Wednesday we will be TAKING NOTICE
This is all about focusing on mindfulness and our emotions. We would love to focus on the emotion of joy and laughter! If you have a particularly funny (or unfunny) joke, email this across to us or let the team know so we can pop it in our jar that we will be accessing all week!
How do you make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in it!

Thursday is about LEARNING so we are asking you to share your skills. Do you play an instrument, knit, or bake? We’d love you to come in and share your skill with the children or give us some information around it so that we can give it a go ourselves. We will also be sharing some recipes around the skill of cooking!

Friday is about GIVING so we will be focusing on our acts of kindness and snappy superstars! We will be collecting items for our local food bank, so if you are able, we would really appreciate any donations. We will pop a list of accepted items below and in the box for donations that will be just outside the office door. If you want to get involved and nominate your superstar, you can do so below!

accepted items for food bank donations
- tea bags. - soup. - pasta. - tinned fish.
- baked beans. - tinned tomatoes. - cooking sauces. - biscuits.
- chocolate bars. - tinned veg. - long life milk.
- instant coffee. - instant mash. - squash.
- jam. - tinned fruit. - sugar. - tinned spaghetti.
- custard powder. - tinned rice pudding. - long life fruit juice.
- cereal. - sponge pudding. - tinned meat.

Essentials for the colder months

Now that the warm weather has sadly left us, we would like to kindly ask for some updated essentials! We would be really grateful if you could provide the following for your little ones
- a warm coat that is named
- a rain jacket or waterproof suit that is named
- a pair of wellies that are named
- a water bottle that is named
- a pair of shoes regardless of age so we can avoid soggy socks!
- a pair of slippers to wear indoors

We go outside in all weathers!

Dates and reminders

Holly will be off having a lovely time in the USA for the first three weeks of October so if you have any questions regarding Toddlers, please come to myself or Helena!

We of course provide focus planning for each child each term to ensure we are up to date with all of their skills and interests! Please can we ask that if you have not received any e-mails around focus planning to check your junk just in case it is hiding in there. It is really helpful for us to have your input from home.

Dates dates dates
Wellbeing week (with lots of activities!) - 9th-13th October
October half term – 23rd-27th October
Wear it pink - 16th-31st October
Pre-school parents evening - Wednesday 1st November
Babies and Toddlers parents evening - Thursday 2nd November
Concept photography – Friday 10th November
Smores evening – Wednesday 22nd November

Summer 2023 at Atworth

What have we been up to over July and August!?

Fun in the sun

Our little ones have been BUSY out in the gardens! Our babies have been working on their physical development, challenging themselves on the climbing equipment. They have also been exploring mark making in the outdoors using pencils and water. Of course, they also couldn’t resist a little splash in some water themselves!
Toddlers have been exploring their creative side using puffy paint and salad spinners! They carefully selected the colours they wanted to use, before squeezing them in to the salad spinner and spinning it really fast to create their artwork! This was so much fun they wanted to paint some more, using puffy paint to create some more beautiful pictures.
All our little ones have enjoyed using the soft play to create towers, and to climb over and crawl under, even taking some of our cars for a ride through the tunnel!

Our little ones have been very excited by the addition of some bikes and scooters into our forest garden. They have been working on their strength and co-ordination to push the pedals around and use their legs to scoot across the garden!

Our nursery garden..

Charlotte, Holly and the Pre-School room have been doing an a m a z i n g job at growing our fruits and vegetables this year! They have helped to water them, and harvest them when they are ready to eat. Everyone has enjoyed a little snack on an alpine strawberry, and some of our Pre-Schoolers even got to take some potatoes home - lucky ducks! Have a look at how tall our runner beans have grown!

Out and about!

With summer comes lots of local trips! The toddlers and babies have headed out to Atworth Park and took a long stroll down the farm track to find some sheep! Our Pre-Schoolers popped over the road to visit the little stream and have a paddle in their wellies! They looked for bugs with our Forest School Leader, Tim, who has been spending some time at Atworth and making some things for our gardens with each of our rooms. We have been using our abundance of apples to make marks with paint by rolling them, and learning how to chop down some wood in the garden!

A special visitor…

We had a VERY special visitor come in to visit us! Ellie who is currently on maternity leave brought Harley in to meet her friends! He was very well behaved and enjoyed a little nap as the children gave him some very gentle strokes on his head!

Pre-School Graduation!

We had an amazing time celebrating our school leavers as they venture on to their next journey at school! The rain did not stop us having a lovely send off! All of our little ones received their certificate and goodie bag and enjoyed some indoor games, BBQ food and a delicious cake made by Charlotte! We would like to thank each and every person who came to the event, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Staffing updates and some key dates

Our team is growing here at Atworth! You will be seeing some more new faces popping up around the nursery this month. We have welcomed Amelia who is working across our Pre-School and baby rooms. Amelia is level 5 qualified and has a degree in childhood studies! We have also welcomed Lucy to our baby room who has completed her Level 2 in childcare and is completing her Level 3 alongside joining our team. Lucy works in the baby room Tuesday through to Friday. We have three new nursery apprentices with us, Leona, Ellie and Rosie. Leona and Ellie will be learning the ropes under the guidance of Jadea in our baby room, and Rosie will be getting stuck in with the toddlers alongside Holly - make sure you say hi!
Aimee from our baby room will be making a move to Pre-School over the coming weeks too! This is to benefit Aimee’s level 3 apprenticeship and allow her to experience a new age group, so keep an eye out for her.

Key dates
August bank holiday - Monday 28th August (nursery will be closed)
Start of term - Friday 1st September
Concept photography - Friday 10th November
Smores evening - Wednesday 22nd November

Fancy making some puffy paint at home?

Here’s how!
You will need:
Shaving foam
Paint
Paper and paintbrushes! (or fingers will do just fine..)

Method:
Simply squeeze a little shaving foam in to a bowl
Add a few drops of paint and mix!
The more paint you add.. the more vibrant the colour!

Want to nominate your snappy superstar? Follow the link below!

June 2023 at Atworth

We have all been enjoying the summer weather recently! We hope if you took part in our Father’s Day breakfast this was a nice treat for you, our little ones certainly enjoyed making all of your cards! Just another reminder that if you haven’t already brought in a named sunhat, water bottle and sun cream we do really need these!

Babies Snapshot

The babies took a little trip out to Atworth park. They had a lovely sunny stroll in the pushchairs and were eager to have a go on the swings! They sat down for a little drink stop before exploring some more, and a few took a little doze on the way home! The babies have also enjoyed getting stuck in with the water play and messy activities outdoors!

Toddlers Snapshot

The toddlers have been busy taking the indoors outdoors! Alongside loads of water and ice play to keep cool they have been exploring mud, paint, and foam. The cars took a drive through some sand, foam and clay which was very sticky on our hands! Some of our Toddlers found some dinosaurs hiding in the mud tray, whilst others made some beautiful marks with colourful foam.

Pre-School Snapshot

Pre-school have been focusing on Jack and the Beanstalk this month! They very carefully used scissors to cut out some leaves before working together as a team to create the biggest beanstalk imaginable! All of the Pre-Schoolers worked together to line up natural sticks and leaves and then used a tape measure to see how big it was. Some of the Pre-Schoolers have been using the magnetic shapes to create a castle from the top of the beanstalk!

Life on the farm

Lots of you may be aware that it is time to say goodbye to some of our Pre-Schoolers soon as they head off to school. Our school leavers took a trip to Bath City Farm to celebrate! They had a great time running through the long grass, riding on the tractor, and feeding the animals.

Staffing updates

Imogen has now started with us full time! Imogen will be based in our Pre-School room and works every day other than a Tuesday. You may start to see a few new faces across the nursery as we welcome some new staff over the next few months. We will keep you updated as and when this happens and introduce them to you as they begin with us.

A reminder that Lorraine in our Pre-School room is term time only, so she will be off over the summer months!

And a huge congratulations to Ellie who welcomed her beautiful baby boy, Harley, born on 16th June 2023, weighing 8.12oz! Both mum and baby are doing well at home!

Dates and reminders

• Funded term time only end date: Friday 14th July (this is if your child is term time only, and receives 2, 3 or 4 year old funding)

• Term time only end date: Tuesday 25th July (this is if your child attends term time only and does NOT receive any funding)

• Pre-School graduation date: 5th August
  
  

• If you are a Pre-Schooler due to go to school, please remember there is no funding for the month of August. If you would like to end your child’s contract before this, then please let us know. If you do not contact us, we will assume their end date is 31st August and you will be billed for this month.

• A polite reminder than we do ask that children only have water in their bottles

• Another gentle reminder that the nursery opens at 8am and closes at 6pm so please ensure your little ones are dropped off/picked up within these hours.
  

We have had a little bit of illness floating around recently! Due to this please find below a link to our illness policy for an update on our rules and exclusion periods!

Don’t see your child in the newsletter? Let us know and we can update your permissions!

Want to give a member of staff your praise & gratitude? Nominate them for a snappy superstar!

May 2023 at Atworth!

Summer is coming!

Summer is on its way! We have been loving the sun here at Atworth and have had a very busy May!

Pre-school have been out and about in the local community. They took a trip to Shockerwick House care home to meet the residents and sing them some songs. They shared their favourite story books and took a little hamper of goodies for the staff and residents to enjoy! Our little ones particularly enjoyed saying hello to the cat!

Green fingers!

We have been getting our little planting patch in the forest garden ready for the spring! Pre-school have worked really hard with Nat and Charlotte to replenish our crops! They have planted their seeds that they bought at Whitehall and are making sure to water them every day to help them grow. They chose climbing French beans, potatoes, carrots, courgettes, strawberries, raspberries and cucamelon!

Thank you!

We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to our garden party for the King’s Coronation – what a huge success! It seemed like everyone was having a lovely time and the little ones really enjoyed themselves. We hope you loved this as much as we did. Here are a few pictures from the day!

The big ride!

A lot of you were asking about Ella’s bike ride to Amsterdam so we thought we’d give you a little run down and post the donation link one final time for any last minute donations. On the first day from Kent to Dunkirk you may have heard that Ella flew over her handle bars and in to a fairly large puddle during a hailstorm! Lucky not too much damage was done and Ella was back on the bike for a windy cycle from Dunkirk to Bruges. After a restful evening, day three from Bruges to Rotterdam was a very tricky 100 mile day. After 12 hours on the saddle the whole team made it to Rotterdam ahead of their final stint! The team arrived in Amsterdam on a very busy Kings day where they were greeted with huge applause and some beautiful tulips.
Thank you all so much for your interest and support during Ella’s cycle, please find the donation page one last time below.

Click here to donate and make a difference

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

As many of you know we are an accredited curiosity approach setting, meaning we try to reflect the home environment in our resources and what we offer, following a very child-led approach to learning. In order to aid us with this we are asking if you have any old pots/pans/kitchen utensils that you could donate! Please do not bring in anything new, but if you have anything sitting in a cupboard going spare, we would love to give it a new home.
If you happen to have any old trousers/pants that need a new home also, we would be more than happy to pop these in our spare clothes.

Updates and reminders

Our lovely Ellie in toddlers will be finishing with us at the end of the month to start her maternity leave before she welcomes her little boy in June! We wish her all the best and cannot wait to meet her new arrival!

Please can we ask that now the weather is warming up that we have a named sun cream, sun hat and a named water bottle for your little one to keep on site.

You may have seen a new face around Atworth recently! We hope by now you have all met Abbie and Imogen who work across our toddler and pre-school rooms and are completing their qualifications! We have now also welcomed Gemma to our toddler team, who many of you may already know as a parent! We are thrilled to have Gemma back on board who worked at our Broadwood site a few years ago, make sure you say hello!

We have had a few cases of chicken pox throughout the nursery recently, mainly in our Toddler room, but also a few in our Pre-School room, so please keep an eye on your little ones for any signs/symptoms! If you would like more guidance on this, please just as one of the team.

Don’t forget - your concept pictures need to be returned by Tuesday 30th May!

If you are a PRE-SCHOOLER keep reading..

As the end of nursery and the start of school looms closer we are asking that if your little one is making the leap this year that you bring them in a ‘pe kit’ for nursery. This is simply just a change of clothes for them to do some sport activities in – whatever is comfy! As we start to prepare your little ones for school and promote their independence, just a few times a week we will be changing in to our pe kits and heading outside for some sports and games! If you have any questions on this, please ask the pre-school team.

You should have now received an e-mail inviting your little one on their leavers trip, if you could respond as soon as possible so we can check our numbers for this that would be great! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

And finally, our graduation date is Saturday 5th August! We will reveal the details of this closer to the time, but we can confirm it will be between 10.30 and 12.30 here at the Atworth site. All pre-school leavers should have also received an email on this, and we will be asking for your RSPV’s!

April 2023 at Atworth

Welcome back!

We hope you all enjoyed your Easter break and are enjoying the sunshine! The time has come to round up a n o t h e r month! We have had lots going on this month with lots more to come!

Forest school

We have been very lucky to have Nat our forest school leader with us this month! Nat has been busy exploring new things with all of our little ones and taking them to exciting places! Everyone has been busy toasting apples on a stick over the fire, some of which with the addition of cinnamon which was a big hit!

Pre-school have been practicing their skills using the bow saw. They took turns to chop some pieces of wood for our loose parts. They were very careful and demonstrated great control!

Some of our little ones took a trip to Whitehall! They were very strong pushing the trolley and brought back lots of lovely plants for our new sensory garden. They took a list and looked really carefully for the plants we needed to make our gardens look beautiful!

Out and about!

We are really enjoying the sunny weather over at Atworth! We have taken a few trips to the park to have a little picnic and explore the swings!
The babies have particularly enjoyed getting out in to the garden to explore painting with handmade paintbrushes and mud, mixing colours with water and practicing their gross motor skills using the climbing equipment!

Arts and crafts..

All of our rooms enjoyed making their Easter crafts, from Easter biscuits to chicks from card! They haven’t let their creative spark end there as they have continued exploring all sorts of new materials and approaches. Pre-school have been pressing objects in to clay to see what patterns they can make and have been making dens in the garden with Holly. Babies have been exploring their senses rolling cars through paint and squeezing shaving foam!

Final reminders

Now that the weather is warming up and we are planning on spending more time outdoors we do ask that you please provide your child with a named suncream that can remain at nursery and a named sunhat. We also ask that you bring in a water bottle that your child can take to the garden with them.

Upcoming dates..

We have rescheduled our Holi Festival festivities for Wednesday 3rd May. We already have lots of your permissions for this, but the teams will be double checking with you if your child attends on this day that you're happy for them to participate! 

On Friday 5th May we will be hosting a garden party in celebration of the Kings Coronation. You should have had your invite for this so please RSPV! Please note that if your child does not attend on this day and you are planning for them to attend, a parent/carer will need to remain with them.

Concept are coming back for another visit on Wednesday 10th May. All children in on this day will have their photos taken, however if your child does not attend on a Wednesday and you'd like to bring them in to have their pictures taken then we do have limited slots available, so just pop us an e-mail to get booked in. 

We are planning our next parents evening! For BABIES and TODDLERS this will be on Monday 15th May and for PRE-SCHOOL this will be on Tuesday 16th May. Your child's room will have a booking sheet for you to sign up for this if you wish. 

Ella is off! Ella has been busy cycling her way to Amsterdam in the aid of SFC, a charity who support families in the local area. If you wish to show your support and are able, follow the link to donate and spread a little kindness!
https://localgiving.org/fundraising/fourcountriesfourdays/

March 2022 at Atworth

Spring is here!

We have had so many exciting events this month to round off the winter, from World Book Day to Wild Club! Let’s have a little look back at what we’ve been up to….

We loved seeing all your costumes for World Book Day and got stuck in with lots of activities! Babies were exploring Handa’s Surprise and tried lots of new fruits including passionfruit and pomegranate. Toddlers sat down and explored their favourite stories, whilst pre-school worked together to create a beautiful bear hunt picture! We had a little competition between ourselves here at Atworth to see who could be the best dressed, and our admin Kathryn (also known as little red riding hood) took home the prize!

We celebrated our lovely team of ladies on international women’s day by giving them all a positive affirmation attached to a flower and setting them the challenge of a quiz all about us! If you would like to show your appreciation, feel free to drop them a snappy superstar.. the link is below!

Nominate your superstar!

You all did a GREAT job with your red outfits for Red Nose Day! We had plenty of dance parties across the nursery and got stuck in with some messy red activities! Babies explored moon stand, squeezing it together and then watching it crumble! Toddlers made some red playdough and some red shaving foam for their messy play, and pre-school once again showed off their baking skills, making cupcakes with a little cherry for a red nose!

The 13th to 17th was nutrition and hydration week. We have sampled lots of fruits and spoken about what is good for us and what is bad for us. It is no secret that we pride ourselves on our healthy eating here at Snapdragons so we thought we would take this opportunity to share some of our recipes with you. Let us know if you try these at home!

Stir-fried pork noodles
Chicken and vegetable soup
Veggie packed Spanish rice

We hope all our mums enjoyed their goodies for Mother's Day and their bacon sandwiches if you were lucky enough to get one! Your little ones certainly enjoyed making everything for you. Babies were busy making a little keepsake card for their mummies with their teeny tiny handprint! Toddlers prepared some yummy biscuits along with a herbal tea to treat their mummies to a bit of relaxation time! And pre-school got their hands mucky making some wild seed bombs and a little cream tea!

We got stuck into a bit of teeth cleaning on world oral health day last Monday. All of your little ones did an AMAZING job at brushing their teeth with their friends! They even got to keep the toothbrush! We hope they have carried this on at home! Here’s a fun song that pre-school used to inspire their little ones!

Finally, we had our wild club which looked like an enormous success, we would like to say a huge thank you to our forest school leaders Tim and Nat for hosting this. We saw lots of muddy fingers! If you attended, we hope you had a lovely time.

Spotlight on..

As well as all of these amazing activities we’ve had going on with our events throughout the month, the rooms have also been busy in their day to day! Babies have been exploring lots of mark making both indoors and outdoors. They have been doing large scale painting with kitchen utensils, chalking and mark making in sand!
Toddlers have l o v e d their messy play this month! They have coloured shaving foam, splashed in water and had a go at making their own playdough!
Pre-school have been very patient when practicing their turn taking by playing group games, they have been sharing puzzle pieces and concentrating on learning the rules of their different games!

Snow day!

We were lucky enough to see just a little bit of snow this month before we waved goodbye to winter! Your little ones absolutely loved exploring this in the garden, so we wanted to share some snaps with you!

Dates for your diaries

To round up another lovely month, please note the dates below that you may want to make a note of!

Friday 31st March - end of term for our term time only children
Friday 7th April - Nursery closed for Easter bank holiday
Monday 10th April - Nursery closed for Easter bank holiday
Friday 21st April - visit to care home for our pre-schoolers
Monday 24th-Friday 28th April - Ella on annual leave cycling to Amsterdam!

If you would like to sponsor Ella for her 250 mile ride from England to Amsterdam, you can read all about it and do so here - keep an eye out on your weekend travels to see if you can spot her training with the team!

Sponsor Ella's big cycle!

February 2023 at Atworth

Goodbye and hello..

Goodbye to February and hello to Abbie and Imogen! Before we have a look back at the month we just wanted to pop a spotlight on Abbie who has joined our toddler team on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, and Imogen our student who has joined our preschool team on a Thursday and Friday!

What have we been up to?

We celebrated children’s mental health week across the nursery. This years focus was on connections and relationships, and how this is so important for a positive mindset! We focused on how we could connect ourselves to the local community, and took part in lots of mindful activities such as yoga. As you may have seen in a recent e-mail, we are still popping together our hamper to take to the care home so please keep the donations coming in.

We also celebrated valentine’s day by getting stuck in with lots of arts and crafts. Hopefully, you enjoyed a card or a biscuit from your little valentine! Pre-school made heart cookies, babies explored playdough and clay, and the toddlers worked really hard on their cards for their mummies and daddies.

Pancake day was a big hit! A huge shout out to our lovely chef Mel who cooked pancakes for the whole nursery! Our little ones had a choice of toppings from strawberries and blueberries to lemon and lime!

This month the babies have absolutely loved exploring natural resources in their messy play and have created some wonderful pictures. They have done painting with corks and logs to make different patterns, explored puffy paint and playdough!

Pre-school have had a go at hapa zome with Holly! Holly is currently training in forest school and has been using her skills to bring some exciting new activities in to pre-school! Hapa zome is an ancient Japanese art form based on leaf printing!

Heads up! Events incoming!

We wanted to give you a bit of a heads up for next month as we are planning to be very busy!

Thursday 2nd March is WORLD BOOK DAY. We have lots of book tokens so please ask your rooms for one of these and come dressed in your favourite book character! Please remember this doesn’t need to be something new, something handmade, reused or recycled would be great! We’ll be keeping an eye on what our staff are dressing as so let us know who you think is the best dressed!

Wednesday 8th March is international women’s day and Holi festival of colour. We will be empowering our wonderful team of women here for the hard work and commitment they give every day. Just like last year we will be throwing powder paint to celebrate Holi festival. If this is something you would NOT like your child to participate in, please please let us know. Here are some pictures of lasts year’s festivities!

Friday 17th March is Red Nose Day – more information on this to come!

Sunday 19th March is Mother’s Day, we will be planning lots of lovely activities for this and a few surprises for our mummies so keep your eyes peeled for this too!

13th-19th March is nutrition and hydration week where we will be popping the spotlight on our healthy menus and exploring healthy foods learning about why they are good for us. We will be sharing some lovely recipes with you too!

and finally Monday 20th March is world oral health day so we will be planning lots of things to focus on keeping our teeth clean and healthy!

Reminders reminders..

- Please remember that nursery drop off is after 8am and pick up is before 6pm.
- If your child is unwell and you can keep them at home please do so, our policy still stands that if they require Calpol they should remain at home. We have had a case of chicken pox in our baby room this week so keep an eye out for any spots!
- Please bring your child with a water bottle to nursery each day and remember to take this home at the end of your session
- We would love you all to send in some family pictures for us to keep in the rooms, you can e-mail these to atworth@snapdragonsnursery.com
- don’t forget to nominate your snappy superstar and tell them how amazing they are!
https://www.snapdragonsnursery.com/superstar

And finally..

One final note to say that Ella will be on annual leave from 6th to 10th March. Not quite the time to cycle to Amsterdam yet but skiing in Austria this time! The senior team will be on hand to answer any queries during Ella’s absence. Don’t forget if you want to sponsor Ella’s ride from London to Amsterdam in aid of SFC you can do so here, all donations are greatly appreciated.

Ella's four countries in four days | Localgiving

January at Atworth

Hello 2023! The team had a very restful Christmas break and have been busy as ever this month! We have had loads going on from making feeders for national bird day to celebrating Australia day with sausages! Here’s a little look back at our month and some key dates for your diaries.

Events events events …

This month we have celebrated national bird day, Chinese New Year, burns night and Australia day! Pre-school even celebrated children’s inventors’ day and pre-school health and fitness day.

For national bird day we made bird feeders and popped out into the garden really quietly to see what birds we could find. Toddlers have been exploring the binoculars in their room looking at their environments super close and far away!

Chinese New Year brought an array of activities to Atworth, pre-school made spring rolls, toddlers made their own rocking rabbits for the year of the hare, and babies have been diving into Chinese culture and colours!

Burns night brought haggis for lunch which was a hit with most, but not with all! And plenty of activities using tartan patterns and Scottish flags.

For Australia day the children were able to explore Australian culture with some lamington cakes, cork decorated hats, and sausages cooked over the fire!

Take a look below at pre-schools amazing creations for their inventors’ day, and some of the sporting activities they got up to.

Babies spotlight

Babies have been getting creative! They have been exploring all things messy from pencils to crayons to moon sand! They have been exploring texture by squeezing and practicing their fine motor skills learning how to hold pencils and pens to make marks. We definitely have some little artists in the making!

Toddlers spotlight

The weather didn’t deter the toddlers! They have been busy getting outdoors and enjoying the gloomy weather! They have been putting their skills to the test with balance bikes, scooters and hula hoops! A firm favourite for the toddlers recently is football and seeing how many balls they can kick around the garden!

Pre-school spotlight

Pre-school have been focusing on The Tiger who Came to Tea, they have shared picnics in the role play area with a tiger, painted their own tiger pictures and made some tiger-coloured gloop! Pre-school have also been giving Mel a helping hand in the kitchen, making baby pizzas with muffins and kneading dough to make bread!

Ella’s big cycle…

We thought we’d better let you know that from the 24th-28th of April I will be on annual leave making my way to Amsterdam.. on two wheels! I have teamed up with the charity Sporting Family Change to take on the challenge of cycling across four countries in four days. We will start in London and cross through Dunkirk, Bruges and Rotterdam before arriving in Amsterdam, covering a different country each day. Snapdragons are very kindly sponsoring the ride and are behind me every step of the way. I am absolutely no cyclist so this will be a huge challenge, but for a great purpose and a great cause. There is LOADS more to come on this soon which will be e-mailed out to you, but in the meantime, if you wanted to sponsor me in the hopes I make it to Amsterdam, please follow the link below.

Ella's four countries in four days | Localgiving

Reminders and dates for your diaries

To round things up we just wanted to pop a reminder out that during this time of year we really appreciate having labelled woolly hats and gloves and where possible, and a waterproof suit for your little ones. We do try to explore the outdoors in all weathers so these few things really make it a lot more inviting! We do have a few spares – but just not quite enough to cater for all! Please also remember to bring your little one in with a named water bottle, and a pair of slippers for their room!

Also a reminder that you can follow the link below to nominate your ‘snappy superstar’ these really boost the team’s morale and pop a huge smile on their face. We are celebrating ‘time to talk’ day with our staff this week, making sure we make time to talk about what’s on our minds, and they have all received a little pick-me-up gift too!

https://www.snapdragonsnursery.com/superstar

Upcoming dates
- Children’s mental health week 6th-12th February
- Valentine’s day - 14th February
- Term ends for term time only children - Friday 10th February
- Next term begins for term time only children - Monday 20th February
- World oral health day - 20th March
- Nutrition and hydration week - 13th-19th March

November and December 2022 at Atworth!

Another year done!

We have had a very busy two months so we thought we’d pop November and December in to one winter Newsletter! Just a reminder that the nursery closes on Friday 23rd December and re-opens on Tuesday 3rd January.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came to our smores evening with our lovely forest school leaders, we hope you loved it as much as we did! Our forest school champs Tim and Nat have been working their magic with your little ones making all sorts of crafts and exploring all sorts of wonderful places!

I’m sure you will all join me in saying a massive congratulations to the pre-school team for their nativity ‘a miracle in town’. All of the children did AMAZING and looked wonderful! If you are a pre-school parent and would like a copy of the nativity video please pop your £5 in to the office!

All of the rooms have been busy getting festive and making lots of goodies to bring home, so we hope you enjoy these when they arrive! Take a little look at the rooms below!

Babies

Babies have been loving the festive season, dressing up and exploring all things Christmas! Unfortunately Santa was unable to visit this year but he sent his elf with some presents which they loved opening! They have also been getting stuck in collecting leaves to make wreaths, and getting messy with paints creating decorations.

Toddlers

Toddlers have been exploring their creative side this winter, making colourful playdough and seeing what shapes and patterns they can make. The toddlers have also loved singing along to some festive tunes with their musical instruments and took a trip outside to explore the snow - which some enjoyed more than others!

Pre-school

Pre-school have been busy as ever! They have had a cheeky elf visit their room over the festive period who has set them challenges each day, one of which was to make mince pies which they did amazing with! They have been busy making natural Christmas decorations and wreaths, and even ventured outside in to the thick fog and for a story by the campfire!

That’s all from us this year! Just a quick reminder that as the cold weather has now set in we would really appreciate each child to come to nursery with a named hat, thick coat and gloves.
As ever, please do nominate your snappy superstar to give them a little bit of Christmas cheer. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Snappies Superstar — Snapdragons Nursery

October at Atworth

Hello October! What have we been up to?

We would like to say a big hello to all of the new families that have joined us over the past few months, we have loved getting to know you all and hope you’re as excited as we are to begin your Snapdragons adventure. The rooms have been busy again this month exploring all things Autumn!

Babies

Babies have been exploring their love of messy play! They have ventured outside in the rain to cook up some mud pies, and snuggled up in the summer house for a Brown Bear story. The babies have also helped to make lots of moon dough and playdough which they have really enjoyed exploring!

Toddlers

Toddlers have been thinking about bonfire night. They have been learning how to create their very own firework pictures using natural resources. They have also been reading Room on the Broom and talking about potions!

Pre-school

Pre-school have been busy as ever painting, baking and exploring! They have been getting crafty practicing their scissor control to make collages, and painting pumpkins! Pre-school are always keen to lend our chef a helping hand and have been making bread and cakes for the nursery to enjoy. They have also been mixing up some magic potions in the garden with herbs and spices!

A HUGE HUGE HUGE THANK YOU

A huge thank you to everyone who supported and donated to our wear it pink event! We have raised over £600 so far and are still collecting our last few donations! We are absolutely over the moon and hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did, you may have even got to take away a raffle prize! We are still finding a date for our sponsored toddle so will confirm this with you as soon as we know.
Another big thank you to all of those who attended our parents evening – it was a lovely event and the team loved chatting to you about what your little ones have been getting up to. If you missed parents evening but would like a little update from your keyworker, please do let us know!

Upcoming events

Our fun isn’t over for the year yet! Take a look below for a few more key dates to have in your diaries!
- Wednesday 2nd November: Concept Photography
If your child already attends on Wednesday 2nd November there is no need to book a slot, however if your child does not attend on this day and you would like them to have their photo taken please let us know so we can book them in!
- Spooks and Smores evening: Wednesday 23rd November 4.00pm-6.00pm
We will be sending an e-mail about this event shortly so keep your eyes peeled!
- Pre-school nativity: 29th November at 10am
Pre-school parents save the date!! More information to follow soon
- Last day of term for term time only children: 16th December
- Christmas closure: 23rd December
- Return to Nursery: 3rd January

To round things off we’d like to give a warm welcome to our new apprentice, Chantelle, who you may have seen hiding in the toddler room! Chantelle is completing her level 3 qualification with us here at Atworth. Chantelle likes to spend time with her family and friends and enjoys horse riding in her spare time.

Looking for something to do over the half term? Take a look at the link below!!
Pumpkins aren't just for carving — Snapdragons Nursery

September 2022 at Atworth

Another month done! Where has the time gone!?

This month we have had the pleasure of having our forest school leader, Natalie, with us. Not only has she been busy carving away at piles of wood to make our gardens beautifully curious, but she has also treated the children to a few surprises! Pre-school put on their wellies and took a trip to Westonbirt Arboretum where they had a little hunt for the Gruffalo. Unfortunately, he was a bit too quick and got away before they could catch him! Toddlers visited Bath City Farm where they met some animals and took a stroll through some long wavy grass.

As well as this all of the children have been getting stuck in with day to day forest school activities such as painting with berries, apple picking and even cutting some wood! You may have been lucky enough to take some of these apples home!

What have we all been up to?

Babies have been exploring their love of the outdoors this month. They got really stuck in to the berry bashing and using them to create beautiful pictures.. some may say the pictures tasted quite nice too! They have been rolling apples down gutters full of paint and using the outdoors to work on their motor skills, we may have seen a few babies take a few of their first steps!

Toddlers have been delving in to the gingerbread man which they chose as their book of the month. They have been busy reading, acting out and exploring the story in all different ways! They especially loved the sensory play using sand and cutters to make their very own gingerbread shapes. They practiced sharing, and taking turns.

Pre-school have also been busy exploring their book of the month, they chose the very hungry caterpillar! They know the story so well they have almost run out of activities! They have cut their own fruit very carefully to make their own fruit kebabs for snack, they have indulged in cherry pie, made a caterpillar post box and fed him the correct amount of each fruit AND painted their own butterfly pictures using symmetry printing. Gosh they have been busy!

Your Snapdragons kit list!

As the winter months are now fast approaching, we thought we’d pop a little reminder about things we find super handy to have in your little one’s nursery bag. We also find it super handy if they are named, too!
- Lots of spare clothes
- Wellies
- Slippers
- Water bottle
- Hat
- Raincoat/waterproofs
- Nappy cream

Thank you!

A reminder of some dates for your diaries…

Many of you have already seen the e-mail that was recently sent out but we thought we’d just remind you of the important dates coming up, there might even be a few new ones sneaking in there!

- Tuesday 18th October: Babies and Toddlers parents evening. Please talk to the room teams to book a slot.
- Friday 21st October: Pre-school parents evening. Please talk to the team to book a slot.
- Friday 21st October: Wear it pink. We will be having a day of wonderfully pink celebrations in the name of raising awareness for breast cancer research and support. Keep your eyes peeled for more information.
- Wednesday 2nd November: concept photos from 9.30-11.30. If your child is not booked in to attend on this day please contact the office if you would like to book a slot to pop in!
- Wednesday 23rd November: Smores and sparks. We will be hosting our very own smores evening with our lovely Nat, more information to follow on this soon!

Superstars!

..and finally another huuuuuge thank you to all of you who have nominated your superstar, it really is such a boost for the team. Again, please find the link below if you wanted to send your favourite team member a little thank you!

Snappies Superstar — Snapdragons Nursery

July and August 2022 at Atworth

Hello! Summer is here!

We hope all of our term time only families and school leavers have a fun and relaxing break! If you are one of our all year round families please remember to let us know if you have booked a last minute break or are enjoying a day out together over the summer so we can update our systems. Thank you!

Graduation..

A huge huge thank you to all of our families who attended our pre-school graduation last month, it was a huge success and we are so proud of each and every child. Good luck to all of our school leavers in their new adventure, it has been an absolute pleasure to have you all with us. Here are a few snaps from the day!

Nominate your superstars..

I’m sure you will agree that our team here at Atworth are phenomenal, we certainly think so! To remind them of this we run a little reward scheme where they are able to collect stars to spend on treats. If you would like to nominate your superstar then please follow the link below to send them a star and a message.

Snappies Superstar — Snapdragons Nursery

What have we been up to?

We have been loving the weather and making the most of our gardens during the sunshine! The children have been hard at work in the forest garden experimenting with water and how to transport it. We even found some wild animals hiding in the nursery…

Reminders reminders reminders..

Just a few reminders as we head in to the new September term. Of course with the weather heating up please remember to provide your child with a named water bottle and a named sun cream as we do try our best to get outside twice a day.
Slippers! We do encourage children and staff to wear slippers indoors, and our baby room has a no shoe policy. For this reason we do ask that your child is also provided with a named pair of slippers that they can pop on in the rooms.
Illnesses.. if your child is unwell we do ask that you keep them home from nursery to monitor them. We are able to administer Calpol for temperatures for those children with pre-signed consent however we do then ask for you to pick them up from nursery. If your child has been sick we ask that they remain home for 48hrs after the last time they were sick.

Who is Royce?

Hi! My name is Royce.

I am the new Social Media & Marketing Assistant for Snapdragons. I will be spending time at all of the nurseries capturing magical moments and, permissions allowing, sharing them on our media platforms for parents and guardians to see. So don’t be alarmed if your children ask you if you saw the man with the camera in the nursery garden, it’s just me.

To see these moments please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Or head over to our website for even more!

Staff news…

Some of you may have noticed that Lindsey has returned to us in the pre-school room! Lindsey has been off on her maternity leave with her little boy, Zachary, and we couldn’t be happier to have her back so give her a warm hello when you see her!
We have unfortunately said goodbye to Chelsea and Jamie. Chelsea has moved to the Isle of Wight to be closer to her family and Jamie has moved on to a new adventure. We wish them both the best of luck for the future.
Finally hello to Jadea! Donna has made her move to our toddler room and we have welcomed Jadea as the head of babies. Jadea is level 3 qualified and has worked in childcare for a number of years, we can’t wait for her to meet you all.